Girls love heavy metal. Not necessarily in their speakers, but definitely in their snow parks! At least some of them and since they are spread over male-dominated snow parks all over Europe, Gaia Giacomazzi and Carmen Beccaro have created the Jib Days in Austria’s Crystal Ground snow park in the Kleinwalsertal, where the ladies have the park all to themselves

Words by Anna Langer, photos by Steffen Kornfeld

And the park is not only reserved for them the whole weekend, it’s also dedicated to the female shredders and their demands on run in, height and difficulty – which even had to be stepped up this year to meet the girls’ skills.

With the sun blazing and beats pumping in the park at the foot of the Kanzelwand, the girls tickle in one after another and start shredding some smooth runs. With course consisting of various pipes to either ride onto or jump, two little corners, down boxes and rails of all heights, lengths and steepness, two smaller and two bigger kickers as well as a pole jam with a disco box underneath, a wallride, a double kinked rail and a step down one, even jib losers like us editorials can have a try at tackling the metal.

Since the session is made for riding together, you won’t see coaches or trainers around – but with a friendly smile you’ll always find a helping hand or rather leg and foot to show you how it’s tweaked and share some tips and tricks. And riding together is exactly what the girls attending are looking for: they’ve already come far from the first cautious laps and are ready for a full on session with like minded shreddettes who are riding on the same level and push each other to new heights. So to finally have such a session, they spare no pains to get here from Belgium, Sweden or even the Ukraine.

Which are totally worth their efforts if you ask us and we don’t think anyone would disagree. Watching the girls pulling one trick after the next, time flies by and before you know it, it’s already time for the yummy burgers from the Rome SDS bbq – camember veggie ones included! The afternoon is filled with the Cash for Trix session, starting off at a down rail before moving on to the pole jump and step down rail, where cash is flowing for Backside Tailslides,Frontblunt 270s, Noseslide Pretzels, Noseblunts and even a Hardway 270 Switch Frontside Boardslide. Where technical difficulty and ability are just one judging criteria, as Carmen and Gaia fill us in. Remembering most girls from the first session a year ago, they also give them credit for stepping up their own games and reward progression in their riding in general. And that seems to motivate the jib loving girls more than any contest or podium you could give them, cheering for and celebrating each others achievements.

With cash and prizes shared among the lot, they move off to a raging party followed by another amazing, albeit a tiny bit slower day of film and photo shooting in the park the next day, while we’re asking ourselves if there could be enough padding in the world, to help us get over our scares and give it a try one day as well… (Probably not as only a mattress around the hips would give us enough confidence to hit a down rail, and that would probably not look too hot on photos…)

Best Overall: Tove Holmgren
Best Trick: Anne-Sophie Lechon (Hardway 270 Switch FS Board)
Best Style: Joelle JJ Juchli
Most Creative: Caroline Degardh
Best Non-Sponsored: Barbula Schinah