About happy endings and a super-fine park set up at the HOTZONE.TV Park Opening 2010

This is what a season opening should look like: more than 5.500 shred maniacs who can´t wait to get their hands on the latest snowboard equipment, blessed with excellent snow conditions on the slopes and in the park at the Hintertux Glacier.

“The same procedure as every year!” As usual the snowboard season kicked off with the HOTZONE.TV Park Opening at the Hintertux Glacier. From October 1 to 3 people from all around the world arrived to celebrate the winter´s start and so did snowboarding´s best of the best: Wolle Nyvelt, Marko Grilc, Marc Swoboda, Werni Stock, Peter König, Seppi Scholler, Kalle Ohlson as well as the brothers Anthony & Seppe Smits to only name a few.

Early Friday

“The early bird catches the worm!” Those who got up early on Friday were the ones to enjoy the very first turns of the season with the glacier being submerged in the morning light. Some lucky chaps even managed to track down virgin powder fields! Around lunch time more and more clouds came in, but despite low visibility the rental stations of the 25 participating snowboard brands were packed with people as everybody wanted to test the brand-new equipment.

Friday night it was time for a get-together. As in previous years the evening started with the official Media Dinner, but this time snowboarding´s distinguished scribblers had to earn themselves a seat first by competing at the “Fensterln” Contest (“fensterln” is a slang word for trying to impress a lady by getting up her window at night). The editors and photographers had to climb up the front of the traditional Bergfried Lodge to the highest balcony where they were rewarded with a kiss from pretty Theresa. After a solid Tyrolean dinner it was time for the Shred Warm Up Party with the infamous Wax Wreckaz DJ Kollektive in the “Tenne” in Tux.

Easy Saturday

“Take it easy!” Looking out of the window Saturday morning meant nothing good: heavy clouds were covering the mountains, and unfortunately they wouldn´t disappear for the rest of the day. Therefore the “Session of the Dudes” in the Betterpark below the Olperer Summit had to be cancelled due to low visibility. Nevertheless a massive shout-out should go to park designer Wille Kaufmann and his crew (betterpark.at) as well as to the staff of the Hintertux Glacier for building an incredible park with perfectly shaped obstacles and everything a shred head´s heart could aim for: there was not only an easy, medium and pro line, but also a superpipe and a rail line!

The visibility at the lower located Fernerhaus was a bit better, thus providing the perfect set up for the “Cash for Tricks” session at the cannonball obstacle. Hoards of motivated riders wanted to earn some bucks, but with a lip noseslide 450 out Polish rail slayer Wojtek Pawlusiak was the man of the day! Those who weren’t after money hung out at the Tuxer Fernerhaus listening to easy going beats and following the session from the distance.

The valley station had some more highlights waiting for the visitors. Those who always wanted to test their bomb drop skills could do this at the “Original Bag Jump” presented by Gloryfy. Next door it was the highest snowboard ollie that the K2 “POP this! Highest Ollie Tournament” was looking for: with 90 centimeters K2 and Rhythm rider Alex Walch from Mayrhofen took home a limited edition K2 skateboard.

At 9 p.m. the “Rhythm Opening Night” in the Hohenhaus Tenne Hintertux kicked off, presented by the Australian surf and snow apparel brand Rhythm. Shuttles coming from every corner of the valley carried people to the weekend´s party highlight, and despite a brand-new outdoor area the location was almost bursting at the seams! After the successful premiere of HOTZONE.TV´s new team movie The Dude V (free download on www.hotzone.tv!), it was up to MC Flip, DJ Dan and the Wax Wreckers DJ Kollektive to get the audience fired up which they successfully did until the early morning.

Sunny Sunday

“The sun is shining…” The last day was blessed with a happy ending: sunshine and bluebird sky as far as the eyes could see! While some party kings had problems getting up, busloads of kids showed up at the Billabong Kids Shoot that was set to start at 9 a.m. in the Betterpark. There groms from 6 to 16 had the opportunity to shoot with Pleasure´s senior photographer Markus “Fischi” Fischer, and Billabong riders Wolle Nyvelt and Seppi Scholler acting as their coaches. The visual outcome of the Billabong Kids Shoot can be viewed on www.hotzone.tv.

With buying the official Billabong event t-shirt for 5 euros everyone could also give something back as all proceedings will go to a project called “therapeutic surfing” run by a hospital on the German island of Sylt. This project helps kids who are suffering from cancer to recover after the chemotherapy with the help of surfing.

Thanks to perfect weather and snow conditions the rental stations had been flat out all Sunday with gathering crowds of visitors on the glacier, and there were also some serious sessions going on in the Betterpark. Those who were still suffering from the party the night before would just enjoy the warm temperatures, the delicious BBQ and the fine beats by DJ NLP and DJ EM on the sun terrace of the Fernerhaus.

Once again the HOTZONE.TV Park Opening 2010 in Hintertux was not only the first opening of the season, but also kicked off another winter – hopefully a long, snowy and healthy one! See you next year…

You can download the Daily Quick Edits featuring Werni Stock and Peter König, produced by Julian Pintarelli and Mone Monsberger, as well as other background information on www.hotzone.tv!

Photo Credit: Markus Deutinger