Demo Check - Zugspitze Schneefest

Last weekend Snowboard Review’s resident forum guru and international man of mystery Zoryfl drove down to the Zugspitze Glacier with a car full of buddies for the annual Schneefest and a weekend of chilled shredding. We asked Zoryfl to write a couple of words about his weekend.

We arrived on Saturday morning at the base of the mountain and after an hour and a half of waiting for the lift we started our gradual accent of the Zugspitze. The view was stunning: blue sky, no clouds, sunshine and most importantly enough snow to shred!

We headed straight for the Testival area, if I’m honest I was a little disappointed as from the advertising I’d imagined it would be a bigger. Still, popular brands like Nitro, Salomon, Burton, K2 and Oakley made an appearance and offered their test boards and a stack of other equip to the baying crowd.

Having geared-up, we were stoked to finally ride the pistes and with five lifts to decide between, things were looking good. Unfortunately any freshies that had fallen overnight had been blasted hours before our arrival, so we rode a variety of conditions from hardpack and rock hard ice to spring slush. Although the resort was busy with loads of eager winter sports enthusiasts, the groomers weren’t at all crowded, however we needed some time to get up the mountain via the lift. As the weather was great all day, we rode until the very last minute; unfortunately this meant another hour and a half queue to get off the glacier.

Sunday morning was amazing and we were bathed in glorious sunshine for the most part but around the mid-day the weather went crazy: the weather closed in to almost complete whiteout and hurricane-like winds came from nowhere. We hit the Testival area again to take shelter from the savage wind but tents and anything that wasn’t secured were being whipped up in the maelstron, we decided it would be safer hit the piste again. The weather cleared up again at around 3pm but by then we had to leave so we could get our gear packed and start the long drive home.

So for those looking for an early season weekend on the snow I’d say the Schneefest is best suited to intermediate riders who are neither particular about fantastic conditions or riding pristine park (nope not enough snow for a park this year) and who would rather catch a good nights sleep than party the small hours away. However, if you just want get your boarding legs back after a long summer and test some of the coming season’s snowboards then providing the weather holds out, you will have a great weekend.

Zoryfl

Posted by Rich Ewbank in Blog & News.

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