First "Crädle" in snowboard contest.

26th March, Mayrhofen, Austria.

The final 4(four) Star stop on the 05/06 TTR World Snowboard Tour produced an electrified final in one of the most creative slopestyle courses yet seen on Tour. Nicknamed 'Mix of Trix', the Ästhetiker Wängl Tängl, hosted in Mayrhofen, Austria, fused a multi-lined riding infrastructure with a testing contest format. The combination of 700 TTR Ranking points and 10,000 Euro guaranteed explosive riding as 20 invited riders met 20 riders qualified from the TTR 3(three) Star event, the Ästhetiker Shred Down, held recently in Westendorf, Austria. The result was a riding level rarely seen at a snowboard contest.

The Ästhetiker crew, consisting of World renowned, Austrian pro snowboarders, dedicate considerable time and energy in an already busy season to develop a contest infrastructure and format that epitomises the riders for riders concept. The slopestyle course, an enlargement of the highly respected Burton Snowpark maintained all season on the Penken, provided a plethora of options and lines for competing riders.  The main triple kicker line fed into the unique 'Crädle' feature. Developed by Wolle Nyvelt and Roli Schwaninger, inspired by the same feature in the Brixlegg skate park at the end of the Zillertal Valley. The 'Crädle' introduced a never seen before feature into the contest structure. A gap transfer and hip options added even more possibilities, all needed where the judging format was based on riders not repeating the same line twice.

Friday's Quarter's were hampered by strong winds and low light. Safety and speed concerns force organizers to close the lower section of the park. This included the main kicker and the long-awaited 'Crädle' session. Sick riding in the Quarter's ended up as a battle between the local Ästhetiker crew of Chris and Rudi Kröll, creator of the 'Crädle', Wolle Nyvelt, Tommy 'Beckna' Eberharter, Steve Gruber, Friedl Kolar and Stefan Gimpl battling with the marauding Finish crew including Ville Uotila, Tomi Savela, Jaako Ruha, Heppu Penti, and Aleski Vanninen. New Zealand's Quentin Robbins and Switzerland's Anthony 'Tonton' Holland also made short work of the Quarter's, joining the 30 riders going through to Saturday's final.

Weather forecasts suggested much of the same heading into Saturday, however the morning brought mostly blue skies and no wind. Reports from other mountains in the region told of heavy weather approaching. Patchy conditions affected the two heats in the Semi Finals slightly, but it seemed that nothing was going to stop the riding level that intensified run by run. The judging format focused on riders demonstrating a riders entire arsenal of tricks - put simply a 'Mix of Trix'. Judges were looking for different grabs, different direction rotations and different lines. The riders did not disappoint, milking every feature at their disposal in the process of throwing down every trick combo imaginable. The 'Crädle' itself provided no less than 8 riding options. It could be hit as a f/s or b/s hip on both shoulders, or as a b/s or f/s pipe wall, or circle navigated in either direction.

A total of eleven riders made it to the Super Final after an impressive Steve Gruber bruised his foot had to withdraw.  A four run, best two count, huck-fest was set to explode. First man out of the gates was Stefan Gimpl, who set the bar for the remaining no-holds-barred Super Final. With a huge switch b/s 5 to b/s 9 to massive f/s 9 to Haakonflip in the Cradle, it was hard to imagine a better run was possible.. But the day was certainly not over! What ensued was nothing short of madness.

It is impossible to list all of the tricks or lines in the finals, but this is a list of some of the runs of the day (in no particular order):

Stefan Gimpl went huge all day, stomping a f/s 7 to b/s 5 to cab 9 to Mctwist in the Cradle and followed it up with a 50/50 to cab 5 gap transfer to shifty 3 to f/s air out of the Cradle.

Tomi Savela was the style master all day, sickest grabs, tweaks and pokes he landed a switch b/s 5 to f/s 7 to b/s 7 to f/s air in the Cradle and a cab 5 to f/s 7 to b/s 5 mellon to switch Mctwist - possibly run of the day.

Chris Kroell, who had knocked himself out the day before, was a machine stomping cab 5 to f/s 7 to b/s 9 to full cradle and then a f/s 5 to switch b/s 5 to b/s 7 to full Cradle.

Wolle Nyvelt, who probably would have won any other contest with lines including a backside board slide to fakie to switch b/s 7 gap transfer to cab 9 and almost coming out of his Cradle at full speed and a b/s 5 to switch b/s 7 to cab 9 to upside down in the Cradle.

Tommy 'Beckna' Eberharter shredded everything, throwing down a front side board slide to huge b/s 7 gap transfer to f/s 3 to full Cradle air to disaster re-entry - the Cradle trick of the day - sick!

Jaakko Ruha was a tech rotation master stomping a b/s 7 to f/s 9 to switch b/s 9 to Cradle followed next run by a switch b/s 7 to cab 9 to big b/s 7 to b/s hip entry into the Cradle.

Ville Uotila, who had spun all four 9's on all features in the main line by the finals, pulled out a b/s 7 to f/s 9 to switch b/s 9 to f/s 5 in the Cradle followed by a f/s 9 to cab 7 to swich b/s 9 to f/s 7 in the Cradle.

In what must be one of the finals of the season, it was certainly not a good day to be a judge. Less than 4 points separated the top four riders with a two equalled in first place and one point separating third. An agonizing hour review by the judges of each run eventually identified the final result. A very stoked Ville Uotila's non-stop tech wizardry taking out the '06 title at the Ästhetiker Wängl Tängl. Judges could not distinguish between the power perfection of Gimpl and subliminal style of Savela, resulting in a tied second place. Uotila's first place also earnt him 700 TTR Ranking points moving him ahead of Jussi Oksanen and Chris Kroell into top 15 on the TTR World Snowboard Tour rankings.

A sick contest, and even sicker Ästhetiker party, as local legends, Ciela, rocked a 2000 strong crowd, before surprise guests, four MC crew, Texta, started hip hop madness taking the night to, and well past 4:20 am. No doubt one of the best hip hop concerts this reporter has ever been to. An incredible snowboarding weekend - and undoubtedly, a 'Mix of Trix'!.

Thanks to the Mayrhofner Bergbahnen and the Tourismus-Verband Mayrhofen, the sponsors, Vans, Red Bull, Burton, Tirol, Suzuki. Stefan and the Burton Park shaping crew

Top 6 Results
TTR 4(four) Star - Ästhetiker Wängle Tängle

Rank    Name            Nat    Sponsors                             TTR pts   
1.     Uotila, Ville        FIN    Head, Bolle                          700.00 pts
2.     Gimpl, Stefan    AUT    F2, O'Neill                           659.61 pts
2.    Savela, Tomi      FIN    Icon, Electric, 32, Nivit         659.61 pts
4.    Ruha, Jakko       FIN    Nitro                                    607.64 pts
5.     Kroell, Chris      AUT    Voelkl, SP, Adidas                 589.68 pts
5.    Nyvelt, Wolfgang AUT  Salomon, Billabong, Dragon  589.68 pts

Special Äwards :

Best Trick:         Aleski Vanninen (f/s 1080)
Best Cradle:     Tommy 'Beckna' Eberharter (Cradle air to disaster re-entry)
Best Gap Transfer:Reini Reiser (Switch b/s 7)
Best Style:        Tomi Savela
Best Hip:        Chris Kroell (b/s 180 transfer)
Best Park:        Stefan Plattner, Bergbahnen (Burton Park Mayrhofen)

Complete results and TTR World Snowboard Tour current rankings check: www.ttrworldtour.com.

Article by Drew Stevenson - CEO, TTR World Snowboard Tour
[email protected]