Hintertux 2014

It has been a rule that we always have to go outside our native village for the first snow and this season wasn’t different. We set off to test the properties of the new PRO models to the Zillertal valley, which is about six and a half hour away and which is well known among Czechs for its Hintertux skiing resort that now offers not only open ski slopes, but mainly, in my opinion, exclusively designed and maintained snowpark whose name Betterpark only highlights the abundance and variety of obstacles placed on the local hill of Olperer.


As always the event was planned at the last minute, but eventually we managed to arrange all formalities and so nothing prevented us from going towards amazing experiences offered by the combination of two words – the Alps and snowscoot.

We could not ask for better weather and so our first views from the windows of the sun-drenched valley evoke in us feelings of desire and urge to grip those damned handlebars again. We put on the latest fads of winter collections, do not hesitate a second and before long we realize that we whizz uphill in a cable car.



After getting off the cable car, we finally get the view everyone had been waiting for eight long months. We tried not to underestimate anything and after several minutes of stretching, as we still remember our experience of the past few years with involuntary massages of our bodies because of the too icy left slope, we choose the more moderate right slope this time, which is far more benevolent to the first ride despite being icy too.



After the first few rides running through the park we see ourselves fit for the first jumps on a smaller line, which consisted of three consecutive slightly increasing jumps immediately followed by a plethora of rails, boxes and tubes; simply everything we could wish for.



We are enjoying all the joys offered by the local sun-lit park with a temperature around zero. Guys are starting to pull out their aces performing tailwhips, barspins, 360s, and tricks of their own and it doesn’t take long and Adam decides to do his first backflip that is unfortunately under rotated.




However, the cameramen on the other side of the jumps are not cool with our performance and focus their telephoto lenses on other Adam’s attempts, which are more and more likely to be rotated well, but with time and fatigue we finally choose the more relaxed style of riding and try to indulge in everything around us.




The shadow slowly covers the last part of the park and since everyone’s physical batteries are almost dead, we slowly pack all our stuff and after mutual agreement we decide to go down to the cable car mid-station on our own. Soon,

however, this decision turned out to be unfortunate. Even though we went down in slow relaxing turns, none of us could see what expected us in the last breaking section of the slope. The fact that fatigue played a major role in our skills does not change the fact that the snow ended with the flat part of the slope and that the steepest 300 meters long part of the slope from the last edge all the way to the mid-station was covered with ice.


Adam and I arrive to the edge as the last ones and the view of our guys and other snowboarders and skiers sliding downhill uncontrollably makes us convinced that we can expect some really tough moments. All our efforts were directed to a single word – SURVIVE. Each of us gradually experienced involuntary body massages by frozen lumps on the sides of the slope, which seemingly should provide at least some adhesion; however, our total resignation to the condition of the slope was clear from our each attempt to stay on the snowscoot. On his buttocks and back sliding down the hill, yet waving at us, Adam managed to elicit a smile on our faces even at those hard times and may be because of that all of us eventually managed to conquer the slope without any major injuries.



Down at the mid-station we all agree that nobody will ever forget this ending. We can only add that all our actions were carefully documented, so you can look forward to a video by Halba Vids that will be available soon.