Hello Freeski families,
For those of you who made it out to parents weekend, it was great to catch up and for you to get to see this place in action!
It's truly hard to put in words how incredible the trip to Austria was. Leaving campus on a dark and early October morning with a caravan of 32 people, 27 of which are teenagers, to head to a foreign country where German is the main language sounds wild even on paper, BUT wow did everything go dangerously smooth. Connecting flights, customs, sorting out 5 rental vehicles, all the bags showing up and 22 hours later we were settling into our 3 different houses in Mayrhofen, Austria.
Our house was a four story vintage farmhouse nestled literally on the side of a 45 degree slope with panoramic views of the valley similar to what you would recall from the movie The Sound of Music. Every morning we were awoken to bells from our onsite sheep. We began our first full day by heading up to Hintertux for a day on snow giving everyone a chance to get their feet back under them. The vistas were jaw dropping with near vertical grassy cow filled slopes leading up to jagged peaks following alongside an aqua blue river throughout the windy mountain pass road. Three gondolas later and alas we were officially back on snow reunited with winter. The park was filled with something for everyone accessed by two parallel t-bars allowing for non stop skiing.
Throughout the next four days we spent our days at Banger Park, the airbag site just outside of Innsbruck. The team got right to it, working on tricks they had been training the prior month at campus. The facility there offered small, medium and XL jumps into separate landing bags which were ideal for progression. Each day everyone went home having executed a new trick, axis, spin or grab variation, and the overall morale was at an all-time high. It was great to see the focus and contagious motivation throughout the team.
After those four days we were right back to Hintertux for the remainder of the trip. As everyone warmed back up to being on snow again it was clear to see the time on the low consequence airbag really paid off. We were blessed with great weather including a day with a few inches of snow to help soften up landings throughout the park. Each athlete was able tick off boxes on their goal sheets and get a leg up on the competition prior to the winter season starting up.
Our nights were filled with countless card games, foosball and conversation in our WiFi-less house. The lack of Wi-Fi was absolutely healthy for everyone to come out of their shell and experience true socialization. Screen time was down 90 percent throughout the trip in the best way possible. We made sure to experience as much local cuisine as we could, with a highlight being the Schnitzel Station. The Schnitzel Station was a very authentic Austrian stop down a rural farm road where we all enjoyed schnitzels the size of our torsos. During our one rest day of the trip, we ventured into the city of Innsbruck. While there we got the chance to tour around the University of Innsbruck campus and check out what it would be like to go to school abroad.
To go with the theme of the trip we had a very successful trek back to the states with the squad. We were pleasantly welcomed back to Oregon with nearly two feet of fresh snow. We have had a couple fun days building jumps or sliding some early season rails in the woods but mainly been back to the grind at campus. Yoga, core and gym workouts mixed with trampoline, dryslope and airbaging have filled our time nicely. It really has been great to see the comradery and overall positive vibe of the team. With more snow in the forecast it won’t be long now till the lifts start to spin.
Brian and I greatly appreciate all your timely communication with passes, memberships and trip planning. As always feel free to reach out with any questions.
Let it snow,
-Topher & Brian
