Hotzone Park Opening Hintertux 2012

The weather conditions could not have been any better for the Saturday of this year's Hotzone.tv Park Opening. Despite last night's activities -- the fun- and goodie-filled UNIQUE8 premiere as well as the Pirates and the Shred Warm Up Parties -- the hungry snowboarders encountered many happy faces already quite early in the day. Blue sky, no wind and pleasant temperatures just above zero degrees made for the typical Opening flair in the busy test area and the Skullcandy Lounge and for perfect conditions in the Betterpark. At the Session of the Dudes a lineup of top riders like Marko Grilc, Chas Guldemond, Christian Haller and Gigi Rüf showed that the pro line is once again the benchmark in Europe. And while Roope Tonteri scored the Overall Winner trophy with his extremely technical tricks, local hero Werni Stock showed run after run that he was the clear winner in the Style category and the Best Rookie Award went to Tim Kevin Ravnjak from Slovenia. And apart from the big kickers rider crews and filmers swarmed around most other obstacles, too. It did not take long to spot a one-footed boardslide or a backside rodeo. In the afternoon, the Hintertux parking lot turned into an event arena: Bag Jump, tarp surfing, many other activities and a glass of beer in the sun were perfect to wind down after a day on the mountain. Tonight the dance floor of the Hohenhaus Tenne can be rocked during the Analog Opening Night. The Wax Wreckaz DJ collective, DJ NLP, local act SMOK1NG FING3RZ and London-based DJ IRK are a lot of reasons for a long night after a perfect Opening day. And on Sunday in the morning the focus is on the youngsters at the Billabong Kids Shoot, and all motivated shredders can re-finance their trip in the Cash for Trix Session starting 12:30.