Kitzsteinhorn provides a varied playground for freeskiers and snowboarders • Freestyle action from fall to late spring
The Glacier Park is back! After the ski season at the Kitzsteinhorn near Zell am See-Kaprun, Salzburg, Austria, kicked off last week, the snow park on the glacier plateau will also be ready with its first elements from November 9, 2023. A unique freestyle playground awaits snowboarders and freeskiers at the “Kitz” until May as the Superpipe, Easy Park, Central Park and South Central Park will gradually open over the coming weeks and months.
Glacier Park kicks off the freestyle season
From November 9, 2023, Glacier Park will be welcoming action-hungry freestylers to the Kitzsteinhorn glacier plateau with a creative jib park including tubes, rails, and boxes. Depending on the snow conditions, further obstacles and lines will be added on an ongoing basis–the latest updates can always be found on the Kitzsteinhorn Snowpark’s social media channels. Snowboarders and freeskiers will enjoy the creative set-up of the Glacier Park until January 2024. The varied elements are perfect for practising new tricks or refining existing skills. The “skate park made of snow” is maintained by the experienced shaper team led by head shaper Wolfgang Hilberger, who is also responsible for the world-class quality of the other snow parks on the Kitzsteinhorn.
World stars in the Kitzsteinhorn Superpipe
The legendary Kitzsteinhorn Superpipe is already open–however, it is reserved until 26 November for the top international stars who have been preparing for the winter season here at the Kitzsteinhorn Pipe Trainingweeks since the end of October. Besides the German and Swiss freestyle teams, the renowned training session sees reigning Olympic snowboard champion Ayumu Hirano (JPN), World Championship silver medallist Valentino Guseli (AUS) and two-time Olympic medallist Scotty James (AUS) as well as Olympic silver medallist Queralt Castellet (ESP), and World Championship bronze medallist Mitsuki Ono (JPN) fine-tune their skills for the season. Among the freeskiers, Olympic champion Nico Porteous (NZL), three-time Olympic medal winner Nick Goepper (USA), Olympic bronze medallist Rachael Karker (CAN), and X Games bronze medallist Svea Irving (USA) are practising and improving their tricks. The 150 metre long and 6.50 metre high Kitzsteinhorn Superpipe has been built by none other than Alli Zehetner, who was responsible for shaping the Olympic Superpipe at the last three Games. The facility will open to the public in December.
More snow parks to follow from December
More snow parks are expected to open at the “Kitz” from December. They offer a wide range of features and are among the best in the world thanks to their perfectly shaped set-ups. The first obstacles await all snowboarders and freeskiers in the Easy Park. Central Park, the next playground for tricks and jibs, is expected to open in January. And when the South Central Park is added in February, up to twenty obstacles can be ridden in a row in one run!
Highlights: X OVER RIDE and snowboard finals of the World Rookie Tour!
Numerous highlights offer an additional reason to come to the Kitzsteinhorn alongside the snow parks. Snowboarders can look forward to the elooa Carving Camp with Nitro legend Tommy Delago from 15 to 17 December 2023 and the elooa Step by Step Camp with the Nitro pro team from 1 to 4 February 2024. A climax of the season will be the World Rookie Tour Snowboard Finals from March 17 to 22. On March 23, the pros of the freeride scene will compete at the X OVER RIDE 2024 and collect points for qualification for the Freeride World Tour at this 3* FWT qualifier. The Austria Snowpark Days will take place on April 13 and the Austrian & German Masters from April 16 to 21, where the Austrian and German snowboard community will compete for the national titles in the disciplines of slopestyle, superpipe and big air.
Focus on sustainability
“Thanks to its snow-sure altitude and diverse natural landscape, our guests on the Kitzsteinhorn can enjoy a varied range of sports and experiences all year round. To ensure that this remains the case, we will continue to operate conscientiously and conserve resources in this unique natural environment in the future,” promises Thomas Maierhofer, CEO of Gletscherbahnen Kaprun AG. One example of their sustainable management is the Grubbach small hydropower plant, which ensures the snow supply in winter and produces electricity in summer. All cable cars and lifts are operated with 100% green electricity from renewable energy sources. The superpipe is filled with snow in spring and then covered with a special fleece so that the “old snow” can be used to build the new pipe the following fall. Similar snow depots are also created for the snow parks so that less snowmaking is required here too. “Do good and tell others about it” – this is the motto of Gletscherbahnen Kaprun AG’s online magazine “Stories about Sustainability”, which provides an insight into their responsible planning, actions, and business activities in harmony with nature. Details at www.kitzsteinhorn.at/en/sustainability.
Please find further information on the Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn at www.kitzsteinhorn.at.