Another weekend and another opening, this time in the incredibly fun glacier resort of Kaunertal. Back for an incredible 35th edition, this year, due to the Covid situation focused its attention to on snow activities, which were given a boost by great snow and a perfect park. The park is known as the half mile jib line and it’s packed full of kickers, jibs and rails that got lapped continuously during two bluebird days.
The Cash for trick session.
The opening weekend got off to a bang with the Sane Snowboarding Session. With € 1,000 Cash up for grabs, given our for individual tricks, the session started off quickly with riders like Zoltan Strcula, Jacco Boss, Davide Boggio, Fabian Fraidl and many more put down hammers on the Jib’n’Skate Playground. The music was provided by Max Glatzl and the riders were hungry to win some cash and subsequently we were witness to an almighty showdown.
Another on snow activity was The testival, which enabled visitors to test the latest equipment free of charge.
Snowpark Kaunertal aka #naturerun is on point like never before
The run of the Snowpark Kaunertal was the best we have seen it before this year. The park starts for the first time at the opening with a kicker x rail x table combo in the upper section and then leads to the second section with a few turns on the slopes, which we all know as the “half mile jib line”. The the set up is on point and many riders were left nursing sore legs after lapping the park continuously.
Over 40 cm of fresh snow fell overnight saturday on the mountain to block the parks visibility but no matter as the two scheduled sessions on Sunday wet down without interruption. We were witnesses to Shred Unit Girls Session and the Soundboks “NO HANGOVER SESSION” powered by Templeton, which both went off as planned.
Art Gallery in the valley
The Kaunertal Opening is best known for its parties as well as it’s snowboarding. As a replacement for the parties that were not taking place due to corona, this year the valley was all about art and culture. The Quellalpin Saal was quickly converted into an art gallery with photographs by the two scene photographers Theo Acworth and Felix Pirker. They provided a cool selection of snowboard pictures taken on international soil.
In addition, the book “BOARDS, a brief history of the Snowboard”, written by Peter Radacher (Snowboardmuseum.com), was opened for a pre-review for the first time. This 230-page book covers the entire historical development of snowboarding. World premiere – where else if not in Kaunertal, which is historically linked to snowboarding.
With the 40 cm of fresh snow, the park will be available in an optimal conditions for the next few days . The park is shaped daily (except for weather-related changes – see social media channels).
The resort of Kaunertal is really fun. With long top to bottom runs and a pristine park, it’s definitely a place you should check out this season. Everyone had to take things mellower this year but have no doubt, soon the Kaunertal Opening will be back and wilder than ever.
