Today the guys who had to wake up early to catch the gondola up to "first," which is the name of the peak behind the pipe. Training for the men started at 9:30. The warm front really came in and everybody was stressed and too hot again. But the heavens were full of clouds.

	Xaver Hoffmann

I went up in the gondola this morning with Fabien Rohrer (Nitro/SUI), the '96 Air & Style winner and former ISF World Cup. Rohrer's been injured for a few weeks, and will not be riding until June 2000. Instead, he works on a TV show for a private station in ZÜrich. His knee still hurts, so a snowCat brought us all the way to the pipe where the women semi-finals just beginning.

Fabien lives about an hour from here, in the Bern area. He opened a snowboard shop in his home town of MÜnsingen and is really pissed that he can`t ride, or even walk straight. But time will tell. I think Fabien will be back.

We came to see Fredrick Kalbermatten (Burton/SUI) represent. He snaked the women's training run and showed us a 2.5 meter McTwist, backside alley oops and backside melon to fakies.

"The victor, Dani Costantache (NITRO/SUI), is a Davos local and therefore a mountain boy. He knows how to push it and every year there is a new trick added to his trick box...."

Only Pauline Richot (Rossignol/SUI) was left for Switzerland after the first round cuts in the women's pipe. Doriane Vidal (Rossignol/FRA) has been dominating almost every contest as she did again today. Her amplitude averaged 1.5 meters on every trick — even her 720. Also, Stine Brun Kjeldaas (Duotone/NOR) pulled off some 7s and took 3rd place.

In 2nd was Nici Pederzolli of Austria. I am happy for her, since she is a good friend of mine. She's having a very solid and progressive season. Today she busted out some nice, stylish tricks, like a 540 plus a cool air to fakie, plus plus plus... During the girls' finals it started to get windy and rainy — even banners flew away. I had to wrap up my 35mm gear. The digi cam got really wet, but that Sony sh&! seems to work under any condition, if you know what I mean.

The guys' finals were after the girls' and it rained during the whole competition. (We had all the conditions you can possibly have during one week in a foreign place. From icy to warm, from sun to rain.)

It started to rain like hell during the mens' finals and the riders were pissed, wet, and all tried to find a place to hide before their run. But, after a while, everybody realized that's wasn't possible and everybody was pretty much soaked. After the first run it was Xaver Hoffmann (Burton/BRD) in the lead, in front of Klas Vangen (Nike/NOR). Hoffmann stuck a 720° to 900° combo perfectly, and was still willing to go bigger. The two shots attached show Xaver in the second and last run where he was the biggest rider to bail, but the shots show his first two hits in that final run, and that's kind of a proof. In the end, he didn't make it.

	Gian Simmen

Then there was Klas Vangen with his frontside indy to fat McTwist combo, but he also faltered in the second run. Gian Simmen (Blue Window/SUI) was riding the pipe very nicely all weekend but the rain...you know. Dani Costantache (Nitro/SUI), Gian's very best friend, won the qualfication yesterday and started last in the finals but bailed today in the first of the two final runs.

So Dani was up for the second run and in control. He is super stoked to have won a pro tour event — something he's been wanting for a long time. Jan Michaelis (Burton/GER), a young guy from Hamburg, North Germany, was all stoked about the weather and said he feels like he's at home. He was wet to the underwear, he told me, before he did his second final run. He couldn't make it the top-three but was happy to be in the finals again.

Michaelis won the qualification in Laax, Sweden, but couldn't make it to the finals there, either. Here are some small stories about the 2nd and 3rd place winners:

Espen Arvesen (Burton/NOR), 2nd, is a smooth rider. You can not even hear him riding he's so smooth. From "Trandy" to "Trick" to "Trandy" in a hush. He was having a rainy, beautiful awakening after his sick second run. He did a 7 and a 9 for his last two hits. This is an unbelievable victory for Espen, who is 20 but looks like he's 15.

Until today, he had only bad memories of this town in the Swiss Alps. During the ISF Junior World Championships he was sitting at the top of the pipe as the practice sessions was just about to finish. He asked the technical delegator (TD) if he could do another run. The guy said yes, and so Espen went down for another practice run. When he reached the end of the pipe, he got disqualified for snaking runs! That was two years ago. Today he showed the TD who the real loser is. It's good to have new faces on the podium, too.

I think Martin Cernic (LibTech, Quicksilver/CZ), 3rd, is the first Czech to be on an ISF podium. I don't think David Horvath, Czeck snowboaring legend, ever made it. But Martin did it today. And the funny thing is, yesterday after the qualification, somebody added Cernic's points incorrectly. Cernic told me the judging sucks. Had that mistake not been found, he would not have made it to the finals. He took 3rd place with a sick huge run with a back-to-back 7 combo. As for amplitude it was him, Xaver Hoffmann and Klas Vangen.

The victor, Dani Costantache (NITRO/SUI), is a Davos local and therefore a mountain boy. He knows how to push it and every year there is a new trick added to his trick box - everything from a fakie inverted 7 to a 900 roll. He really showed his style today, and proved he was the winner on the last run of the day.

Nerves made of steel is what the alpine riders needed today. The slope was okay before it rained, but now it's a rather difficult course to draw your line on. Andi Egger (Burton/AUT) the 20-year-old guy from Zell, in the Austrian Zillertal (home of top ski racers) had the best time in the first run. He almost messed it up in the second, typical, but still made it for tomorrow. When I went down from the pipe finals, all of the alpine riders were already sitting in the riders tent, eating. I saw red noses everywhere, and wet jackets all around. Everybody was happy to have at least a few layers over that body, and the day was not that bad, considering the weather. You will hear more about the dual super giant slalom tomorrow.

— Nils, MountainZone.com European Correspondent