Snowpark Alta Badia: the Protagonists

Logo Snowpark Alta Badia: the Protagonists
03.11.2011, 12:51
Logo Snowpark Alta Badia: the Protagonists

The new season is about to begin, and we managed to get hold of two of the park’s protagonists to talk about nostalgia, the new season and their expectations of the future. We talked to park designer Renè “Renilla” Margreiter, who was responsible for the park’s maintenance last year too, as well as rider Fabio Crazzolara, who spends his winters in the Snowpark Alta Badia. In order to liven up for the coming season, we’ve created a clip with last season’s highlights for you. A grain of adrenaline!

Let’s begin with our rail and kicker chief: Park designer Renè Margreiter, who is constantly chasing the snow, mainly between South America, New Zealand and Europe. This year, he will return to the Dolomites, which he is a huge fan of, in order to take care of the Snowpark Alta Badia. We met him, euphoric and full of anticipation and his answer to our first question wasn’t that much of a surprise:
Renilla, you are taking care of the Snowpark Alta Badia for the second time now.
What made you design the park again this year?
Last year, I found the project “Snowpark Alta Badia” to be wagonloads of fun; I especially appreciated the reactions and acceptance among the local scene. The Dolomites are very impressive, the locals are great, the food is delicious – that’s why the decision to return to South Tyrol was rather easy.
That’s great to hear! Let’s go back to last season. What was it like for you? Was it a success?
I think as a team we managed to build a good park and improve the quality of the obstacles. Even though we had better snow levels than Austria, we’d have been glad if we’d had more snow for powdering and building. All in all, it was a good winter, though. I do hope the people who were shredding the park had as much fun as we did as a shape crew!
We’re sure you did! But let’s go back to the present. What can we expect this season?
Unfortunately, the park used to be separated last season, but everyone involved will be glad to hear that this is going to change this season: we’re going to build a compact snowpark with different lines for all skill levels underneath the Ciampai lift.
That’s got to be the most important news! What else can you tell us?
Well, let’s just say that all obstacles will be set up in a completely different way than last season, which is going to change the constellation of lines in the park. What’s going to be put up where exactly, largely depends on snow levels, though.
Ok, obviously you don’t want to let it all out just yet, so the detailed setup is going to be a surprise! In which way do you thing the park has been developing these last few years?
The park has been maintained by QParks for three years now and I think the project was expanded, improved and optimized year by year. And that’s what’s most important: this sport is rather fickle, that’s why being progressive has to come first. Otherwise the work I’m doing wouldn’t make any sense.
We can’t wait for everything to get going! What are you planning on the next season?
I want to get the most out of the park, meaning I want the quality of every single obstacle to be as high as possible every single day. I want people to be pleased with the Snowpark Alta Badia and to have fun there, and I want as few people to be injured as possible. Apart from that I’m looking forward to a motivated team and if snow levels are good, the season is surely going to be a success.
We hope so too. Good luck for the upcoming season!

Let’s continue with Fabio Crazzolara. He’s a local rider who has seen the snowpark grow and is very proud of that. While we were talking to him, we couldn’t help noticing his passion for freestyle. Soon, the ice was broken and he was eager to answer all our questions.
Ciao Fabio! First things first: what do you think about the Snowpark Alta Badia?
I think the Snowpark Alta Badia is very well equipped. The rails, boxes and kickers are always in great shape and the landings are super soft, just the way us riders like them. What’s more, the place where the snowpark is going to be built is just perfect, because there’s enough light for shootings all day long.
Which personal ties do you have with the Snowpark Alta Badia?
I more or less grew up in the Snowpark Alta Badia, this is where I train plus I made many friends here. Even before QParks started to build the park, my friends and I designed it. We spent countless hours building kickers, which weren’t all that great, of course =). That’s why I feel very connected with the park and I hope it’s going to get better year after year.
This year we’ve got great news: the Kickerline is going to be moved, making the park more compact. What do you think about that?
That’s really great news! A compact park gives you much more opportunities to train and shred a series of kickers and rails in one run, which is so much more fun.
You didn’t take part in “La Freestyla” last year…
Unfortunately, I had to go to school last year, but this year I’m definitely going to be part of “La Freestyla”!
In that case we’re looking forward to seeing you perform, of course! Thanks, Fabio! See you in the Snowpark Alta Badia! And as long as we’ve still got to be patient, we’ll relive the best moments by watching the clips!

Video

http://www.snowpark-altabadia.org/podcast/1/14904/807/
http://www.snowpark-altabadia.org/podcast/1/14904/808/
http://www.snowpark-altabadia.org/podcast/1/14904/809/

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