on the 27th, we started off with the karlkogel. the weather was overcast but okay and we started the ascent in hüttschlag. it took us about 3 hours to get to the summit. we started the descent through a rather steep field with delicious powder, then we reached a bowl where we sadly took a wrong turn. we missed the wonderful route down to the valley and had to follow the ascent track back down instead. but nevertheless i was proud that i had mastered  my first tour with more than 1000 meters altitude difference.

on january 28th, the frauenkogel was our destination. the higher we got, the more we could peek through the clouds. underneath the summit, the snow had been blown away partly, leaving a hard, icy snow pack for us to hike on. i was a bit tired already when we got there, and so the short climb up to the summit meant a challenge for me. thankfully, roman helped me and carried my snowboard for me, i was anxious to say the least. stupid fear of heights
when i finally stood atop the frauenkogel, i was glad that i had made it.

january 29th was our last day, so we had to pack up our stuff in the morning before heading to the penkkopf.
i have to say, this was the best tour during these 3 days. the weather was perfect, sunny and not too cold, the surroundings were astounding and the mountain was not crowded at all.
the route went through sparse forest terrain, with the snow sparkling in the sun. when we stood atop the mountain, we had the chance to have a proper break, re-assemble our equipment, change our clothes and eat a snack. i also left a note in the summit book.
the descent was simply wonderful with lots of untouched powder underneath our boards. we were gliding and floating, as if the snow was cotton candy.

from january the 5th until the 8th we participated in the “MOTHERLAND CAMP” by Die Bergstation.

here’s a short write-up of the events during these days…

5th jan

drove to tauplitz and checked into our room. had a nervous breakdown because it was really old and not clean at all.

6th jan

after eating breakfast from dirty dishes, decided to check out again and find another place to stay.
met up at 9am at the parking lot in bad mitterndorf with the guides from die bergstation and the rest of the people. everyone introduced themselves, then we got split up in groups.

since the tauplitz was closed due to the bad weather, we proceeded to the riesneralm, where we encountered lots of snow, even more snowfall during the day but also lots of wind. lu shows us a couple of nice runs nevertheless.

afterwards, we practise searching for an avalanche victim with our beacons.

in the evening, everyone met up at the “spring in” in bad mitterndorf to have a drink. i finally managed to find another room, at the hotel sonnenuhr.

our search for food was not that successful, in one place the kitchen was closed already, in another place it was impossible to get a vegetarian pizza except for a quattro stagioni. the unfriendly waiter made the decision easy for us, we ditched dinner and went to bed hungry.

7th jan

waking up to water damage in our room. the hose going into the toilet tank decided that it was time to break, so we had the great opportunity to take a shower & a dump at the same time. wohoo!

when we got to our car, we had to notice that the snowplough had efficiently shoveled all the excess snow from the street around our car, so we had to shovel it out… while we were doing so, one of the tauplitz staff members comes over and goes apeshit on us, asking why we parked there etc etc… well, our host at the hotel had advised us to do so, because it was not possible to drive up the hill to the other parking lot anymore.
a little bit later, the angry guy comes over to us again and helps us get out the car of the hard-packed snow. so thanks for that!
we ride tauplitz all day long, during the morning we even get to enjoy pretty nice weather – the only precipitation break during the 3 camp days.

we started off with a lovely run over a ridge from the lawinenstein chairlift, passing rather steep terrain and then entering a sparse forest with wonderful powder.
afterwards we did some runs next to the mitterstein gondola.

in the evening, our bathroom in the hotel was functional again. fully functional? well, not really. the hose was sealed again, but it was bent too much, so no water was coming through. argh!

we decide that it’s time for some relaxation, so we pack our bags and head for the thermal spring. afterwards we pick up pizza.

8th jan

we rode the runs next to the gondola all day long. i tried steph‘s jones hovercraft – what an amazing board! i wish i could afford one!

in the evening, it was time to say goodbye to everyone and drive home with a big grin on our faces.

a big THANK YOU to Die Bergstation and all the riders!

gallery

link love!

-> http://diebergstation.at/

-> http://www.dietauplitz.com/

-> http://www.stephhickey.com.au/

after the miniramp session, sonja taught us about setting up and maintaining a longboard. we even competed against each other in setting up a longboard and i have to say, i’m proud that i mastered this task in only 16 minutes, but of course the others were way faster than me. i’m a noob after all
still, i got a set of orangatang wheels and a skate tool, so thanks a lot for that. i was stoked to say the least! i’m planning to build myself a new longboard and the wheels are a good start for that.

i hope, a lot of sessions of this kind will happen in the future. that’s the kind of ladies’ night that i enjoy the most!

here are some pics from the session.

more pics can be found here! and here’s fee’s blog entry about the session!

5 hours, a trip through italy, endless phoning around trying to get a hotel and an almost nervous breakdown later, we arrived in vandans in the vorarlberger montafon.

we spent 5 days there. it dumped on 3 days. we were not able to splitboard on our own, because of the bad weather and avalanche situation and due to our unpreparedness, so we resorted to freeriding… which was not bad AT ALL

freeriding in sack deep pow.

on the 31st of december, we booked a guide – edwin from montafon guides – who took us on a small tour. it was wonderful! knee deep powder all the way. it doesn’t really show in the pic, but it was epic.

hiking up

on the last day, we went to the bieler höhe, a wonderful spot and starting point of a lot of tours. we went for a hike around the lake, but decided to turn around after about an hour, due to the weather getting worse.

bieler höhe, nearing the white out.

it was definitely well worth the effort to go to vorarlberg and we’re already planning to go back soon!

also in november, i bought a splitboard including skins and crampons, aswell as a bivvy sac and new poles. i spent a lot of money on this setup, but after trying it out 3 times, i can already say that it was well worth it for sure. okay, i haven’t had to try out the bivvy sac so far, luckily
i got the k2 panoramic in 158 cm. normally i ride a 148 jib board, so i was a bit anxious that it might be strange to ride a longer board, but – hell no – it felt pretty much just like the 148 k2 vavavoom that i own. also, i didn’t know if it would be stiffer or noodlier than my jib board, being split in the middle and all, but actually it’s a bit more stable… with less pop of course, but more float aswell

i’m very happy with my choice and i’m looking forward to touring a lot with it. so far, we hiked a bit in october, where we spent 2 days on the kitzsteinhorn, to get a feeling for our equipment and check out how it all works and how it works best. we also hiked up the veitsch (styria, nearly 2000 metres) and enjoyed knee deep powder there aswell.

on the veitsch i also got my first core-shot… haha, didn’t take as long to happen as i thought it would. i went over a rock, thought “oh, a shark”, but i didn’t think it was that serious because i didn’t fall or hit the rock really hard. when i checked out the base of my board at the parking lot at the end of the day, i had to notice that the rock had scratched through the base and that the core was visible.

but since i visited a wax workshop recently, i know a lot more about repairing and servicing boards. we repaired & serviced our boards today, which means, we’re all set for hiking tomorrow and on tuesday.
we have not decided which mountain we are going to pay a visit to, we will have to check out some conditions reports first, but i’m sure we’ll find something in the lower austrian / styrian alps.

i’ll keep you updated! so long, farewell!

details can be found here: http://www.bomben.at/CMS/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=16&id=15928&Itemid=34#15928

on tuesday, the 13th of september, a group of women gathered at 5pm at the donauinsel in vienna for the ladies longboard workshop organized by fee bücheler from huegelherzblut. fee and her partner in crime, sophie friedel, were supported by sixxa, les ettes and smile at your sister.

after saying hello to everyone, we started a short but efficient warm up routine. then, everyone geared up, refilled water bottles and got ready to go. we crossed the bridge and rolled along the danube for some time, so fee and sophie got a chance to check out our riding – how secure we were, if everyone was able to push and to footbrake and so on.

afterwards, we split into 2 groups – one group worked on the more basic assets needed for longboarding like a proper pushing technique and secure footbraking. the other group went a bit uphill to practise turning as a means of speed control and the first steps towards sliding. we got good advice from our coaches and i think everyone learned something that evening

time flew by and it was getting dark already, when we stopped our sessions and got together for the final words and good byes. fee had a nice surprise for all the ladies – she brought goodie bags by les ettes, which included stuff like a sweet sixxa surprise, perfume by les ettes and an autographed poster of lisa filzmoser. a big thanks to fee and sophie for taking their time to teach us and ride together, it was a blast!

thanks to les ettes, sixxa and smile at your sister for the support! check out the gallery here! pics by nicole fleck, thanks for being our workshop photographer! also, read the following recaps aswell:
by sophie friedel
by fee bücheler
pics by sixxa can be found here!

(crossposted to mizzi.at)

yep, that’s me on that flyer!

i’m looking forward to the ladies longboard workshop next week!

in august, we founded the longboard girls crew austria – several meetings have already been organized and of course, more will be coming in the future. visit our facebook page for news!
more details can be found on mizzi.at

luckily, i was able to nail at least SOME of my tricks (in the qualification… in the finals, not so much ) and so i came in second – this came as a total surprise for me. thanks to the awc vienna for the awesome trophy and thanks to liquid force and corona for the nice goodies
i had an awesome day, even though the weather was absolutely horrible (cold, windy, rainy – lots of waves on the water).

next week, i will be attending a wakeboard camp in upper austria. i’m hoping for the summer to return for at least that week, because i guess camping in the rain won’t be lots of fun. i want to try new things and maybe learn one or two new tricks… i can see myself competing in other wakeboarding contests in the future, but for now, it’s all just for fun and i still have loads to learn.