ABSOLUTELY the ultimate in snow parks has long been the activity in the “Absolut Park“ by Flachauwinkl-Shuttleberg. This is where Anna Gasser found her passion for conjuring up perfect somersaults and twists in the air. But when you talk about the park here in the Salzburg sports world, no one under 30 thinks of picking flowers. Absolutely not. You could also ponder: tables instead of benches, rails instead of bikes or even kickers instead of kicking.
Snowpark life began here exactly 25 years ago. This winter, there will be numerous events to celebrate. Josef Harml Jr., or Sepp for short, was there from the start. As a boarder, he encouraged the family to liven up the family's low-guest drag lift in this way. The exercise was successful: today, the comfortable "Absolut Shuttle" is used and has a million rides on the approximately 130 days the lift is in operation. The Chillhaus has been the central culmination point of the riders' activities since 2006. A shelter of a different kind. With a ramp and bouldering facility, especially when the weather is not playing along. Up top, the cold and hot water dispensers are used eagerly, because there is no obligation to buy! The surrounding huts are happy, the terraces are very lively and the action on the countless kickers is a circus-worthy program.
THE JUMPERS HAVE ENDLESS ENERGY. The great thing about it is that they don't have to use it sparingly. The park operators are different, because building the parks is extremely complex. Most of the obstacles are made of snow, which comes mainly from the cannons. In addition, maintaining the parks also requires a lot of effort. The mostly young visitors to these parks are over the moon, but never sad to death. After all, it is called a fun park. Even if the fun can sometimes lead to being taken away with a serious injury.
HIGHER AND FURTHER is no longer an option. At some point, the obstacles reached their limit, literally. The current theme is clearly variety: that means that in addition to the still extreme kickers and rails, people are increasingly thinking about building their own lines for beginners and those who are not quite ready to take off. By separating them according to different needs, fun slopes are still very popular. They are built as part of snow and fun parks or independently on the edge of wide slopes. A roundabout is a must, a 360-degree curve that ends with a small tunnel. Because it's not just boys and girls who should have fun on their flying boards, these are facilities that older people can also dare to try.
THE “SOFT VARIANT” was born because ski instructors liked to let their little ones ski on the cross courses to their delight. That was not the point and the cross courses are now almost only found in places with cross races. After the pioneers, the development was almost like an avalanche. So there are Kaunertal Glacier new fun slopes in the middle of the ski area. And there are new cross-courses in three places: Wiedersberger Horn in the ski jewel Alpbach-Wildschönau, Bertas Familycross on the north side of the Fieser in the Fiss-Serfaus ski area, where a varied mix of jumps will make your heart beat faster, as well as dizzying wave runs and cool steep curves. And in Montafon, fun lines for families await, specifically Golmi's Wild World and Golmines Wellengarten.
THE QUALITY of these slopes increases with the depth of snow. Of course, they are not as spectacular everywhere as in Zell am See. Schmitten Funslope is 1,300m long and, as far as is known, one of the longest in the world. In addition to steep curves, waves, jumps, boxes and two snails, the unique route through the forest, which is reminiscent of the beloved "Waldwegerl", is a highlight of the Funslopes. To add further sensory impressions to the experience, the Funslope has been expanded to include sound elements such as the Sound Speed Booster or Sound Slopies. In some places, one variant is simply called a "wave track". One could also say that if not all slopes were planed smooth, but some were left unprepared, this would be necessary.
Innovations are not at all important. But it is also about safety, i.e. insurance and lawsuits. The centre of the young activity is and will remain the fun parks with their kickers of different heights, rails and boxes. Hinterstoder can perhaps be seen as an indication that the heyday of the parks is over: Because the area announces: "No more snow park!"
You just have to be able to do it. This also applies to the easier of the countless lines. A special feature here is the Absolut School. It's actually a completely normal ski and snowboard school, but six of the teachers are freeski and freestyle specialists. There are also local kids camps at half price. The Absolut Park also seems to be the right base for future highs, because Olympic champion Anna Gasser completed her first jumps here and remains loyal to the Absolut Park. "It is important that people can board or ski safely before entering the park“, emphasizes Sepp.
FIRST THE WORK, then the fun. Hardly anyone thinks of that when they see the halfpipes and jumps that have been moving from the edges of the slopes to the center for over a decade and have long since been styled into complete snow or fun parks. At the Kitzsteinhorn, six permanent shapers are busy looking after the three parks, as well as caterpillar drivers and helpers. Because the glacier flows, the obstacles have to be renewed regularly. The art of the right design is above all to calculate the angle of take-off correctly. Only routine helps here. Because the top priority in the fun park is and remains to maintain a high level of safety.