defereggental : Nike ACG Team Blog : News from the snowbard team

13/02/2007

Rudi Kröll - Playboard Style Session 07.-12.02

I just came back from St. Jakob im Defereggental. I was there for the Playboard Style Session and I had a really nice time there. The guys from the 24-7 park (Markus Gasser and Daniel Gama) had it all very well organized and made it not just a session but a familiar producing with a lot of opportunities for the current snow conditions. They organized accommodation, dinners, breakfast and also a two day trip up on a mountain lodge where they pre-build kickers, a box with a drop into the powder, a quarter with a box on top and also gave us a lot of informations about the backcountry which surrounds the lodge.

Big shout out for this to the 24-7 park guys!!!!!

They organized a house a little bit up the mountain where you had to drive up with the car. As I arrived (01:30 AM) it snowed already a little bit and I tried to drive up there but got stuck somewhere half way. It was really icy so I started to slide back with the car and ended up diagonally blocking the entire road so I had to put my chains on to come up there. At the same time all the other guys arrived to. But it turned out that I was pretty much the only one with chains so it was really funny to watch all the guys trying to get up the mountain road.

On Thursday Walter “Woidl” Fanninger, Tomi Savela and I went to the ski resort to check it out. It was cloudy and a little bit more snow would have been fun. The mountains look very nice but it was hard to find spots for this snow conditions. We found a concrete dam where we did some bomb drops. It was crazy because the landing was only rocks with a little bit of snow on it. I stomped an Indy drop. It was very difficult to stomp this transition.

On Friday after a 20 cm dump over night we went up on the “Alpe Stalle” lodge where they had already prepared some stuff to ride. Sick! There are two huts. One is called “Top Spot” and is leased by Andreas Leitner and Chris Heinzle which supported us with accommodation and drinks in his reconstructed bar. The other hut is called “Alpe Stalle” and is farmed by Bruno Gasser. He is a really nice guy and he provided us with one of the best meals I ate for a long time. I recommend the local speciality “Schlipfkrapfen”! He also brought our stuff with the sled up to the hut and made us breakfast. Thanks a lot for the extraordinary hospitality and the effort you guys put into this session! We had two days of relaxed producing at an amazing spot with a lot of possibilities. Two days of blue bird.

On Saturday evening we went back down and up again to our other accommodation. Sunday was very relaxed. It was cloudy. Late breakfast at 10 while watching the Austrians lose at the Men’s downhill in Ǻre. We checked out some spots afterwards but I ended up taking pictures of the other riders. I did a nice picture of Woidl. The only shot I did that day was a backflip off the telephone booth.

On Monday we packed our shit because we had to get out of the apartment. The weather was nice first but when we got on the mountain it turned cloudy so we just did two runs. I hit a rock with my brand new Ästhetiker board “Gruber Libre” which pushed my edge in a little bit. What a bummer! I love the new Gruber Libre. I was riding it for five days now and it feels so good to ride! No matter if normal or switch. Also the nose and tail feels great shredding the powder. And it looks sick! Well done Steve! Eeööhhhh

Afterwards I did some nice shots with Alex Papis down in the village. First spot a wallride setup in the yard of Lupo Troger which runs the Intersport Troger together with his brother. Thanks guys for doing groundwood and services on our boards. It helped a lot. The second spot was at a church. I got a very nice shot there. After this I went back to the Zillertal but actually it was a bad idea because it dumped 30 cm overnight in St. Jakob.

So watch out for the port in the Playboard Magazine. I look forward to it.

Hhhmmmm where else did it dump…….

Rudi

P.s.: One of the nicest sessions I have been too

P.p.s.: On my way back on the top of the Gerlos Pass I met this guy! He is from Zürich and he was on his waz from Murau to Innsbruck. How crazy is the world?!

Links:

St. Jakob im Defereggental www.stjakob.at

St. Jakob Bergbahnen www.bergbahnen-stjakob.at

St. Jakob Tourismusbüro www.defereggental-info.at

24/7 park www.24-7park.at

Playboard www.playboard.de

Ästhetiker www.aesthetiker.com

Fat Gipsy Production http://snapshot-themovie.com

Hot Zone www.hot-zone.tv

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Keep up with the Nike ACG winter team. Get at inside look at some top skiers and snowboard riders like Andreas Hatveit and Mirjam Jaeger. Check out their photos, videos and posts.

13/02/2007

Rudi Kröll - Playboard Style Session 07.-12.02