The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

With your own snowboard - Reichlinger starts at the "Pitztal Wild Face"

2020-02-28T14:54:26.524Z


Josef Schallameier moves away from the hustle and bustle of groomed slopes. The extreme athlete is on the go with his snowboard and has special plans.


Josef Schallameier moves away from the hustle and bustle of groomed slopes. The extreme athlete is on the go with his snowboard and has special plans.

Reichling - The "Pitztal Wild Face" is one of the most physically demanding freeride races in the world. Freeride means skiing in open terrain, far from groomed slopes. Weekends 6/7 March will be held for the eleventh time. Around 150 skiers and snowboarders will be at the start to collect important points for the World Tour, the World Cup season in freeriding, so to speak. In the Pitztal is Josef Schallameier from Reichling. The snowboarder made third place in his debut last year. He wants more this year, although the preparation was not optimal.

"I want to be at the top of the podium," says Schallameier. But it won't be easy, the competition is tough. The Belgian Koen Goris is the favorite. He also won the 2019 edition. "Goris lives in the Pitztal valley and will definitely have 200 days of snow a year," says Schallameier. He himself manages around 100 days. A difference you notice. Because snowboarding is the best training for snowboarding, says the Reichlinger. Most recently, however, the 28-year-old was able to spend less time on his favorite activity than he liked.

The preparation did not go according to plan for Schallameier

Schallameier had fallen in training during a forward somersault and had injured his shoulder. “But I will definitely take part in the race. Even if I have to plaster my arm in for it, ”he says with a smile. As long as he couldn't train on snow, he did gymnastics and strength exercises at home. Above all, the thigh and calf muscles are stressed during freeriding. “Sometimes your arms become numb when you go down because there is so much blood in your legs,” says Schallameier.

The "Pitztal Wild Face" is all about time. In other freerider competitions, jurors sometimes evaluate the way in which the athletes ride. The qualification will take place on Friday, March 6, with 150 starters. 70 are allowed to compete in the main race on Saturday. Depending on the number of registrations, the starting places are divided into the categories "ski women", "snowboard women", "ski men" and "snowboard men". In the main competition, the route is 4.6 kilometers long. It goes 1510 meters in depth. The route is freely selectable. Only five directional corridors have to be passed. The participants start every 30 seconds.

The Reichlinger can come down in nature

Schallameier started snowboarding at the age of twelve. When his friend Nico Steidle, himself a professional snowboarder, admitted that he could not follow Schallameier in open terrain, he saw himself challenged and registered for the race in Pitztal. He tried to compare it with others. His ambition was piqued. "The demands on yourself are increasing," says Schallameier. "You always want to go further and higher."

However, the Reichlinger sees this critically in everyday life. Everything is very fast moving these days. He spends a lot of time in the mountains and nature. For him, this is the opposite pole and helps him to come down. He recently traveled to Iran with two friends to snowboard where no one has ever ridden before. "There are still a lot of white spots," says Schallameier.

Schallameier is self-employed

The installer and master heating engineer is self-employed and founded his own company with Watatec. Schallameier has developed a system to flush lime out of house pipes. Thanks to his independence, he manages to organize his working hours in such a way that he can regularly go to the mountains. Because that's where he feels most comfortable.

Andrea Filser is also on top in winter: The wild climber was last successful in the ski races in South Korea.

Source: merkur

All sports articles on 2020-02-28

You may like

Life/Entertain 2024-03-26T13:34:50.435Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.