Events

Snowpark Tour 2008

The seventh edition of the Snowpark Tour is inspired by the spirit of Hawaii. Instead of dancing the hula at the beach though, the participants of the biggest rookie tour for snowboarders and freeskiers will do the slopestyle at the best snowparks of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. At ten tour stops, the snow-surfers on one or two boards will have the opportunity to qualify for the finals at the DC Central Park at Kitzsteinhorn, Zell am See-Kaprun, Austria on March 15th and 16th. The tour’s kick-off will take place on January 12th and 13th at Engadin/St.Moritz, Switzerland.

The Snowpark Tour is specifically designed for young amateur riders who want to gain contest experience and impress the crowd with some successful tricks on rails and kickers. A membership to an association is not necessary to take part, and entry is completely free! In addition, the riders are coached by international pros on the first day of each two-day tour stop. The relaxed jam session contest format takes a lot of pressure from the young riders as they don’t have to go for broke in one or two runs. Within the given time, each rider is allowed to do as many runs as they want to – only the best run counts for the ranking. The organizers Mellow Constructions attach great importance to a perfect preparation of the snowparks to ensure fun and safety on the rails and kickers. International pros of the Rossignol, Quiksilver and Roxy teams are present as judges and coaches.

The leading snowparks of the Central Alps were again chosen as the venues for the Snowpark Tour 08. The four Swiss tour stops will take place at Engadin/St. Moritz, Adelboden, Flumserberg and Saas-Fee. As in previous years, Germany is represented by Fellhorn/Oberstdorf and Zugspitze/Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And in Austria, the Snowpark Tour will visit Sillian, Lech am Arlberg, Flachauwinkl and the Kitzsteinhorn/Kaprun.

For the finals at the DC Central Park/Kitzsteinhorn, the existing park set-up will be extended especially for the event. The party will happen on Saturday evening at the legendary Castle Kaprun. Additionally, riders will have the opportunity to get themselves a starting place at Team Kitzsteinhorn at the qualification session on the Friday before the main event.

At the Kaprun finals, the battle will be on to see who takes the top podium spot from last year’s champions: at the Saas-Fee contest in March 2007, Patrik Huber from Warth (AUT) was crowned the ‘Most Impressive Rider’ of the snowboarders. Christoph Walchhofer from Eben im Pongau (AUT) won the freeskiers’ contest, Anais Cettou from Motiers (SUI) took first place at the female snowboarders’. The snowboarders’ ‘Team Battle’ was won by the team from Lech.

This team format is unique in snowboarding: the four best riders of each of the ten tour stops qualify for the final. There, they represent their local snowpark at the team contest. The best freeskiers and female snowboarders of the single tour stops are also invited to Kitzsteinhorn.

The winners of the finals will again be rewarded with non-cash prizes and precious wild cards for pro events – maybe the beginning of a pro career. The best snowboarder of the Kitzsteinhorn finals will travel to the TTR event Nanshan Open 2009 in China. The best freeskier will get a wild card for the Candide Thovex Invitational 2008 in La Clusaz (FRA) and the best female snowboarder will take part in the 6-star TTR event Roxy Chicken Jam 2008. Additionally, the winners of the finals will be interviewed by snowboard magazines including Onboard.

Wild cards for pro events are also up for grabs at many of the tour stops: each of the snowboard winners of the three Snowpark Tour stops at the Engadin, Lech and Garmisch-Partenkirchen will get a wild card for the TTR event Ästhetiker Wängl Tängl 2008 in Mayrhofen (AUT). The best snowboarder of the Flachauwinkl tour stop will qualify for the TTR event Absolut Park Spring Battle 2008. And the best skier of Flachauwinkl will participate in the Austrian Open 2008 in Mayrhofen.

For more information and registration please see the Snowpark Tour website.