Photo: Rory Johnson

What do you get if you send a bunch of sweaty boys over a tabletop and a stairset on a slushy afternoon in the Ziller walley? CASHMONEY, that’s what. When it comes to snowboard contests, recent independent surveys carried out ever so carefully in a single Google search have conclusively proved a glaring three way split in opinion as to whether people care any more. Half of us are continually drooling over live streams of ever greater spintrickery while the other half of us moan that if we wanted gymnastics, let’s watch some ice skating, at least there’ll be lycra involved in that. And then there’s the unschooled masses getting all flustered in their rento boots just beyond the sidelines who are baffled as to how several tricks in dizzyingly quick succession can be mathematically valued out of 100, but only after a couple of minutes’ consideration. So Vans took it upon themselves to simplify the whole shebang, remind folks where we come from, and have a jolly good laugh while we’re at it. The Vans Hi Standard Series gave riders a chance to show off, with steeze scoring higher than spins – a jam session with a ban on anything over a couple of rotations.

Photo: Rory Johnson

No complicated scoring necessary – if the judges liked the way you move, collect your notes before you pass go. After a few initial bails and wash outs, suddenly there were nosegrab late 1s, super slow 3s, and methods dropping all over the show. The judges were getting more loving than your average Bangkok hooker and they weren’t ashamed to pay for it. Ghost grabs and window wipers drew blank expressions and we could see shame faced riders hurrying round again to have another stab at it. Standards were kept as high as the contest’s name suggests, and if the guys thought you should do better or a tweak was missing then MC Henry Jackson would tell you as well as everyone at the Grillhof all about it.

Photo: Rory Johnson

Photo: Rory Johnson

There is such thing as a free lunch – despite what your gran might tell you – and we all topped up our sunburns whilst munching on it. As if the tourists on the terrace weren’t stoked enough to have understood the simple format of the comp, there was a whole pile of swag to give away for anyone willing to handstand or breakdance for our amusement. The jackpot went to a girl who proudly proved snowboarders just are inherently cooler by humiliating a skier in a running race around the restaurant.

Photo: Rory Johnson

After lunch the bank of Vans reopened over at the rail set for another jam session. This was a chance for Betty, the only girl with balls enough to throw down with the crowd to make some bank. She promptly did so with some smooth boardslides over the hand rail – proof enough that the fairer sex can ride with style when they’re told to. Taking part does count for something, as proved by Charlie Rowlands, whose double backflips to face were an easy choice for ‘best slam’, take a hundy for trying Charlie. Rowan Coultas got a tip of the cap from the judges as best under 16 rider, while Flo Heim took best mens.

Photo – Rory Johnson

Vans may have brought the X Factor into our snowy little world with their yes or no judging, but combining that with some instant gratification for all the riders which we all love in this digital age, they have struck a surprisingly engaging balance between competition and camaraderie with the Hi Standard Series, and the crowd were loving it too. 

In the new 2012/13, the Vans Penken Park again impresses with a spectacular setup, which has something in stock for everybody, from rookie to pro. Have a first look at it in our cool 3D-animated Roundflip.

First things first:

Once again, park designer Sven Toller and his hardworking shape crew will outdo themselves with this year’s setup. Be it beginner, advanced rider or pro, over a length of 520m, the Vans Penken Park offers shred fun for everyone. You can prove your riding skills at no less than four different lines. The kids park bursts with training facilities for all young bloods and offers an armada of butter-boxes in addition to three kickers. In the public area, airtime is the key word as the six take-offs between 5 – 8m guarantee kicker fun at its best. The advanced area offers a lively mix of jibs, boxes, tubes and rails, as well as a funbox and two kickers with 12 and 14m. Yet another highlight awaits you in the pro area: the multi jib beast box, which will spice up your shred day. Also, a little rail garden will be at your service with a down, a flat/down and a flat/down/flat rail. No matter where you want to give your skills free reign, at the Vans Penken Park Mayrhofen you will always get your money’s worth!

Girls just wanna have fun!

Naturally, this year will be packed with action surrounding Mayrhofen’s most popular playground. At the Girls Day, for instance, all female shred heads will be invited to a special gathering to celebrate and encourage the increasing number of female freestyle talents properly. Girls, it’s time to get excited, because the Girls Day gives you the chance to improve your riding skills with the help of a pro, and to experience an awesome day bursting with an action shooting, BBQ and massive girl power. Ready, set … raffle!
For all raffle enthusiasts, we have something else in store: twice in this season, you’ll get the chance to win high-quality boots dryers at our “Happy Feet” raffle. Those among you who can’t get enough gamble action should definitely pay attention to this year’s edition of “Clash of Communities”.

Once again it’s all about securing a phat obstacle.

Who manages to mobilize the most fans for their homebase at the end of the day can look forward to a high-class obstacle that the victorious community may shred vividly from dusk till dawn. So check out the Vans Penken Park Facebook Fanpage and vote till you drop!
Get your boards and twin tips out of their summer stash and prepare yourselves for another awesome season at the Vans Penken Park Mayrhofen! See u soon!
Let’s get ready for another awesome season!

Watch Jamie Nicholls, Peetu Piiroinen, Tom Klocker, Mario Wanger, Ethan Morgen, Peter König, Marvin Salmina, Roli Scharmer and many more shredding last years Vans Penken Park in Mayrhofen. We hope that this will get you in the right mood for the upcoming winter! www.vans-penken-park.com

Clemens Schattschneider. Photo: Sebi Madlener

Bluebird. The sun is shining and the Vans Penken Park appears in its entire splendour. In spite of the upcoming spring, the park conditions could not be any better. The perfect shape of the obstacles paint a picture of the outstanding work the shape crew has done and of the fact that they are eager to uphold their good reputation. It’s the VANS team shooting and a couple of team riders came to celebrate the exceptional season and to enjoy the shred fun to the fullest. You can see the motivation in the expression of the riders: They can’t wait to give their very best for this shooting!

Herby Thaler, Matthias Weissenbacher and Clemens Schattschneiderare part of the stoked group. They all are looking forward to the riding fun and a joint, relaxed spring session. The kick-off shows it all! The Vans pros start it off and prove, that they truly earned their spots in the Vans Team. Thereby, the Vans Penken Park again becomes the centre of an action shooting that can seldom be witnessed anywhere else. The snowboarders exceed themselves in every run and their tricks are getting more and more spectacular!

Rider: Herby Thaler Photo: Sebi Madlener

Rider: Herby Thaler Photo: Sebi Madlener

Snowboard shredster Herby Thaler has long built his reputation in the scene. At the shooting he summarizes the season and shows his passion for the session. He tells us how things went for him so far, “This season I many powder days. Now that spring is here I took part in a few contests and all in all it’s really been a good season. It was only last week that I won the Austrian Masters in Slopestyle! Stoked! Today I checked out the setup for the first time and it’s just perfect – the kickers are outstanding!”

The mellow atmosphere of the riders is contagious and thus a very relaxed ambiance distinguishes the VANS shooting from the season’s contests and pressure. Especially the riding fun becomes more and more important. The riders push themselves and create an explosive mix of top-class tricks and layback fun. You instantly realize that a feast for the eyes is being served!

Rider: Clemens Schattschneider, Photo: Sebi Madlener

Part of the crew is also the professional photographer Sebi Madlener who has photographed numerous pros. He knows from experience what matters at such a shooting. He came here from Innsbruck and was looking forward to this VANS session for some days. Sebi offers us a glimpse behind the scenes and tells us more about the shooting, “I heard about the shooting and that I could take part in it three days ago. For me it’s a great event. The park is in an exceptional condition and that makes my work not only a lot easier, but also more fun. When taking professional photos things work out differently than expected quite frequently, actually. But after talking the shooting through with the riders at the beginning of the day, everyone knows what to do. Sometimes things get more complex and then you take the time in the end and try to get it right. In fact, I prefer to spare the fun-takes for the end. Today I enjoy the shots of the kickers and the butter boxes the most and generally speaking you can definitely say that the jumps in Mayrhofen are phat!”

After such a lot of enthusiasm for the VANS Penken Park, there´s just one thing left to say: All those who haven’t seen this park live, have missed out on quite a lot! So, better get going and enjoy your ride!

Rider: Herby Thaler, Photo: Sebi Madlener

vans-penken-park.com

The winners. Photo: Christian Eberl

Normally there would have been a slopestyle with two kickers and one rail or rather a box at Vans Penken Park but due to massive snow fall over Tyrol’s area we had to change plans. We just could have a railjam on the first rail of the advanced linefor all motivated shredders.

After an one-hour session, Jesse Augustinus from the Netherlands won the trophy and was to first to chose out of a big goodie box what to take home. Alois Lindmoser from St. Martin got second while British Rowan Coultas resident in Mayrhofen took the third place. Katie Omerod won the girls challenge.

Photo: Christian Eberl

Eight-year-old Jordy Keesmeeker from Belgium was the youngest rider of all and enthused the whole audience with his frontside backslides.

At night the famous Discodogs from Cologne had a great party with the crowd from Vans Park at Scotland Yard Pub.

The wildcard for the rookies final in Ischgl hasn’t been given away though, but we will keep you posted where and when this ticket will be out for winning as soon as possible.

Photo: Christian Eberl

Thanks to all who came to Vans Penken Park in spite of the bad weather – the few smooth powderlines which lead straight to the valley were the reward for all riders and workers there.

www.hotzone.tv

Results:
1 Jesse Augustinus (NL)
2 Alois Lindmoser (AUT)
3 Rowan Coultas (GB)

Best Girl: Katie Omerod (GB)

A 'groms party'? Interesting.

Mayrhofen Vans Penken Park Action by Roland Haschka

The Vans Penken Park Mayrhofen is one of a kind in Europe’s park scene: a motivated crew, daily shapings, high-quality elements as well as massive events let the park reign supreme. Right after Christmas the park was opened and that opening was everything but quiet!

The days around Christmas brought loads of fresh snow to the Zillertal valley and thus parkdesigner Sven Toller and his crew gave it their all and put up a nice first setup. On December 27^th the Vans Penken Park was officially opened, which made the day of all freestyle aficionados! Picture book weather and a nicely shaped Advanced Line made the day on the Penken more than just perfect! An 8m Down Rail, an 8m Down Box, as well as 12 and 14m Kickers made the heart of shredding enthusiasts beat faster. The Jib Line comes with an 8m Down Donkey Kinked Rail, a 6m Down Tube, an 8m Down Flat Tube, an 8m Down Rail, a 9m Down Flat Box, an 8m Down Step Down Box and an 8m Flat Box. The Baby Park shines in all its splendour, too: three Kickers of 4-6m, a 3m Flat Butterbox, a 3m Rainbow Butterbox, a 4m Banked and a Down Butterbox, as well as 6m Flat Down and Wave Butterboxes guarantee pure freestyle action for shredding beginners.

And this is only a tiny fraction of the Vans Penken Park. Photo: Roland Haschka

In order to celebrate the opening accordingly, the riders were also caught on tape. The freeski pros Niki Sagmeister, Lisa Zimmermann, Flo Ehgartner and Markus Obwallner were living it up on the Advanced Line. The snowboarders weren’t far behind, either: Roli Scharmer, Marvin Salmina, Chris Kroell and Antoine Tuchant enjoyed the day in the Vans Penken Park and had loads of fun! See for yourself in our video edits and relive the perfect shredding day on the Penken.

Antoine Truchon sending it in the Vans Penken Park. Photo: Roland Haschka

Wanna have as much fun as Niki Sagmeister, Roli Scharmer and Co.? Just go to Mayrhofen and pay the Vans Penken Park a visit! Stay tuned: for the latest information on the park and the setup visit our website, http://www.vans-penken-park.com or follow us on Facebook.

]]> http://onboard.mpora.com/news/season-kickoff-vans-penken-park-mayrhofen.html/feed 0 http://onboard.mpora.com/videos/jamie-nicholls-mayrhofen-highlights.html http://onboard.mpora.com/videos/jamie-nicholls-mayrhofen-highlights.html#comments Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:26:07 +0000 Tom Copsey http://onboard.mpora.com/?p=30008

Ok, ok, ok. You’re probably sick to the back teeth of us posting edits of Jamie Nicholls. But screw it, the boy is on fire and he fully knocks the back end out of the Vans Penken Park. We wanna show the world.

The boy Nicholls has killing it this season. Still only 17, he’s taken his first major career win at the recent Ride Shakedown Europe, ridden the Rookie contest at the Air&Style, bagged second at the Air&Style Stairset and generally just slayed it. Now he’s posted some of his bangers from his sessions in Mayrhofen that, though not as polished as our boy Will Nangle’s edit of Jamie crushing Mayrhofen, does have his recently learned Cab 12 bad boy. Unfortunately his music choice leaves a lot to be desired. Sort it out, Nipples.

We spoke with Jamie yesterday and after a well-deserved break he’s gonna be hitting up some progression sessions over the summer and plans on dialling in even more new hyperspins. So you’d better get used to the look of Nicholls’ mug. This is just the beginning…

There we were, hanging in the Zillertal, shredding the pristine Vans Penken Park and thinking that we were pretty much badass. Then up rocked Halldor, Ethan, Jamie and Sage who gave us a proper lesson on what being badass really is – these boys just simply tear the park a new one, crushing the kicker and jib lines before throwing down some new-school knuckle tricks in for good measure. Halldor almost full-on clears the landing with his front 3 Miller Flip-type knuckle dragger. He then nearly explodes, sending one balls deep.

10s every which way, slow back rodeos, front 3 seatbelts, frontflips, and some rail dancing we can barely compute… these boys are at the top of their game. And it shows. Watch the video and prepare yourself for Eurotechno. You’ll need a schnapps after this…