Park laps, park laps, park laps!

The boys head on over to Loon Mountain in New Hampshire for some fun in the sun. Featuring: Chris Bradshaw, Dillon Ojo, Marcus Rand, LP Dorval, Jordan Small and Johnny O’Connor.

Brandon Hobush, Simon Chamberlain, Alex Stathis, Layne Treeter, Ben Bilocq, Jordan Bell and Dylan Alito check out the Mt Seymour resort just outside Vancouver/Canada.

Xaver Hoffman working his legs in the Kitzsteinhorn's superpipe. Photo: Roland Haschka

Let’s take 4 individual snowparks of which 3 are located at perfect sloping sites and as topping a railgarden inmidst the city of Kaprun. Add Austria’s biggest Superpipe and a massive freeride offer with the true born XXL label and you will admit that the Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn at the heart of the Alps leaves no wishes unheard for freestylers. Thanks to an altitude of nearly 3,000m above sea level, you can enjoy freestyle fun par excellence for up to 8 months a year. This season, shredheads can look forward to heaps of innovations concerning the setup as well as new earth forms, further optimizing the already supreme parkdesign.

The Central Park. Photo: Roland Haschka

The first fresh snow covering the glacier in early fall is the starting signal for construction works to begin in the Glacier Park. Like all 4 areas on the Kitzsteinhorn, the Glacier Park stands for constant quality! On 2,900m above sea level, large quantities of natural snow guarantee nicely shaped kickers, about 30 newly adjusted obstacles as well as a total of 4 lines to be rode as early as in fall. On a total area of 250 x 100 meters the park offers freestyle pleasure at its best for beginners and intermediates, from the middle of October until December; thereafter the action continues in the Easy Park and the Central Park located further below.

Viktor Szigeti ripping the Central Park. Photo: Roland Haschka

Hence, until the end of April the Kitzsteinhorn comprises one of the largest freestyle playgrounds of the Alps and also this year it’s going to make the hearts of snowboard and freeski fans beat faster. Apart from a huge range of rails and boxes of all sizes and shapes, snowpark beginners and intermediates can rage themselves out on the finely adjusted kicker line, whose range and diameter have been further optimized by means of brand-new terrain forms. The rail area and the jumps for beginners have been extended as well. The Central Park on the other hand, isn’t for the faint of heart. Beside countless rails and kickers with a medium level of difficulty, the mighty Pro Kicker with an 18-meter table as well as a huge A-Frame Box, a 14m Down Flat Down Box and a tremendous corner await freestyle specialists with a healthy share of courage. In the Central Park the jumps and the park exit have been extended by further terrain adjustments as well.

Seppi Ischepp in the Glacier Park. Photo: Roland Haschka

Directly next to it you’ll find the absolute highlight of the Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn: Austria’s largest and doubtlessly best Superpipe with a total length of 135 meters! Last season it was massively popular among both locals and international pros and proved to be a favourite backdrop for international ski and snowboard film productions and photo shoots. This season you can expect the Superpipe to be freshly shaped from the end of November on!
Those of you, who simply can’t get enough action and just want to keep on shredding, can end the day on the mountain in the Railgarden Lechnerberg, located right at the center of Kaprun. Here you can shred different rails and boxes, such as the Jibfunbox, a 12m Longtube or a Hightank ‘till you drop.
Apart from the snowparks the extensive Freeride XXL area with five marked routes is a further highlight for powder freaks. The Freeride Info Base at the Alpincenter provides all the service powder lovers desire with detailed information on avalanche risk, weather forecasts and snow levels, as well as secure routes through the backcountry.

Did we mention there were some good freeriding opportunities, too? Kathi Gappmayr, photo: Roland Haschka

So, if you don’t want to miss Austria’s best Superpipe, backcountry at its finest and exquisite freestyle flair on the Kitzsteinhorn, drop by and raise some dust – you’re in for a day on the mountain you won’t forget!

For more information on the park, the setup as well as snow levels go to www.snowpark.kitzsteinhorn.at and www.facebook.com/snowpark.kitzsteinhorn.

Senonerpark Hochkar 2010 – Better Than Ever?

On Tuesday the 16th of February the QParks crew took their chance to realize the first film- and photoshooting in the Senonerpark Hochkar. Participants were Clemens and Felix Prankl, formerly known as P – Unit, the photographer Stefan Voitl, Jasmin Reischer and Dominik Weghaupt from the Bamboos, David Liptay and his friend from Budapest, Hochkar Open Winner Flo Galler, Georg Ischep alias Scheps, Flo Kirch and a lot more Senonerpark locals like Headshaper Shnorty and his gang.

A snippet of what the Senonerpark's got to offer.

QPark designer Bernd Mandlberger was overwhelmed after his last visit and talked in highest tones about the killer set up. Now it was time to make up our own opinion! As the chairlift runs directly over the park area, we recognized immediately that the rumours were true! The Senonerpark 09/10 simply rocks! All lines can be combined and the riders can easily switch between beginner, intermediate and pro elements! The park offers some well known obstacles but also some fresh and new ones like an A Frame and an elephant box.

But the most obvious change happened to the big kicker at the bottom as it rolls smoothly like never before and guarantees maximum airtime with minimum risk. The Styrian talent Flo Galler won the Hochkar open two weeks ago and continued to stomp trick after trick this time. He was happy and said: “Already at the Hochkar Open I really enjoyed the big Kicker, because it gives you a very controlled feeling in the air and it is not too big and therefore perfect to practice tricks. During the contest the weather was very foggy, so today I was pretty stoked to ride it again on this bluebird day”.

Big props also to Heimi, Smeul, and all other riders! All in all in was just a nice day with a lot of action on all elements, good vibes and a friendly atmosphere. Check the first clip and the shooting gallery. By the way, another rumour is building up at the Hochkar. People are talking about a big “H” or something like that…. Only time will tell!

Check out the goods that the Sajas Diedamspark has to offer!

On the 27th of February 2010 the first QParks film- and photo shoot took place in the Sajas Diedamspark on a marvellous bluebird day. The crew consisted of QParks Filmer Basti Funk, QParks Photographer Sebi Madlener and snowboarders Benny Deeg, Markus Wilhelmi, Ralf Heeb, and Manuel Holzmann, all Sajas riders and members of the “Good Time Boyz”.

The Diedamspark overview.

After an early arriving in the park area, the boys had some time for warm up runs as the park crew was still working on the elements because of the snowfalls the night before. Some more bully- and hand shape action and the set up looked just awesome- groomed freshly and ready to be ridden! Besides the crew, a lot of other riders enjoyed themselves, either chilling in the Rauch Ice Tea chill area or improving their skills on the numerous elements.

At the beginning the crew mainly attacked the boxes and rails on the right side of the park and during that, more and more locals and vacationers joined the session – good times! After that it was supposed to get serious on the quite huge pro kicker line on the left side, which consists of three kickers in a row, all between 14 and 16 meters.

Ralf Heeb gets it on on the curved box.

Unfortunately the wind made it almost impossible to get the right speed and we decided to move on to the last part of the park where the crew established a very playful jib set up. It starts with the well known pyramid (remember Sebi Madlener’s cover shot in the good old 69 magazine (RIP)?) and a nice little hip which guides you directly to three wooden elements. Here the action was on again and marked the end of a very nice Saturday in the Sajas Diedamspark!

You like to shred in Austria, especially in the county Tirol? Then share your best spot and win a Tirol Snow Card for the next season 2010/11 as well as a Casio HIGH SPEED EXILIM EX- FH100!

The rules are easy: just have some fun at your favourite spot in Tirol, not matter if it’s in the park, backcountry or on the slopes and send a clip of 60 seconds from that one location to Planet-Tirol.com until March 31st. Between April 1st and 15th all uploaded clips will be judged. But even if you don’t get the first prize you can still call yourself very lucky and go home with Casio HIGH SPEED EXILIM EX-FH100 camera (2nd & rd), and get chance to receive the special Shralp! award, which means that your clip will be aired in episode #148 on April 18, 2010.

Planet-Tirol.com