Kappl

The snow and weather conditions are not making it easy for the organizing team of the Open Faces Freeride Series this season. Instead of holding the contest as planned on the Freeride World Tour-proven, beautiful Quellspitze, a replacement face had to be found at short notice due to the snow conditions. In addition, it was even necessary to change the zoning and the start of FWQ** and FJT** on the day of the contest. The visibility conditions were not the best either ...

Due to an avalanche after a fall of the second starter Julien Lopez, the competition in Kappl (replacement for the competition in Fieberbrunn, which was canceled on Saturday) was also canceled on Tuesday. But the most important thing: Julien is fine.

After the contest was moved to the replacement face, there was only enough snow for the women's skiing. The men's and women's snowboard and men's ski competitions had to be postponed to Kappl on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at 8:30 am. On the face in Fieberbrunn, which was peppered with pines and stones, many skiers had difficulties last Saturday and in the end the ladies who were able to calculate the risk correctly and finish their run safely came out on top.

The Open Faces focus on young talent: Two of the three FWT junior competitions taking place in Austria in 2015 will be held as part of the Open Faces Contests in Kappl (18.01.2015) and on the Hochkönig (08.02.2015).

Winter has passed and the season is over. What happened to my big mission? A look back.

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 the good slope location (south-east), so nothing stood in the way of the contest taking place.

The small ski resort of Kappl in the Paznaun Valley has been a household name for most freeriders since the Freeride World Tour stop was relocated from Fieberbrunn to the Quellspitze. Reason enough to introduce you to the short tour to the summit, where even non-pros get their money's worth...

Due to the difficult snow conditions on the Wildseeloder in Fieberbrunn, the third stop of the FWT, also the 10th anniversary edition of the Big Mountain Fieberbrunn, took place this time in the Paznaun Valley on the Quellspitze in Kappl. Despite the last-minute relocation and the unfamiliar slope, the freeriders performed impressively in the sunshine and challenging snow conditions. The winners were Sam Smoothy (NZL) for the skiers, Sammy Luebke (USA) for the snowboarders, Nadine Wallner (AUT) for the skiers and Shannan Yates (USA) for the snowboarders.

No big surprise: the second Open Faces tour stop in Kappl has unfortunately also had to be postponed due to a lack of snow.

Ischgl at the beginning of March, the last snowfall was almost three weeks ago and a foehn storm is forecast for the coming days. So we use the remaining foehn-free day to go on an extensive ski tour through the Ischgl backcountry.

The Paznaun offers everything a winter sports enthusiast's heart desires. Every ability level will find the perfect terrain to ride here; for ski tourers, off-piste skiers or freeriders.

Good conditions at the second attempt: The contest originally scheduled for February had to be postponed due to poor visibility and could now be held on 16.03.2013. This time, the mountains in the Paznaun valley had good snow conditions and the sun was at its best. In the afternoon, the beaming winners of almost 60 participants were announced: Angelika Kaufmann (ski), Martin Rofner (ski), Sanne Koeman (snowboard), Christoph Fuschlberger (snowboard). Contest participant and PowderGuide reporter Katharina Schröer recorded her impressions on site: