We have a short review of the Open Faces FWQ stops in Axamer Lizum and Kappl for you by rider reporters Jochen Mesle and Julian Zenzmaier. The Freeride World Qualifier in Axams was held as a 3* event for the first time this year and put on a correspondingly big show. Exactly one week later, the third stop in Kappl (2*) also took place. The contest face on the Quellspitze, already known as a Freeride World Tour alternative location, had great snow conditions right to the end thanks to its good slope location (south-east), so nothing stood in the way of the contest taking place.
We knew in advance that we would have an extremely strong starting field for a 2* contest. Where last year almost exclusively riders from Austria took part, this year several nations were represented. The winner of the last stop of the Open Faces events, Kiwi Neil Williman, had also announced his participation at short notice and wanted to make up for his crash at the Freeride World Tour (on the same face).
It was announced early on that the contest would not take place on Saturday as planned, but would be postponed to Sunday due to the stable weather conditions. This gave us the opportunity to take a closer look at the contest face from below and from the side (perfectly visible from the 4-seater chair Alblittkopf) on Saturday and also to enjoy a few fine runs in the rest of the area.
On Sunday, the time had come: We had to arrive at the valley station of the Kappl cable cars at 7:15 am for accreditation and we were given our start numbers (both relatively far back on the start list, so the planned lines were adjusted a little). We then quickly made our way up the mountain and had a short but very informative riders' meeting about the terrain, snow conditions, procedure, etc.
Because of our late start numbers, we were unfortunately not able to see many of the other athletes' runs live, but in the 'public area' you quickly realized that the level was very high. Many had read up on the Freeride World Tour runs published on the internet on the same face and were able to use this to their advantage.
There were a few surprises in the men's skiing. Although the favorite Neil Williman was able to secure 2nd place with a massive backflip (which later earned him the title of Style King), victory went to Austrian Sefan Jöchl. Stefan impressed the judges the most with very long jumps and a fluid line: "That was my best run this year. I got everything down exactly as I had planned. I took a bit of inspiration from the line of Freeride World Tour rider Sam Smoothy. Where he showed a double, I jumped a triple." Third place also went to an Austrian - Matthias Kurzthaler secured his place on the podium with a creative line choice with a double cliff drop.
"My fellow reporter, Julian 'TheKing' Zenzmaier, came 6th and therefore deserves to start the next stop in Silvretta-Montafon as the current leader in the Austrian Freeride Series with the "golden bib"."
"Jochen (Mesle) showed a perfect 360 at the top, but unfortunately crashed further down on a backflip attempt after a turn that was set too low, which cost him too much speed, too bad!"
Three Austrians made it onto the podium in the men's snowboarding category this year. First place went to Thomas Feuerstein, who got an insane score of 95 points with a huge double-cliff at the end of the Quellspitze: "I actually chose my B-line today, the safe option, but it worked out great for me. It's something very special to show up on this face. Before I came here, I took another close look at the lines of the World Tour riders and thought it was a really cool face. I was very excited to be able to ride it myself", explains Thomas Feuerstein.
In second place was Marcel Loschin with a creative line, which he was clearly delighted with. Third place went to Alexander Hoffmann from Innsbruck - his second podium this year (after the 4* in Hochfügen).
The reigning Austrian champion Katharina Schuler chose a similar line to Nadine Wallner's FWT victory in Kappl a few weeks earlier. After two perfect drops and a fluid, technically good rum, she said later at the finish: "I'm totally happy. I found my jumps well and landed really well. It was simply the perfect run for me today and after the disappointment in the Lizum it was great for my confidence."
Johanna Bogner from Germany and Lena Attorresi from Italy completed the podium. Khantutita Ramos Coca from Austria won the women's snowboard competition with a clear lead ahead of Liisa Korpela from Finland and Siobhan Challis, also from Austria.
Conclusion
The competitions in Axams and Kappl remain very positive memories for us as riders - both times there was perfect, sunny weather and a great atmosphere on the mountain. The contest face in Kappl has grown very close to our hearts and we are already looking forward to next season. The organizers of the Open Faces have already indicated that the face definitely deserves more stars and that we might be able to look forward to a 3* event.
Video of the event
