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Val di Sole means "valley of sun" and indeed, there was not one cloud under the 4th ISF World Championships skies.

Entering the valley and not getting a speeding or parking ticket is a miracle. The cops rule the valley. That was the first contest where I saw cops protecting the pro riders at the awards ceremony. Below though is the whole truth, a weekly report, about what can happen and what really did happen here in Val di Sole.

Jasey Jay [click]

Sunday, 24th January 1999:
The opening ceremony. Not everybody was there since the first pipe training was early the next day. An opening, Italian style, has all the typical music and a lot of tam tam. The riders got hot wine for almost free. (You could leave some money if you wanted.) The evening was a good time to get organized. Where is Marilleva and how far is it from Male by car? Where is Folgarida and how far is Pejo and Tonale away??? By studying the map for quite a while we made ourselves a picture. The following day started with the qualification of the GS in Folgarida.

"When Martin was entering the slope and didn't have his rider's pass visible, one of the cops was trying to stop Martin with his bare hands. Of course Martin was stronger and so it happened that the cop got injured..."

Monday, 25th January 1999:
Folgarida is a quite small gathering of about 10 Hotels, 1 Supermarket, 1 Restaurant, a pharmacy and of course, the lift. The GS course weaved through a slope in the woods. The slope was perfectly prepared and so it was time to start the rock and roll.

On the men's side, Austrian Sigi Grabner, dominating the alpine circus this season, won the qualifications. Second was Andre Gruetter, an upcoming rider out of Switzerland. The girls went down about four seconds slower and it was Ena Himmler winning the first qualification of the 4th WCH. The riders seemed pretty happy and the Red Bull chicks, all Italians, were handing out their drinks. The sun was coming into Folgarida around 2 o'clock and it stayed on most faces till the evening.

The presence [click]

Of course something special happened to Martin Freinademetz. You have to know that there were cops controlling the slopes. When Martin was entering the slope and didn't have his rider's pass visible, one of the cops was trying to stop Martin with his bare hands. Of course Martin was stronger and so it happened that the cop got injured. Martin had to apologize, even though it was the cops fault.

Whatever, we had something to talk about during the first party down in Dimaro. All in all the snowboarders took over the whole valley. The prices of the drinks were too high. We chose to steal a couple of bottles, and we did — two bottles of Vodka and one bottle of Tequila. That got us going and gave us a headache for the next days Halfpipe Qualification.

Tuesday, 26th January 1999

"It was quite a fun session in the late afternoon, and everybody was stoked, even if he or she didn't make it to the finals..."

At 10 o'clock I reached the mountain in Marilleva. Since the Italians didn't organize a speaker for the qualification it was me to do the job. Daniel Franck was winning the qualifications by a lot. Some of the favorites didn't have such a good day, since some of them felt weak. So it was Mike Michalchuck(CAN), Xaver Hoffmann(GER), Trevor Andrews(CAN) and also Nicola Thost (GER)who couldn't make it. At this point I have to mention that the judges messed up on Nicolas' run and on the run of Maelle Ricker (CAN). Since Patrick Van der Graf (NL) was helping me on my new job, I had still time to do take some pictures. Michi Albin (SUI) also did not make it to the finals due to a hurt elbow, but he started a quarterpipe session, and the winner got a trip to Amsterdam offered by Patrick.

So there was Marius Sommer (NOR) joining in and also Martin Rutz(SUI), Francis Abena (CAM) and Nita Arpiainen(FIN). It was quite a fun session in the late afternoon, and everybody was stoked, even if he or she didn't make it to the finals. Still I had to dry some tears of Nicola, since THE favorite got misjudged. On the evening we went to the Snowboarder Western Party, where we stole some Whiskey, Western style. Nobody got killed, but some almost killed themselves, with all that free Vodka. The Award for the most drunk men go to: Mike Michelchuck (CAN), Dieter Happ(AUT) and Jagna Marczulajtis (POL) who also showed her boobs. At 2 o'clock I left the bar totally drunken and went back from Dimaro to Folgarida. Today I missed the GS finals where Jasey Jay Anderson (CAN) and Ena Himmler (GER) got the first WCH gold.

"Stefan threw his jacket into the crowd and two hours later he realized that he had his car keys and a little green bag in that jacket..."

Wednesday, 27th January 1999
Today is the great final day of the Halfpipe. In the finals were some 16 guys and eight women. In the practice it was Keir Dillon (USA) giving maybe the best show of the day. But in the finals he should've bailed.

Ten thousand people were watching when Martina Tscharner (SUI) and Daniel Franck (NOR) took the gold. The judges were quite fair on the final day and counting two out of three runs Stefan Gruber (AUT) took 2nd place, and Brett Carpentier(CAN) took 3rd.

Martina took it [click]

Too bad that Terje Haakonsen (NOR) didn't show up, he would have gone off there, but he injured himself at the X Games a week before. Anyway, on this day the ranking should have gone up to 16, with the same amount of prize money. It was a good show and I never saw Daniel so happy.

Stefan threw his jacket into the crowd and two hours later he realized that he had his car keys and a little green bag in that jacket. So he was searching for the guy, who gave him back the keys, but not the little green bag. The guy thought that it was a gift.

"Xaver Hoffmann who sorely [messed] up his qualification was almost crying when he saw the condition of the pipe..."

Anyway there are no words to express the feeling being part of the event. Xaver Hoffmann who sorely [messed] up his qualification was almost crying when he saw the condition of the pipe. It was A1. So Daniel could stick his 7 foot 720 and also his Haakon-Flip that started off his run. The riders were protesting against the local radio station, who were covering the pipe with their music. So for the finals, again the riders were DJs. Finally I can say that on this evening the organizer made a lot of people smile. And that's how it is supposed to be. What a great day.

Thursday, 28th January 1999
Waking up on Thursday was hard. My girlfriend was sick for three days already and I had to take care of her. And I realised that the Italians stole some 13 CDs off me that I left at the pipe. That meant revenge. I took some Espresso Cups and 50 Red Bulls in advance. This day was as well the day of the Duel finals. Most of the Freestylers left Italy, and it was now again the turn of the Alpine guys. The finals were at night and suddenly it started to snow, just for the night. Big time dump came down and the atmosphere was incredible. It was a freezing evening for my fingers. Too cold to take pictures. I remember lighting a cigarette really easy outdoors. On this day there were 2,000 spectators.

Karl Heiz Zangerl (AUT) should be the only one defending his title successfully. Even Ueli Kestenholz (SUI) got really close, but it was Mr. Zangerl on the end again. The surprise of the evening was Ena Himmler(GER) who took her 2nd title at these 4th World Championships. First girl in history taking two titles on one World Championships.

"The jump was really not good. I was thinking about taking part, since even I could have done a 540 off this small kicker..."

We have to mention also Xavier Delerue (F) who became 3rd place. Xavier won last year's Junior World Championships in Grindelwald. And now 3rd place. Yeah, congratulations. That result also meant that Sigi Grabner (AUT) should get only one silver medal out of these WCH, being the best alpine rider of the time. That brought up memories about the 1993 WCH in Ischgl. Martin Freinademetz (AUT) was the best rider at that time, and all he got was one silver medal. Two years later Martin became double World Champion. So we wish the best to Sigi, and do good in two years. Telluride (USA) should be the next location to present the 5th ISF World Championships. So Sigi, easy going, there will be other chances.

Friday, 29th January 1999
Today should be the big-air competition in Pejo. Arriving there I had to seriously laugh. The jump was really not good. I was thinking about taking part, since even I could have done a 540 off this small kicker, and landing flat. The Italians really still don't know how to build nice ramps. Anyway it was Lukas Goller, out of Italy, who won. I didn't stay for the competition, since I got frustrated. Lukas is a cool guy. He is a good gardener and also draws. He designed the 2000 model for Nicola Thost, and is as well riding in the NITRO international Team. Afterwards I heard that the judges [messed] up and Daniel Tyrkas (GER) was the real winner. But as I said, I haven't seen it.

What I have seen is the following. One of the young Italian riders was jumping on the judges, so that ISCHI(JAP) and REINI(AUT) got seriously hurt. They had to go to the hospital, and Reini even had to stay there for some days. We all were looking forward to the boardercross in Tonale on Saturday. And it was worth waiting.

Saturday, 30th January 1999
It took one hour from Folgarida to Tonale. Tonale is the town on the pass. If you would go over the pass and take another one you would end up in St. Moritz (SUI). That would take maybe 1 1/2 more hours. But we stop here in Tonale to see the world's best boardercross riders going off. The weather was sunny but -15 degrees and winds up to 70 km/h. After the last run I couldn't feel my nose anymore. Also on the BX were some surprises. Like Berti Denervaud(SUI) not making it into the Top 48 after the qualification. So was Fabrizio Bonacina (ITA) also a favorite of this event.

Palmerization [click]

Therefore Shaun Palmer(USA) made it into the finals. He had the best time after the qualifications, even starting with #68, since he has done no BX this season. After all the Palmer Boardercross Team has a new strong member. Mr. Philipp Conte (F). He won a week ago at the European Championships in Leysin, and he ended in 4th place in today's finals. The media's stayed the whole time. Even Sat 1, a big German TV station, and SF1, the biggest Swiss station, stayed to document the 1st World Championships in BX presented by SWATCH and O'NEILL. And again it was the police who had to protect Shaun Palmer (USA) after winning the title and being the 1st ISF World Champion in this young discipline of Snowboarding.

Peter Bauer went to Mount Baker, where the legendary banked slalom took place at the same time. But I am sure that there will be a battle again, between Palmer, Bauer and maybe Terje?? One thing is sure, there will never be a VAL di SOLE again.

— Nils, Mountain Zone European Correspondent

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