Another glacier opening in the bag, this past weekend it was Kaunertal’s turn, the 36th edition to be exact, this year powered by Soundboks. We were gifted with three days of sunshine to reward us after that long but picturesque drive to the glacier. With a good turnout of riders, multiple side events and a busy film premiere evening in the valley that rounded off a fun weekend as we edge ever closer to winter.

This year Snowpark Kaunertal had a new shape crew that were kept busy with 8 different sessions with give-away and cash prizes. The sessions were all held in jam format with the riders motivating each other and stoking out the assembled crowd on the terrace. The set up catered for both rookie to pro and we saw some good sessions held over the weekend. The Sane! Crew were up first with the Cash 4 Tricks session, which saw riders blow away their summer cobwebs as they battled it out for on the spot cash prizes.

Saturday saw the Burton “Peace Rail Session” hosted by Jesse Augustinus on the new Peace rail. This creative rail offered multiple trick options and riders had to get creative to win the prizes donated by Burton. Fabian Fraidl was unique as ever, with one foots and laybacks variations but it was the Italian snowboarder, Giulia Bottazin that finally won the main prize of a brand-new Burton snowboard.

Saturday night saw the movie night return to the Quellalpinsaal after it’s forced covid hiatus. We checked out the final tour stop of the Rusty Toothbrush crew and eventually the local hero; Roli Tschoder presented his new film “Rolyssee” The evening was packed and it was great to be surrounded by people that were excited to see snowboard movies on the big screen again. A massive thanks to the waiters inside the Quellalpinsaal that remained calm and friendly during a busy night for everyone involved. On a side note, if you ever visit Kaunertal and need to relax, make sure you go to the wellness area in the Quellalpinsaal and head straight to the hay room, you can thank me later.

For those who wanted to keep the evening going, the world renowned Zappadello Club was yet again open for business. Ethan Morgan aka DJ Anal Juice kept the party going until the early hours, making many of the riders suffer immense hangovers as they drove to the glacier on Saturday morning.

Sunday saw our favourite session of the week with all female Shred Unit Session. Held on the terrace set up and the standard of riding started good and got even better as the session continued. If you saw the Pleasure Instagram stories you would have seen how good the level was. There are simply too many strong moments of this session to comment on, but we are big fans of Shred Unit and what they are doing and hope to see another rail battle like this again soon.

With 35 brands offering product for testing in the testival area that reported a good amount of boards being demoed, an Arlpark trampoline station, a Balance Board Park and even an Airbrush tattoo stand, The Kaunertal opening really does offer something for everyone.

Thanks to a strong and perfectly implemented security concept with 3-G controls in the testival area and during the film evening, a successful and safe Kaunertal Opening was implemented and the new park season ushered in even in these tense times. All in all, the 36th Kaunertal Opening powered by Soundboks was a huge celebration even without the big party. It was celebrated in the snow park by “shredding” together. The #FALLRUNS are open and the park is now open daily until December 5th.