4* FWQ Big Mountain Hochfügen 2015 | Report

The initial situation

Like the rest of Austria, Hochfügen has not yet been blessed with the hoped-for snowfall this season. As a result, it was announced in advance that the contest could not be held on the classic contest slope of the "east face" this year, but only the front slope, which is more inclined to the sun, could be used.

When we had our first look at the "new" face, we immediately realized why the team had made this decision. In particular, the lower, technical part of the traditional slope had virtually no snow base and the upper part looked heavily blown in and therefore not safe enough for a contest.

Nonetheless, the new, slightly shorter face also promised good action and challenging lines.

Friday

As usual, all the riders gathered in the morning for the first obligatory riders' meeting and initial concerns were expressed about the not-so-good weather forecast for Saturday. However, the local meteorologists announced a sufficiently long weather window for tomorrow and so the contest was fixed for Saturday for the time being. The subsequent face check turned out to be difficult due to the weather conditions and not particularly productive due to the fog - we soon headed back down to the valley.

In the evening, we headed up to the 8er Alm, where we were greeted with live music and mulled wine. At the traditional riders' dinner, the start numbers were allocated and we were treated to a delicious feast. As usual, it was a relaxed, enjoyable evening, which was also used for entertaining conversations with friends we hadn't seen for a long time - that's how every contest weekend should start.

In the men's snowboard Thomas Feuerstein (AUT) showed that he had more than earned his wildcard and demonstrated what playful snowboarding means with several tricks and grabs. This is what a winning run and a leader in the Austrian Freeride Series should look like. Just one point behind, with a creative line in the steeper section and a flowing run, Germany's Johannes Schnitzer took second place. The last place on the podium was secured by Nikolas Hollsten (FIN), whose run was also clean but had technical sections.

The women's ski podium also turned out to be international: third place went to Sweden's Evelina Nilson, whose skiing was fluid and technically demanding as usual. Second place went to France: Laure Vallie, with the last starting number, used the remaining snow in the right part of the face to her advantage. Arianna Tricomi (ITA) earned the victory with a cliff-interspersed line and a fast, aggressive skiing style. As a result, she leads the overall standings of the qualifier series by some distance and is already almost unassailable at the top in the early contest season - we're already looking forward to the FWT 2016!

The fourth completely international podium in the Women's Snowboard was made up as follows: Third place went to Finland with Liisa Korpela; it was close at the front - Austrian Manuela Mandl (now first in the Austrian Freeride Series) secured victory just ahead of Maria Kuzma from New Zealand.

Conclusion

The fresh snow and good weather once again made the contest a highlight and the spectators and judges were treated to a great show. Luck wasn't on our side this time, but we can start the rest of the contest season all the more motivated. So the Big Mountain Hochfügen remains our favorite contest and I think everyone involved will also have very positive memories - we are already looking forward to next year.