The finals of the inaugural Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH lit up the Saalbach-Hinterglemm Nightpark last friday night, and now you can check the highlights of the teames that rocked out despite the heavy snow. Banging event, banging riding, banging Gang Bäng doubles format. Nice work Ä team…

These boys sure know how to put on a gig that’s ‘for us, by us’, and the riders were stoked. “It was super fun to ride, like normally riding with your friends – following each other – so it was one of the best contests I’ve ever been to,” said a Finnish-pumped Janne Lipsanen. You can read our recap of the Winter MÄSH finals, and the qualifiers too for that matter.  Thanks to all involved for an epic contest and goodtime vibe.

Mosl. Photos: Mike Weschelberger

[For a run-down of what went down on the previous day in the qualifiers, check HERE.]

Before we launch into the press release about the final day of the inaugural Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, let us spend a few moments reflecting on what sets Ästhetiker contests apart from the majority of bib-heavy, dull riding gatherings that take place all winter.

First of all, the invited riders aren’t so much a list of X Games finalists or World Snowboard Tour top 10s, they are for the most part sound dudes who have as much riding capabilities as they are creative and willing to share their passion and stoke with everyone present.

Then there’s the format, a unique tag team event over an equally unique slopestyle course, offering plenty of options for both riders. It becomes clear that creative lines are  just as important as the tricks performed.

Also, the Ästhetiker have a keen sense of partner resorts that back snowboarding enough to make it worth their while. For the Wängl Tängl (now on hiatus) it is Mayrhofen and its endless options of park obstacles and drinking holes in town, for the Winter MÄSH it is Saalbach-Hinterglemm, one of the few resorts in the central Alps with a proper night park, a interesting glitzy vibe in town, and a vast resort with a crazy amount of backcountry options.

And finally, it is the art and music they bring to the mountains. Be it woodcarvers, graffiti artists, Austrian hip-hop act Texta or the afterparties: At an Ästhetiker event you know you’re in for some inspiring action. No matter if MÄSH or Tängl or both – we can’t wait for next year to have at it again! (and now on to the press release…)

The inaugural Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH presented by G-Shock is a wrap

With the first edition of the unique Music, Art and Snowboard Happening, the resort of Saalbach Hinterglemm experienced some serious snowboard action, infused with an extensive music lineup and interactive streetart. Finnish double force ‘KBR’ Janne Lipsanen and Sami Luhtanen took the first spot on the podium of the Crew Battle Finals at the Nightpark Hinterglemm on Friday Night. Austrian Snowboard Stars Mathias Weissenbacher and Clemens Schattschneider took second with their team ’Blue YMC Tomato’. Philipp Gruber and Thomas Minichberger completed the podium taking third place with their team ’GM ’, wth Michi Stanschitz earning the Most Valuable Rider of the competition. With prize giving done and dusted, the Austrian HipHop Crew Texta headlined the closing act, honoring 20-years of Texta and Ästhetiker history with a free Open Air Concert in the event arena backed by the S.K. Ambassadors.

A slice of the setup. Photo: Lars Baerenfaenger

The World Premiere of the Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH 2013 presented by G-shock went down in Saalbach Hinterglemm from February 13th to 15th 2013. As every Ästhetiker Jam, the MÄSH was an amalgamation of the elements Music, Art and Snowboard Happening; a focus on the fundamental ethos of board sports culture – the crews!

SNOWBOARD RESULTS – ÄSTHETIKER SNOWBOARD CREW BATTLE

Ästhetiker events have become famous for their ‘Gang Bang’ style teams formats, and this has again been front and center at the inaugural Winter MÄSH, featuring a 2-Man hit squad. Twelve invited teams met four qualified teams for the 16-team Head-to-Head Knockout night time finals on Friday. Despite heavy snow falls a great audience fronted up to watch the action at the Nightpark Hinterglemm. The riders were throwing down double packs of rail wizardry meeting air time on the slopestyle setup featuring the ‘Fiat Triple Down,’ the ‘Vans Double Booter,’ the ‘G-Shock Block’ and the renown Red Bull End-section. The battlefield narrowed to three teams fighting it out in the Super Finals. Finnish riders Janne Lipsanen and Sami Luhtanen took victory delivering an unbeatable performance with their team ‘KBR’. Team ’Blue YMC Tomato’ became second with Austrian rippers Mathias Weissenbacher and Clemens Schattschneider. Philipp Gruber and Thomas Minichberger completed the podium in third place as team ’GM’. Michi Stanschitz was rewarded ’Most Valuable Rider’ for his overall performance.

Photo: Mike Wechselberger

ART
Dedicated walls of Hinterglemm, a Fiat 500 and other creative surfaces were turned into an interactive art space. Artists from !OnArt.eu, Mafia, Biocut and Fresh Max (aka Saim) were joined by Nic Ripz from the BlamBlamBlam Graffiti Gallery, Zurich for one big creative session, with a number of new pieces the result of this cataclysm of art Flo Breitfuss and his team from glemmart.at created the Snowboard Contest Winner´s trophees in a live carving session which took place during the event.

HAPPENING
For the first time at a Snowboard contest, Whiteout Golfing Bunker ́s Up! Tour and the Alpine Palace presented a Longest Drive Golf Challenge – the “BIG BÄSH AT THE WINTER MÄSH.” Held on a full sized golf simulator, riders, media and special guests had the chance to demonstrate their plastic whacking abilities – with real clubs, real balls on a cyber course at the Alpine Palace. In the Super Finals of sixteen ambitious golfers, Peter Koenract from Holland took the top spot with 273 meters, while Australia´s Drew Stevenson became second with 261 meters.

MUSIC
Three days of musical mayhem kicked off on Wednesday with the infamous Red Bull Brandwagen Street Party bringing “The Ruff Pack“ feat. Holunder (Blumentopf) to the streets of Saalbach Hinterglemm. Right after, the Desperados x Vice x Winter MÄSH Opening Party presented The New Tower Generation feat. DJ Buzz in the Älternative Location – the Glemmerkeller. Thursday Night ́s FM4 Club featured the mighty Stereo MCs vs Bam (Jungle Brothers) Dueling DJ Set, supported by DJ Chrisfader and DJ Testa at the Der Schwarzacher in Hinterglemm. The Austrian HipHop Crew Texta was the headlining closing act on site, honoring 20-years of Texta and Ästhetiker history with a free Open Air Concert backed by the S.K. Ambassadors after the Friday Night Finals. The winners finally celebrating until the early morning at the Official Winter MÄSH Äfter Party at the ‘Der Schwarzacher’.

Podium with the Finnish boys on top. Nice work Janne & Sami. Photo: Lars Baerenfaenger

This was a winning debut for the Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH presented by G-Shock at Saalbach Hinterglemm. We look forward to next year´s event!

We’re in Saalbach-Hinterglemm for the inaugural edition of the Winter MÄSH – a unique, innovative contest/artshow/party extravaganza dreamt up by the Ästhetiker boys – and it’s damned sick. Here’s what went down in yesterday’s qualifiers…

After announcing a time-out from doing their much-admired Wängl Tängl in Mayrhofen, we were a little bummed that we wouldn’t have these Austrian chaps stoking us out with their novel take on how shred contests should be. Not so – a few weeks after announcing the Wängl was taking a hiatus, they broke the news that plans were afoot for an all-new snowboard contest – dubbed the Winter MÄSH – that would go down in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. And now we’re there.

As they’ve been experimenting with over the last few years, the MÄSH is a team event meaning riders hit the course together in teams of two and try to stoke out the judges – or critics as they like to refer to them as here – with a mix of style, imagination, creativity and synchronicity. Runs are scored on overall impression with the judges either showing a green card for ‘BOSS’ or red card for ‘not boss enough’. And, as you see in surfing, if a team lost in the first qualifier it’s not straight for an early bath as usual – here they get another shot at it in the losers round, and even if they lose that then there’s one more loser losers round to try to make it into the finals. This means not only do the riders have more chances to rip through the sick night park here, the crowd also get to see even more rad shredding.

Up first was the open qualifiers to see who’d get a shot at riding against the invited teams in the nighttime heats.
Fifteen 2-man teams sent it, with Team ‘JoraluluMeatArmy’ (Dominik Metzler and Lukas Ellensohn) won the qualifications, with ‘Chaos Klaus Team’ (Roli Tschoder and Bernhard Kraxner), ‘We don’t know’ (Stephan Wimmer and Marcus Bernhard), ‘Team Intim’ (Max Poelzl and Seppl Ramsbacher) and Team `Butch Casedy & the Flowdance Kid`(Wolle Beer and Mike Kluivers) also making it through.

The Quali Teams were facing twelve crews of invited riders in the First Round of the 16-team Head-to-Head Main Event. The Nightpark Hinterglemm saw some tasty tricks traded on Thursday Night and despite freezing temperatures hundreds of spectators came out to watch the show. After the first Round, the Teams ‘Intim’, ‘Fiat Freestyle Team’, ‘JuraluluMeat’ Army’ and ‘We don´t know’ got knocked out. Tonight’s Finals will start off at 08.00 p.m. determining the highly coveted podium spots for the 1. Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH presented by G-Shock.

We’ll let you know the final results tomorrow. Nice work Ästhetiker. Ëöh!

Wolle & Beckna boss last year’s Ästhetiker gig, the Wängl Tängl. We bet Winter MÄSH is gonna be tits!

Counting down the days, Saalbach Hinterglemm is getting ready for the Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH presented by G-Shock, the inaugural edition of the Music, Art and Snowboard Happening over February 13th to 15th 2013. Some of the best European Snowboarders will face off against Austrian Stars at the Nightpark of Hinterglemm in a unique Crew Battle format snowboard competition culminating in the great Night Finals on Friday. Three days of intense action and boardsport culture will hit the town with a extensive music lineup including the Stereo MCs vs Bam (Jungle Brothers) Dueling DJ Set, free open air Texta concert, The Ruff Pack and many more. The events Art element will see Alpine Palace host the interactive ‘Art Space’ and the ultimate Whiteout Bunker´s Up! Tour Longest Drive Golf Challenge – possibly the first at a snowboard contest – will wrap up the side events.

SNOWBOARD

Crew Battle at the Nightpark Hinterglemm

Ästhetiker events have become famous for their `Gang Bang´ style teams formats, and this will yet again be front and center at the inaugural Winter MÄSH, featuring a 2-Man hit squad. Twelve invited teams will meet four qualified teams for the 16-team Head-to-Head Knockout night time finals, rail wizardry meeting air time, as the riders overall joint performance will determine the winners through a Team Format Judging system. For the Snowboard Team Battle, the Nightpark Hinterglemm has created a brand-new contest line: starting with the Fiat ‘Triple Down’ entry feature, before riders move on to the Vans Double Booter, through to the G-Shock Block before finishing in the renown Red Bull End Section right in front of the crowd at the Schwarzacher Restaurant in Hinterglemm.

First five Invited Snowboard Pro Teams announced

With the first confirmed invited 2-man teams, the snowboard action is guaranteed to get hot and heavy! `Young Guns` like Team YMCA’s Mathias Weissenbacher and Clemens Schattschneider already look like an imposing force on paper, but don’t take anything for granted with other raging bull new comers already teamed up, including Team The Collective boasting the impressive Swiss rider, Max Buri, and indomitable Norwegian, Brage Richenberg. Experience may still win the day, with The Homies consisting of Tonton Holland and Jules Raymond from Switzerland, Team G-Cocks captained by Chris Kroell teaming up with Mario Wanger, or Team Absolut captained by Herbie Thaler and team-mate Michi Stanschitz coming to the table. More invited teams will be announced shortly, finishing up the twelve teams directly invited into the 16-Team Head-to-Head Knockout main event to meet four teams coming from qualification.

Snowboard Qualification Inscription open for all teams

The Snowboard Qualifications is open to any and all 2-man crew’s, up until 25 teams. The best four Qualification teams will join the 12 invited crews for the 16-Team Head-to-Head main event culminating in the Friday night Finals. Inscription are now open on www.wintermash.com.

MUSIC

Stereo Mcs vs Bam

Three days of musical mayhem will kick off on Wednesday with the infamous Red Bull Brandwagen Street Party bringing “The Ruff Pack“ feat. Holunder (Blumentopf) to the streets of Saalbach Hinterglemm. Right after, the Desperados x Vice x Winter MÄSH Opening Party presents The New Tower Generation feat. DJ Buzz in the Älternative Location – the Glemmerkeller. Thursday Night´s FM4 Club presents the mighty Stereo MCs vs Bam (Jungle Brothers) Dueling DJ Set, supported by DJ Chrisfader and DJ Testa at the Der Schwarzacher in Hinterglemm. The Austrian HipHop Crew Texta will headling the closing act on site, honoring 20-years of Texta and Ästhetiker history with a free Open Air Concert backed by the S.K. Ambassadors post the Friday Night Finals. Watch the video about 20 years of Texta and Ästhetiker history here.

ART

Identified dedicated walls in Hinterglemm turn into an interactive art space, where live Street Art pieces will be completed by !OnArt.eu artists, Mafia, Biocut and Fresh Max Aka Saim joined by Nic Ripz from the BlamBlamBlam Graffiti Gallery, Zurich. Flo Breitfuss and his team from glemmart.at will start the live wood carving creation of the Snowboard Contest winner’s trophies. Wednesday’s Art Space opening will present the raw wood and start with the first cut. The creation process can be visited all-MÄSH-long with the completed trophies being unveiled at Friday nights Art Space ‘Finish-sage’ before moving to the Nightpark Finals, ready for presentation to the MÄSH winning teams.

HAPPENINGS

For the first time at a Snowboard contest, Whiteout Golfing Bunker´s Up! Tour and the Alpine Palace present a Longest Drive Golf Challenge – the “BIG BÄSH AT THE WINTER MÄSH.” Held on a full sized golf simulator, riders, media and special guests will get the chance to demonstrate their plastic whacking abilities – with real clubs, real balls on a cyber course at the Alpine Palace.

For more information, contest inscription, program and scheduling of the Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH presented by G-Shock, please visit: www.wintermash.com or www.aesthetiker.com and Facebook

February 13 will see the Ästhetiker bombdrop into Saalbach-Hinterglemm for their inaugural Winter MÄSH. As you’ll see in the video, the plans they’ve got for the park look sick, and the music lineup makes us want to send it already… Be There.

A Stereo MCs vs Bam (Jungle Brothers) DJ set has been announced as the International headlining act to rule the Thursday night FM4 Club of the Ästhetiker Winter MÄSH presented by G-Shock, the inaugural Music, Art and Snowboard Happening from February 13th to 15th 2013 in Saalbach Hinterglemm.  On Wednesday “The Ruff Pack“ feat. Holunder (Blumentopf) kick off the event at the Red Bull Brandwagen Street Party. Three days of musical mayhem will culminate in the 20-years Texta and Ästhetiker Open Air concert backed by the S.K. Ambassadors on Friday night.

International Headliner: Stereo MCs vs Bam (Jungle Brothers) DJ set
With one of the best live dance music shows on the planet, the mighty STEREO MCs have been leaving their mark on the landscape of Pop and dance music for over 20 years. Often labeled as one of the UK’s most iconic bands and with Brit awards and million selling albums behind them, the Stereo MCs present a big and bouncy Dj set. If that wasn’t special enough, frontman Rob Birch is joined by his old friend of the Jungle Brother’s AFRIKA BABY BAM aka BAM Djing, hosting and performing classics and freestyles. Supporting acts on decks are FM4´s own DJ Chrisfader and DJ Testa.

Set for the Thursday night in the Schwarzacher (www.der-schwarzacher.at) directly at the base of the contest area, they sent a description of what to expect: “Join the Ultimatum Experience with Stereo M.C.s v.s. Bam (Jungle Brothers) taking you on a journey with an eclectic mix of Ultimatum cuts and edits on the decks – dancing shoes are essential!”

Red Bull Brandwagen Street Party: The Ruff Pack feat. Holunder (Blumentopf)
The music line up will already be in full effect on Wednesday when The Ruff Pack and Holunder heat up the crowd at the free to all Red Bull Brandwagen Street party in the centre of Hinterglemm. Based on a classic jazz guitar trio, The Ruff Pack takes instrumental HipHop to another level. Stephan Kondert and Matthias Loescher, both born and raised in Austria, collaborated in many different projects for over 15 years. In the world famous drummer Daru Jones (Jack White, Talib Kweli, Black Milk, Slum Village, etc.) they found the perfect match for their open-minded visions in sound. Spicing up the beats through a microphone Holunder of Blumentopf is set to flash the crowd – after all the man is considered a freestyle rap miracle. To make the Night perfect the Desperados x Vice x Winter MÄSH Opening Party will be featuring The New Tower Generation in the  Älternative Location Glemmerkeller.

Open Air Main Stage: 20 Years Texta Concert backed by the S.K. Ambassadors
Celebrating the formation of two crews in the year of 1993 and „takin´ it back to tha old school“ on Friday night Texta hits the mainstage backed by the S.K. Ambassadors at the base of the event area. Almost as if in a parallel universe, the history of Texta and the Ästhetiker have much in common: The members of both crews grew up in the 80ies, officially formed a posse in 1993 and from then on became respected underground players in their small enclosed scenes. Off the mainstream radar both crews have pioneered in laying down a lo-key but solid fundament in autonomous activity for generations to come. Supporting act is Austria´s „next best kid“ Average MC who was just about out of his diapers in 1993, but today stands for both the Ä and the Texta way and philosophy like few others; respect, competition, progression and family.

As new partners on board of the greatest International Snowboard Team Contest in the heart of SalzburgerLand, Austria, Blue Tomato and Desperados have confirmed their support.

Steve Gruber, president of the Ästhetiker, presents the setup of the Nightpark Saalbach Hinterglemm for the great happening in the brand-new teaser video, good times ahead!

All updates on the music lineup, new artists and snowboard crew battle can be found on the brand-new website www.wintermash.com or on www.aesthetiker.com and on Facebook www.facebook.com/AsthetikerWinterMashPresentedByGShock

It left the snowboard community in a bit of a shock when earlier this month the legendary Austrian crew Ästhetiker announced a break from their successful and hugely influential Wängl Tängl event in Mayrhofen. After all, this contest-cum-gathering had been pushing the limits of event formats, park setups, and party schedules for the past ten years. However, all the Ästhetikers’ talk about taking “time to look at how we could step it up again” was really just an excuse to focus their energy on an all-new event, the Winter MÄSH, in an all-new location, Saalbach Hinterglemm. Man, this whole procedure had our heartstrings tugged. On the upside, it will be a “contest-ival”, a combination of “Music, Art and Snowboard Happening”. Does this mean:

Wängl Tängl is dead – long live the Winter MÄSH?

Here’s the official press release:

The Ästhetiker, in conjunction with the Saalbach Hinterglemm Lift Company and Tourism Board, announce the signing of a partnership to realize a new winter season event for 2013. Presented by G-Shock, the Winter MÄSH is the latest creation by the Ästhetiker crew, renown for producing team based snowboarding contests fused with live music, interactive art elements combined to showcase the best in boardsports culture. With support from partners Vans, Red Bull and Fiat, the inaugural Winter MÄSH presented by G-Shock promises to be a highlight on this season’s winter calendar kicking off over the 13th – 15th of February 2013 in Saalbach Hinterglemm, SalzburgerLand, Austria.

The launch of the Winter MÄSH is a culmination of months of work, site checks and brainstorming over the summer. A long held Ästhetiker ambition has been to deliver their unique take on board sports happenings in an accessible, centralized, valley based venue.

The Winter MÄSH concept, defined by an acronym from it’s elements of Music, Art and Snowboard Happening, unearthed the perfect event site and partner in Saalbach Hinterglemm.

Plans for a new contest line in the existing, season long Nightpark at the base of the Unterschwarzach Bahn in Hinterglemm have already been drawn up. Two man teams will battle it out on a creative kicker and rail line ending in the Red Bull End Section at a head-to-head final in front of the main music stage.

Rudi Kröll at the late Wängl Tängl. Photo: Red Bull

Supported by daily sets from world class DJ’s, the snowboard finals will be followed by Live International headlining acts creating a climax to the three day ‘Contesti-val’ style celebration to this board culture jamboree. True to it’s name, the Winter MÄSH will rock Saalbach Hinterglemm from start to finish with daily (and nightly) highlights including the infamous Red Bull Brandwagen Street Party, live music acts, event village, ‘Ä-lternative’ Clubbing nights and an interactive Art Exhibition inspired by local talent and 20-years of Ästhetiker crew happenings.

The decision to launch a new event was broken down by Steve Gruber, President of the Ästhetiker, who stated, “We were blown away by the potential of bringing all event elements together in one centralized, town based arena.” Going on to conclude, “The location alone was not the only factor taken into account. The motivation and vision from the Tourist Office, Lift Company and the Nightpark shaping crew in Saalbach Hinterglemm left us in no doubt that this place is going to rock!”

The people behind MÄSH: Wolfgang Breitfuss (Director TVB Saalbach Hinterglemm), Steve Gruber (President Ästhetiker, serious ripper), Kathrin Mitterer (Lift Company Saalbach Hinterglemm), Rudi Kröll (Ästhetiker, overall badass)

Kathrin Mitterer from the Bergbahnen Saalbach Hinterglemm summed up local anticipation, “We are delighted to announce the arrival of a world class snowboard event right here in Saalbach Hinterglemm, fixing another red-letter day on our event calendar.” She said, concluding “The Nightpark is the perfect venue for staging major events only minutes walking distance from the town centre. We are confident with the years of experience, between both the Ästhetiker and our team, this partnership will result in a highly successful joint venture.”

The Winter MÄSH crew look forward to welcoming everyone to this next adventure and invites the whole boardsports family to come celebrate this veritable ‘mash up’ of all the best in Music, Art and Snowboarding at a once a year Happening in Saalbach Hinterglemm over the 13th – 15th of February 2013.

For all updates and information, please visit: www.aesthetiker.com