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The White Ring | The Weekend

A successful race even without a race

by Timo Macvan 02/06/2023
At the end of January, I was supposed to take part in the legendary White Ring, the ski and snowboard race through the extensive ski area of Lech. Unfortunately, the event had to be canceled due to the weather. The race weekend took a completely different but exciting direction. I got a little insight into the freeride history of Lech Zürs and was able to pick up a few powder turns.

Freeride pioneer Sepp Bildstein

Sepp Bildstein - a name that most people probably won't recognize at first. I was the same until recently. Nevertheless, he has probably influenced many people more than we might realize. Sepp Bildstein was a pioneer in the field of freeriding in two respects!

He was born at the end of the 19th century and is considered a pioneer who was ahead of his time when it came to skiing. He lived and acted according to the motto "higher, faster further" and was already skiing steep gullies in the early 20th century. He loved dusty deep snow and was not afraid of sharp rocks or jumping over rooftops. All this at a time when gondolas and lifts were just as much a foreign concept as helmets, ski goggles or hardshell jackets and pants!

It was precisely this passion for skiing that led him to build the first T-bar lift in Austria together with Emil Doppelmayr (I'm sure we've all read his surname before) after completing his technical studies in Graz in 1937. The Zürsersee T-bar lift was built in what is now the Vorarlberg part of the world-famous freeride mecca on the Arlberg around the two villages of Lech and Zürs. Over the following two decades, Bildstein built further T-bar and chairlifts, creating a ski circuit between Lech and Zürs. This is known as the "White Ring". It is here that the race of the same name is held once a year in honor of Sepp Bildstein.

The weather can't be changed

The White Rings was to be my first competition on a snowboard and I was accordingly motivated when I drove to Lech on Friday morning (20.1.23) with a few colleagues, where we were allowed to stay overnight. The board underwent a very thorough service beforehand! When I arrived in Lech, I picked up the race jersey and some documents.

On site, it snowed moderately but constantly throughout Friday. On Saturday morning at breakfast, I received the first information by text message that the start would have to be postponed by an hour due to the snowfall and visibility. However, I was still drawn out to the lift early to try out the butter-soft slopes before everyone else. My fresh board and I really enjoyed the 10 cm of fresh snow on the groomed slopes. Me and my board were ready for the race. However, due to the fresh snow on the piste and the poor visibility, the race organizers decided to cancel the race, mainly because the rescue helicopter would not have been able to fly in an emergency in these conditions. A little disappointed but understanding, I spent the day without a race in the ski resort. Unlike the canceled race, the parties in the evening went ahead without any disruptions, although they were rather sparsely attended after the early cancellation. So I headed back to the hotel early to be fit for the next day.

Bluebird Pow on the Arlberg

Another highlight awaited me the next day! After two days of moderate but constant snowfall, it cleared up completely the next morning - I had a Bluebird Powderday ahead of me! Together with a local guide, I was able to explore the world-famous backcountry on the Arlberg. After finding some really nice slopes to warm up on in the Zürs area, we headed over to Stuben. A dreamlike picture opened up here: It had snowed a touch more here than on the other side and, due to the light cloud cover, there was hardly anyone out and about apart from us. In the days before, it had been around -20°C and in the shady exposure of the slope, we found powder snow like I had never seen before this season. The 20 to 30 cm of very loose fresh snow on the Albonagrat led to unexpected face shots with a loss of visibility lasting seconds. One or two places were still a bit sharky. This didn't spoil the fun of the experience, but it was a bit uncomfortable for the board and rider on harder turns.

A big thank you to Lech Zürs Tourismus for the weekend, especially to Victoria for the organization and René for the day in the powder!

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This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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