Impressions Split & Relax 2014

Not long until Split&Relax 2014, the event is almost booked out and we are a bit unrelaxed regarding the snow conditions. To be honest everything is green in front of the house.

So we develop plan b. Where can we find snow? Where do we have the chance to test the material properly? What are the costs? Should we cancel?
Phone calls, writing emails, preparing lists, keeping calm and doing the snowdance frequently, were our main tasks to make everything done. We expected to…

Just a dream?

Thursday, 11th of December brought the turn, one day before the arrival of our guests. We did a test route and decided with a clear conscience that the Split & Relax will take place at Livingroom Hochkönig and we will not have the hassle going up to the glacier. We don`t have much snow, but enough to test, to do some touring and to have fun.

All right, the decision is made and we start to do phonecalls again, writing emails and start with the preparation.

More than 100 Splitboarders from 9 nations ( Australia, New Zealand, France, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, England und Norway) will attain.  Lots of Banners are in front of us, great goodies for our raffle and lots of work to get everything ready in the next few hours.

We are good things, very pleased with the number of participants and the support by the snowboard companies. A few hours later the event is ready and also the first participants arrive.

Check-in and then the screwing and mounting of the splitboards begins. Knowledge is exchanged, boards, bindings, boots and skins are inspected, untill everybody is equipped with the new season 2014/15 splitboard gear and his backpack is loaded with the necessary safety stuff.

Screwing, Meeting, talking

The safety presentations start after dinner. Both, in german and english, they show the basics of avalanche knowledge and backcountry safety. For some to get on this important topic, for others as an addition, recall or warning. Pure fun, but nonetheless interesting, is the Splitboard Workshop presented by Jürgen from Backyard Austria. He is building the maybe longest splitboard of Europe right in front of our eyes, 202 cm. Meeting people, having a drink at the bar and then it’s time for bed. 

Splitboard Workshop with Backyard Austra

Saturday, the first touring day. Now we set off to the backcountry with the new material. Our 8 mountain guides from Mühlbach take over their groups and start with the avy training and the first steps in snow. Bit by bit everybody gets into the feeling of splitboarding, find their rythms, get an eye for the landscape and even start spotting out possible future splitboard routes. But for now we climb our todays summits and enjoy the beautiful views.
For the descent we choose the groomed slope due to the lack of snow, but that happend to everbody this weekend and we had… pleasant weather, nice surroundings, relaxed testing conditions. What do you want more? Stupid question!
Nonetheless everybody had an unforgetable day, learned a lot about this beautiful sport and got to know the “Splitboarding way of life”.

Action

In the evening the setups for the next day were prepared, screwing, talking, eating, drinking, laughing, breathing and playing.. and then it gets exciting again.
All participants can win great prizes. The winners are drawn and then they must choose their prize spontaneously. Not that easy regarding the broad range of useful and valuable splitboard and backcoutry stuff, funny things or.. some banana.

Winning is fun

On Sunday, the magic begins again. But before the touring, all (almost all) gathered for a group photo. This year not on the top but against the backdrop of the Hochkönig and with many, many happy faces.
Then it goes on tour again for hiking, testing and avalanche exercises.

At five o’clock the whole material was returned (except for a shovel of Pieps, which probably remained accidentally in a backpack and the one may please send it back to us), we made the material ready to ship and celebrated a successful Split & Relax 2014.

Great that you all were here!

SPLIT & RELAX welcomes the season 2014/15.  May the snow be with us!

Again, many thanks to all participants for the good vibes and your patience. Another thank you to our partners for the support with manpower and goodies.

A special thanks to our crew:

• Peter and Cari of LIVINGROOM HOCHKÖNIG and their team who made this event possible
• Florian Jäger for the pictures
• Jonny for pictures
• Martin, for this and that
• Constantin, for the beamer and the screwing
• Lukas for the screwing
• Vera for her support and ideas
• Jürgen of Backyard Austria, who buillt us the maybe longest splitboard of Europe
• Anna, for the support and dismantling, too.

We continue with a Thank you to all the brand representatives for their professional service:

• Tal, Plum
• Gregor, Amplid
• Stefan, Splitsticks
• Hampus, Furberg
• Ben, Pogo
• Mats & Co, SP
• Nora & Stefan, Burton
• Manu, Nitro
• Sandro, Völkl
• Stefan, Deeluxe
• Basti, K2

and all the others involved.

We are already looking forward to next year and remain with a safe SPLIT & RELAX!