Hicking and exploring new lines

Sorry that I didn't found the time to give you some updates :-)
but here we go...
what did I do the last few weeks? Aside from learning for another exam and some other mandatory responsibilities I had some nice film days including some treeruns and a really interesting nightsession too... And what's better than hicking up some venues, getting more and more away from the smoggy, noisy & stressy city, diving into absolute silence, taking deep breaths of the clean mountain air, feeling the sun shining on your face and the pleasant anticipation for the rewarding ski run down after reaching the top :-) sounds a little bathetic, but that's the way it is!

So enough words now, just watch through the pix, they are self-explanatory...



Oh I nearly forgot to say taht the guy with the yellow jacket is Joi, a really good ski buddy..

...3, 2, 1, straightline :-)

good hicking skins are indispensable, I can really recommend those from Kohla...

...climbing up some steep tight couloir, in really solid and stable snow...

...then we had to install our rope to catch the good old pow pow on the north sided slope...

so what should I say more, than every step was worth it !!

to be continued :-)

Nendaz 3* FWQ

Last weekend was the Nendaz 3 star Qualifier in the french part of Swizerland. I got a ski starting place in the open... so after after a few traffic jams on the highway around Zürich, nearly no space in the car and 7,5h later we arrived in Nendaz. Which is a really nice little village in a typical old swiss style :-) The next day was the open, where we were able to choose two out of three contestfaces. It didn't take me a long time to decide which faces I would like to go. So the first one was not very long, but steep and with a lot of features in it. A couple of lift rides and a 40min hike later I was on the top and ready to go. But there was a first come, first serve system so I had to watch some riders going down first. Finaly the starter gave me the countdown to go... The venue was a bit steeper than I expected it, but it was fun to ride and I had a very good run.

The second face was a little bit longer and we were only allowed to do the inspection from the side (which was somehow strange). At the top I had to wait about an hour watching one going down after another... I had a good feeling about the line that I had chosen... a fast line with 3 drops and the highest in the middle... so I droped in, a few turns and first drop. The landing wasnt soft at all, but still good to land... I knew I had to do two big turns and then to the right to get to the next cliff... I dont know why but I missed this entry and went too late to the right side, so there was only the last small drop left and in the end I just had a solid, fast, but not really spectacular run...

In sum I got 19th of ca. 65 ski competitors, but only 12 were chosen for the final... so I'm pretty sure if I wouldn't have missed that cliff, I would have been really close or maybe in the final... but at least I got the reassurance to be able to compete on ski too :-) thats nice!!! So the next day I brought some beer up to the mountain to watch the final... which was a really great show!!! Cool to watch!!!


Alex in the middle part of the final face


Me and Joi watching the show...

... and also Check out my two runs on video...

DCR at Nendaz 3star FWQ from Daniel Regensburger on Vimeo.

Pitztal Wildface

After some snow yesterday we had a beautiful weather and good conditions today.
The Pitztal Wildface is a offpiste time race with 6 direction gates and a vertical drop of (a bit more than) 1500m and 4,6km length...

This view shows the whole run from the top of the mountain to the scott tent

after I saw some crashes from the starting gate, I expected difficult conditions, especially with my high starting number, so I decided to go for a fluid but safe run...
while my run I figured out that it was much more exhausting than I expected it, so the real challenge was to keep on skiing fast over all the tracked terrain, but I made it to the 7th place!
In a time of 08:31.91min

Congratulations to Alex, who won the Snowboard ranking and Fabi "a.k.a. Junior" who got 3rd on Skiis!

Junior at the first few meters of his run

All in all it was a cool, but massive exhausting day :-) now I have some days to prepair for the Nendaz 3 star qualifier in Nendaz, which will be next weekend...

the stuff I trust in

Marmot:
Mountain Down Jacket - Forest/Dk Cedar
Spire Pant - Cilantro
Ultimate Ski Glove - True Black
Scott:
Fullface Helmet - Black
Snowblind Goggle - Alias Frame
Flakes Backbag - Blue
Arbor:
Coda Snowboard 165

Marmot:
Troll Wall Jacket - Black
Cargo Pant - Cayenne
XT Glove
Scott:
Fission Helmet - White Stripe
The Fix Goggle - Blue
Flakes Backbag - Blue
Team Issue Poles - Green
Pure 193 Ski

Scott:
Vest Protector
Shorts Protector

contest week

Last week I started the contest season and went to the 3 star FWQ Engadin snow, which is always one of the best organized and most fun competitions each winter. This year I got the opportunity to start in the Ski Open too, so I was super motivated and wanted to show that I'm able to ski at the same level as the others. In short I wanted to reach the final, so I decided to set everything on one card... Either I stomp that cliff and I'm in, or I crash and I'm out...


So I was really focused on my drop, which had a little flat landing, so I needed to land it as clean as possible and all the power my legs could effort ... So I went of this cliff with good speed to minimize the bomb effect, but it was still a really hard impact (after 12m), which pressed me down for a butcheck, but I came up again and was still on my skis, fighting against the side rotation I got from the landing. For a second it felt like everything went good, but the rotation impulse was so strong, that I got pushed of my skis and started to thumble... f*** :-)

Anyway, there are really impressive mountains around St. Moritz ... the one in the middle is the famous bianco spine of the Piz Bernina.

The day after was the Final on the north face of mount Corvatsch. At the first view the face didn't look that bad, but there was much wind in it and the conditions were changing from icy crusts to compact snow to powder nearly all 20 meters. So you never knew what the next turn would look like... Because ot that I tried to ride safe, fluent and without any bigger drops. But the extremely flat light and the dispersed snow of the heli didn't make it easier... Finally I crashed in the outrun, so my run was nothing special at all...

Next stop was the Fieberbrunn Big Mountain 3 star Qualifier Final. Unfortunately the Open was cancelled, so I didn't got the opportunity to fight for a startingplace on ski. But I was set for the final on snowboard, where I've chosen a steep technical start and a speedy second half. So I managed the technical part pretty good, althought there was not much snow left for me but everything went good, till this medium size drop in the bottom third. I had a good feeling in the air and was sure that I'll stomp it, but when I landed my nose went under the snow and I thumled... so the run was fucked up and I was pretty frustrated in the outrun, I just wanted to get out of there...
In the picture you can see my line drawn in...

Despite of me, Max rode a really good line and won the competition, Congratulations! For more details look at http://maxzipser.com/
... therefore we partied all night long.

... so here is a POV compilation of some small treeruns, the Engadin Open and the Fieberbrunn Final ... enjoy

POV Latschenschlacht, Engadin Open, Fieberbrunn Final from Daniel Regensburger on Vimeo.