Onboard Blogs - Tom Copsey

Ëëëë Öööö! Wängl Tängl Kicks Off In Mayrhofen.

March 23, 2007 @ 5:06 PM -

Sick parks, epic contests, their own boards and even 18% Wangl beer... Is there anything the Asthetiker can't do?

[Photos:Alex Roberts]

If the Air & Style set the bar for progressive kicker riding this year, the Ästhetiker’s Wängl Tängl has certainly set the bar for progressive, creative park design. This contest's setup is filth!

Now THAT'S a slopestyle park. Check the two cradles.

Last year, this event was one of the highlights of the TTR tour. For this year, if anything, the Austrian crew have stepped it up a notch in terms of the snow sculptures while maintaining their progressive judging criteria from the previous incarnation. Last year, the organisers decreed that they would score down riders who simply did the same trick in their three runs, and reward those who chucked a bit of diversity into the mix. This time round it was pretty much the same, though one of the two scoring runs had to be on the rail line, one on the kickers. The result? Progressive, varied shredding from many of Europe’s bad boys.

Tonton steezing it up it up on the top kicker. He qualified 1st, too.

Shit, I almost forgot. Previously in 2006 we thought the shaping crew had outdone themselves in fashioning a big cradle to finish off with. However, for 07 they had not one but two cradles to hit up, the bottom one requiring airing in and out of. Madness. Apparently it took the shaping crew 2 weeks to get this baby shipshape and they deserve all the props they’ll undoubtedly receive. The combination of lines is huge for such a small area and I can’t begin to describe them. Just check out the shot.

Local boy Ben Wetscher on the front 7 tip

It was qualifiers today and the standard was pretty hot, as was the weather for that matter. Under glorious skies, duders like Kalle Ohlson, Tonton Holland, Jean-Jaques Roux, Wolle Nyvelt, Beckna, The Krölls, Ville Outila and Steve Gruber? were making the curvy white shapes their sweet bitch. The finals are set for tomorrow but word on the street is that it’s going to dump forcing a postponement till Sunday. We’ll see what the weather is saying in the morning but if the worst comes to the worst we’ll just have to go ride powder all day. Ain’t life just a bitch?

Beckna taking the high line on cradle number 2

Riders qualified for Sunday's finals:

1 - Tonton Holland

2 - Kalle Ohlson

3 - JJ Roux

4 - Herbert Thaler

5 - Steve Gruber

6 - Patrick Huber

7 - Rudi Kroll

8 - Jakko Ruha

9 - Werni Stock

10 - Wolle Nyvelt

11 - Ville Uotila

12 - Beckna

13 - Wolfgang Beer

14 - Friedl May

15 - Sam Cullum

16 - Arthur Longo

17 - Mark Swoboda

18 - Quentin Robbins

19 - Reini Rieser

20 - Mone Monsberger

21 - Tomi Savela

22 - Friedl Kolar

23 - Lars Oesterle

24 - L'Arrogs

25 - Louie Purucker

26 - Michael Stanschitz

27 - Henning Marthinsen

28 - Bernd Mandelberger

29 - Peter Strom

30 - Stephan Zeestradt

31 (in place of injured Henning Marthinsen) - Alex Schmalz

More tomorrow...