TNF Freeski Open of New Zealand

Hey Guys.

I'm just back in Christchurch from the TNF Freeski Open which was held the last week in Wanaka.
I made it through the qualifications on Tuesday and got one of 12 spots for the finals, which should be held on Wednesday.

Due to strong wind and bad visibility they weren't able to hold the finals until Friday.
The waiting time wasn't that bad because we had lots of fun playing "Frisbee Golf", Ice Hokey and enjoying some awesome food.
 

On Friday midday it was finally time for the competition.
The conditions weren't that easy to ride so I picked a line threw the main shoot with 2 small cliff drops on the top, a big one in the middle and another one at the bottom where I wanted to do a 360°.

I was the first male starter, so I was quite nervous at the start.
After landing all my cliffs clean and stomping the 360° I was really stoked!!
I ended up at 5th place with just 0.2 points missing for the podium.
I am really happy with this result and looking forward to the next competition.
 

By the way thanks to Cam and the whole crew for this awesome event.

Keep you guys posted

Cheers Raphi

my Line

hiking to the start

360° at the bottom

New Zealand

Hey guys.

After 30 hours of travelling, Fabian and I finally made it to Christchurch (New Zealand) on the 13th of August.
The first thing I realized when I stepped out of the Airport was, that it was approximately 20°C colder than at home.

The next day we got  our camper van  and picked up the other guys from the airport.
The crew was complete: Christian"Gri"Reichenberger, Fabian Lentsch, Matthias"Hauni"Haunholder, Matthias Mayr, our Swiss photographer Jonas Blum, our filmer Simon Platzer and last but not least myselfe.

After some shopping, we drove our camper van to Broken River for a first day of skiing.
The conditions weren't that good, we had a lot of fun though.

The next day we drove down south to Mount Cook village to start the real adventure.
We took a flight with a snowplane and a helicopter to the top of the Tasman Glacier, which offers an amazing terrain for touring and freeriding.
The following seven days we spent with hiking lines, filming, cooking and melting water.
The conditions on the glacier were perfect, with a large amount of snow, good weather and a safe avalanche situation as well.
We got some really good footage up there, which caused, that we are planning to produce a "New Zealand Movie".
More informations about that later.

The plan for the next weeks is to participate at the FWTQ competitions all over NZ and hopefully bring some "points" back home.

Stay posted

Cheers Raphi

The last weeks of the season

Hey guys,

long Time since my last post.

Unfortunately contest season didn't end as expected.
After my 5th place in Fieberbrunn, I wanted to go "All in" in Verbier.
It didn't work out well, I had a bad crash at the first cliff because I was a bit to slow.

Anyway the "Freeride Juniors" where a great experience, which I will never forget, thanks to everyone who made it unforgettable.
I'm looking forward to the next season where I'll compete at the FWTQ.

After the competition in Verbier, I spend some time with my friends in the mountains to enjoy the last few weeks of the season.
Temperatures here in Tyrol are getting warmer and warmer, though I'll try to do some touring and even spend some time in the park.
Currently I'm planing my summer trip, which could also be a ski-trip ;)

By the way I got some Sponsor-News for you:
I signed with UVEX, who will support me with goggles and helmets during the next Season.

Check out two shots I got during the last weeks.


Keep you guys posted

 Raphi

Freeride Qualifier Chandolin

On Friday the 9 of March we (Jochen and I) started our journey to Chandolin. At our first stop we picked up Nadine and Geli. 3 hours later we ended up at a red sign: “Operalppass closed” Hurray, good work navi! We had to use another mountain pass which took us two additional hours just to be 25 km closer to our destination. So it all became something like a road trip. Finally we arrived at Dago’s place.


Day 1:
The Face was very wide but short so it offered a lot of possible lines and it was hard to chose the best one. After choosing our lines and getting up to the start we ended up in kind of chaotic starting situation. There was no starting order at all so you had to battle for your spot, so it was a little bit harder to prepare for our runs. Unfortunately one of Jochen´s binding ejected at his 360 so he got rewarded with zero points. After waiting for three more hours, Domi and I weren´t able to perform as planned, so to summarize the first day: Not good at all;-)
So the highlight of the day was the BBQ ;-)!



Day2:
Jochen had a really progressive run, but couldn´t stomp two tricks clean and finished the day with the third best score! Respect buddy! Too bad, that he crashed on day one. I also was a lot more satisfied with my run (Day2: 9th)
Nadine on the other hand, showed her skills with two awesome runs and took home the second place. Congrats!!

Here are the final results:


Although it was a really short trip, we all had an awesome time.
Thanks a lot to Dagobert for his support and the video footage. We look forward to ski another comp with you. Get well soon!!

Hope you like our small Trip-Edit:

FWT Juniors Fieberbrunn

Hey Guys,

I'm just back from an awesome weekend in Fieberbrunn.

On Friday afternoon Manuel, Phillip and I headed to Fieberbrunn for the second FWT Juniors stop of the season.

In the evening we had the riders meeting and the bib draw. After bib 57 in Chamonix, I was lucky this time with bib 14, which meant that I was the first skier.

After having some nice dinner at Max's Place (by the way thanks for everything Max) we went to bed not to late.

When we woke up at 6 AM, we where pretty stoked about the weather conditions BLUE BIRD!!

After the breakfast we had one hour of face check on the bottom of our contest face.

Unfortunately a lot of cliffs where closed by the organizer because they where "to dangerous".

I choose a pretty safe line because I really wanted to finish this competition. 

I landed a little backseat at the first cliff and got a little to short on the second one but all in all my run was quite OK.

In the evening there was a really cool party with all the riders and the "Urban Knights" which was organized by Swatch.

I am looking forward to the last Junior competition in Verbier in two weeks and hope the party will be as good as in Fieberbrunn ;)

By the way congrats to my friend Fabian Lentsch who got 16th in his first FWT comp. 

Raphi

My Line

FWT Juniors Fieberbrunn from Raphael W. on Vimeo.

My last months..

Hey guys,
long time since my last post, but i finally made it.
Till now the season was pretty good, with a lot of snow in the last two months.
I did some trips to Switzerland for Touring as well as staying at home for riding deep pow.

In January I participated at the Ankogel X-Treme Invitational which was organized by the Finnish Snowboarder Niklas Hollsten. There where two types of competition, one Freeride and one Chinese Downhill. I won the Chinese Downhill and crashed at the Freeride competition 10 meters before the finish. All in all the event was a lot of fun and I met a lot of really cool people.

Two weeks ago Philipp Wechselberger and me traveled to Chamonix for the first FWT Junior competition of the season.We arrived there at Friday evening and had the possibility to stay at a friends place. On Saturday there was a total "White Out" so the safety workshop had to be hold on a small T-bar lift. The competition started at Sunday around midday, but unfortunately had to be canceled after 35 starters. I got bib 57 so there was no competition for me this time.
Phillipp stomped a huge cliff, but wasn't judged that good because of taking to much risk...
We had to wait till Monday to get back to Austria because of heavy snowfall in the Alps.

I'm looking forward to the next Junior competition which will be hold in Fieberbrunn.
Here you can see some pictures and an edit of my last few months.

Keep you guys posted
Raphi

Awesome riding

Flatspin at the Zillertal

Chamonix

waiting for the train to Chamonix

Phillipp taking a break in Zurich