Standort: fm4.ORF.at / Meldung: "A Party in the Sun"

Chris Cummins

Letters from a shrinking globe: around the day in 80 worlds.

11. 3. 2012 - 09:39

A Party in the Sun

The Austrian Freeski Open celebrated its 10th edition with an orgy of sunshine and spectacular tricks.

The sky above the Kitzsteinhorn glacier was a rich spring blue and the giant parcours of the 10th Austrian Freeski Open, shaped out of this year's abundant snow, was glistening in the morning sun. With six obstacles, including rails and two giant jumps, the slopestyle course looked fearsome to me, with kickers the size of two-story buildings. But as the other skiers put in final practice runs, one of the big favourites Jossi Wells, a freeski icon at the age of 21, was looking longingly and somewhat glumly at a giant rail that looked like an oil pipeline. For him, this playground was off limits today. "I`m bummed," he said.

jossi wells gets treatment

chris cummins

Jossi Wells gets treatment. Photo: Chris Cummins

The New Zealander, whose Reality TV series Winter of Wells was seen by hundreds of thousands of people and brought his niche sport to a wider audience, had injured his ankle at a big air show in neighbouring Zell am See a few days earlier. Sadly, two days of rest hadn't fixed the problem, which had troubled him in the past, and he was forced to sit out the jubilee event. "It`s more than just frustrating," he told me, "I came up hoping to ski today, but after a couple of practice runs I knew it just wasn't going to happen."

His absence left the field open to other stars of the international field, all of them looking for a confidence boost ahead on next week's European X-Games in Tignes France as well as some welcome points on the World Tour. The AFSO is a "gold" event with big rewards up for grabs for the overall standings.

I rode a chairlift up with Well`s teammate at Atomic, the 2011 winner, 25-year old Andreas Hatveit from Norway, who was impressed with the length of the course. "It means you get some diversity into your run and show the judges what you can really do," he said. He was riding despite a serious cartilage injury in his knee which was causing him pain on the hard rails: "But it`s a beautiful day and I love this event."

jumping in kaprun

Matthias Rhomberg)

Best Austrian was Toni Höllwarth. Photo: Matthias Rhomberg

Wells, who had volunteered to be my expert guide since he wasn't taking part, pointed out how I should try and spot the winner for myself. After 3 trips to this event it was high time! Fluidity is a key aspect The judges want the riders to make their run look easy, landing each jump perfectly. According to Jossi Wells the competition gets more "cut-throat" at the top each year and this year there were at least eight to ten skiers in with a realistic shot of taking the title. So the winner would have to show something special.

"If they want to be on the podium they`ll have to do double corks in each direction on those two final jumps," he said. A double cork is when the skier goes upside down twice in one jump.

"A lot of the guys will be doing 1080s or 1260s, so that is three or three and a half rotations of the body while going upside down." Sounds insane? It looks that way too!

Marty "McFly" Winker, the godfather of the freeski sport here in Austria has organised the Austrian Freeski Open since its humble beginnings in the Bregenzerwald a decade ago. But he admits that even he struggles to spot the difference between a great jump and a winning jump. "Sometimes it is just the difference of a half-metre extra height or length on the jumps. Or because one rider is marked down for a tiny unsynchronised movement of the arm. It is so tight at the top nowadays." Jossi Wells says that tight competition is what is driving up the standards at competitions at a dizzying rate. You can't relax, comfortable with the well rehearsed tricks in up your sleeve, because the competition never sleeps.

This makes freeskiing a spectacular sport but also means it remains a dangerous one. There was a moment of panic when top Swiss rider Elias Ambrühl misjudged his landing off the high rail, hit his head awkwardly and lay motionless in the snow. There was a gasp of horror from the crowd then that eerie silence as trainers and medics rushed to the scene. Fortunately it was just shock. We breathed a sigh of relief as Ambrühl slowly sat up and groggily waved to the crowd. Amazingly he was back on his feet, skiing down.

But this winter showed just how high the risks are when the world`s best female freeskier Sarah Burke died of head injuries she sustained during a training accident in Utah. She was just 29. The freeski world lost a charismatic front-woman, one of the sport`s pioneers who was seemingly admired and liked by everyone on the scene.

The night before I`d had dinner with the Finn Pekka Hyysalo, previously one of the top riders on the world tour, and a regular competitor at the Austrian Freeski Open, who had suffered severe neurological damage after a fall two years ago. His speech is still slow and he walks with a bad limp, very deliberately placing one foot in front of the other as he wobbled around the finish area.

But he was back in Kaprun, enjoying the sunshine, signing autographs from for freeski fans and having fun his friends from the scene and even skiing a bit. It was perhaps the most welcome sight of the day. The crash has cost him part of his memory but not his sense of humour. Pekka was laughing at what a mess he made of the fans jackets with his rather clumsy signature. It was great to see him back smiling and it was great to see the love extended towards him from the rest of the scene. "I am a positive thinker," Pekka told me, "I even inspire myself".

Back on the slopes the competition was fierce. I was proud to note that a compatriot of mine, a Brit, had made it to the elite group of ten finalists. James "Woodsy" Woods is one of the world´s best riders despite learning his skills on the north English dry ski slope in his native Sheffield. "It`s a kind of carpet material with bristles like a toothbrush." he explained, a mane-like fringe shooting out from under his helmet, "The best thing to compare it to is ice - you slide a bit then your edges catch."

It is a long way from the former slag-heap in Sheffield to the glorious Alpine panorama above Kaprun. As part of the global elite, Woodsy lives out of a suitcase nowadays, filming and taking part in competitions. "It`s a strange life," he said, "But I love it and this is one of my favourite stops."

I wasn't able to celebrate a patriotic victory, alas. Woodsy made a mistake on the deciding run in the final and finished 7th and declaring himself disappointed with his performance. The winner was once again the Norwegian Andreas Hatveit who beat world tour points leader Gus Kenworthy into second place.

hatveit in action

Matthias Rhomberg

Andreas Hatveit wins with a spectacular jump. Photo: Matthias Rhomberg

Even to the untrained eye, Hatveit was a cut above the rest on the day - quite literally as he got massive air on his jumps. For the technicians among you, I gathered from commentator Nico Zacek that the winning combination was "a right-sided double cork" followed by a "switch double 12". What that mean to me was an explosive, tumbling, spinning, air-hanging, belief-defying piece of acrobatics and a smiling Norwegian on the top of the podium again and announcing that he loved Austria - even declaring our mountainous home his "favourite country in Austria" -and swearing would definitely come back next year in search of the hat-trick.

Clean-living, religious Hatveit, who will return to Norway soon for knee surgery and the birth of this first son, is one of the most charming characters on the world tour - modest and approachable. You`d expect him to be among the favourites when slope-style and half-pipe skiing is included at the next Olympics in Sochi Russia in 2014.

Matthias Rhomberg

Photo: Matthias Rhomberg

Kiwi Jossi Wells is excited about this new road ahead for his sport. He described the Olympics as the "pinnacle" of sport and a showcase opportunity to show a broader public what he and his colleagues can do.

"But we are a bit wary too," he admitted. "We love this sport and where it has been and we hope going intot the mainstream at the Olympics doesn't change it too much."

Many in the scene think that some previously underground freestyle competitions such as the moguls and aerials have lost their cavalier soul since they went Olympic. But which athlete doesn't want to perform on the biggest stage. It will be an interesting couple of years. It would be sad if the family atmosphere that currently reigns in the scene is lost.

But what about the future of the Austrian Freeski Open - now considered the most important freeski competition in Europe after the European X-games? The organiser Martin Winkler described the finals day of the 10th edition as one of the happiest days of his life. His baby has grown big and strong. "When we started in 2003 in the Bregenzerwald no-one could have known how fast it would grow," he told me.

As for the developments of the coming decade, he is remaining mum: "I don't know what the next years will bring and I don't even want to know. I want to be surprised."

His heavily-bearded face broke into a wide smile, lit up by the dying sunrays of a long day up on the glacier "But I know this: it`s going to be a great journey."