What a season kick-off at Betterpark Hochzillertal! More than one hundred riders gathered in the Zillertal on December 17th and 18th to herald the start of the snowpark season with the second Zillertal Välley Rälley hosted by Ride Snowboards tourstop in the first holiday region of the Zillertal. Beside freebie freestyle coachings, also avalanche safety workshops were on top of the agenda for the popular snowboard amateur series. In the freestyle competition, snowboarders from all over Europe were pushing the limits far beyond amateur levels. You should not miss out on Andreas MonEpic Monsberger´s little recap video: 

Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY 2016/2017 hosted by Ride Snowboards 2. Tourstop Hochzillertal "Betterpark" from Ästhetiker on Vimeo.

With the second Zillertal Välley Rälley hosted by Ride Snowboards stage, the Ästhetiker traditionally celebrated the reopening of the Betterpark Hochzillertal just on the last weekend before Christmas with a bang.

Teams and amateurs from all over Europe met up at the Betterpark on Saturday, 17th of December to call in a beautiful bluebird Coaching and Training Day on the perfectly shaped setup at Hochzillertal Kaltenbach. Beside freestyle coaching sessions with the Ästhetiker, new Välley Rälley partner Billabong brought up free avalanche safety workshops with Wolle Nyvelt and certified mountain guide Manfred Brandacher. At the Limbo RIDE fun session the best performances “under the bar” were rewarded with loads of prizes from Ride Snowboards. Andreas MonEpic Monsberger captured Saturday´s action on a followcam onetake for all those who missed out on the action: 

Zillertal Välley Rälley hosted by Ride Snowboards “Hochzillertal - Betterpark” onetake followcam from Ästhetiker on Vimeo.

The startlist for Sunday´s competition counted a Välley Rälley record number of one hundred riders. With the second of four results, the Välley Rälley overall rankings take a different shape and all competitors collect points in the World Snowboard Tour Ranking and N.ASA Austriacups, as well. In the contest, riders were pushing the limits once again and delivered a great show of progressive snowboarding. The podium winners were finally crowned at the infamous Kristallhuette Zillertal. All medalists took home prize money and prizes from Ride Snowboards, Billabong, Black Eye, Dana Beanies and Greenroom Mayrhofen.

In the super groms categories, Heli Bockhorni from Germany and Lewis Hopkinson from team GBR won the gold medals. With Annika Morgan and Gabe Adams, another German girl and British boy made it to the top of the groms podiums. Masha Maslo from Belarus was happy to take victory in the rookie girls class while German high-flyer Leon Guetl dominated the all-German rookie boys podium. Melina Merkhoffer, also from Germany, won the women´s competition. With Moritz Amsuess finally an Austrian rider landed in first place on the men´s podium. 9-year old Oliver Sebasta from Slovakia got rewarded “most impressive Grom of the Day” and Ben Theunissen from Belgium raked in the Billabong Best Trick award and a complete Billabong outerwear combo with his impressive “tailslide to nosepick to 270 out.”

Martha Schultz from the Schultz Group and Marketing Director of Hochzillertal Kaltenbach is delighted about another sucessfull outcome of the event: „Big Thanks to the Ästhetiker team, they are professionals at work! We are delighted that the event could take place as planned and with perfect conditions! The vibe was already magnificent at the registration in the office! Austria needs more events like that, it is all about sharing the passion for a great sport!“

The Betterpark Hochzillertal will be open from now on until mid April. All info and updates on www.hochzillertal.com

Partners of the 2nd tourstop: Zillertal.at, Ride Snowboards, Billabong, Hochzillertal Kaltenbach, Tourismusverband Erste Ferienregion im Zillertal, N.ASA, Greenroom Mayrhofen, Black Eye, Dana Beanies, Kristallhuette Zillertal

All info, full results and rankings available at Zillertal.at