Sigi Grabner

Aotearoa

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:51:07 +0200

The Land Of The Long White Cloud

On Mt Hutt above the Pacific Ocean
by Isamu Kubo

There are only few places in the world where you can go Snowboarding in the morning and go for 18 holes of Golfing in the afternoon. Or if you wish you can go and have a surf in the Pacific Ocean later on.

Mt Hutt is a great mountain for Snowboarding on- and off-slope. The road leading up to the ski-resort is adventurous but once up there you can enjoy greatest views to many peaks of the Southern Alps on the North-Western side and down to the city of Christchurch, the Rakaia River and Rakaia Gorge and to the Pacific Ocean on the South-Eastern side.

FULLCARVING
by Isamu Kubo

New Zealand is a good place to go for Sport and Nature on the one hand. But what makes a stay in this country unforgettable is the relaxed way to enjoy life. And so it happens that mainly people of common spirits come here to life or just spend some time for their holidays.

A few days ago there was a pretty scary situation when a strong earthquake woke me up in the middle of the night. Fortunately I was ok and the earthquake caused only damages but no casualties. So the trip tis time turned into a kind of adventure. I have visited New Zealand three times during my snowboard-career and I am sure I will come back again already next year. Cheers!

PS: As I am writing these lines another after-shock (5.2) of the earthquake shakes my room

…and another one…

Earthquake in NZL

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:57:53 +0200

Unusual wake-up-call at 4.35 am

Last night at 4.35 am I woke up as my bed, or better the whole room and house were shaking like mad. The earthquake approximately 25 km from Methven had the magnitude 7.4 and was the strongest here in NZL since years. Fortunately there were no casualties but in the city of Christchurch many houses were seriosly damaged. Also here in Methven some houses had to be closed due to security reasons as big cracks appeared on the walls after the quake.

Originally I planned to start riding and filming on Mt Hutt at 7 am in the morning but the strong earthquake caused some rock- and avalanche-slides covering the road so the mountain stayed closed until 11 am. Then I finally got onto the mountain and it was a sweet snowboarding day with lots of great runs - the circumstances kept many people away from the skiing today. Empty slopes - more fun!

In the end I left the mountain in late afternoon with a big smile on my face:

Snowboarding = The Best!

Epic Day On Mt Hutt

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:38:04 +0200

Snowboarding 9-4

Shred-Day with Vic Wild & Japanese friends - Mt Hutt/Southern Alps

One of the best days since long time yesterday on Mt Hutt / NZL. Snowboarding all day long from 9 am to 4 pm. Great carving and taking nice shots too - to be shown soon!

Misty Days in NZL

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:09:51 +0200

NZL definitely has good places to relax, cheers!

After a few days here in Kiwi-Land I got only a few runs in Cardrona, Mt Dobson and Mt Hutt. The weather has been poor so far but therefore it is a lot of snow here on the mountains. Probably one of the best winters here in Canterbury-Region around Mt Hutt ski-resort since many years. Today’s riding was very adventurous as it was extremely misty and so visibility was too poor to even make one shot of riding. That’s why I decided to take a picture of our bad-weather-programme: Having a cup of tea and playing chess in the Cafe Primo here in Methven. The Cafe Primo is the place to join and enjoy in town. It is a mix of Cafe/Bar serving homemade organic food and an antique-shop which creates a unique relaxing environment playing great music too. Tomorrow however it is going to be great snowboarding day as it is clear and cold tonight with the stars shining brightly. Boards are prepared and waxed - can’t wait to shred!

TANGO ARGENTINO + MEETING MY OLD BUDDY JANNE

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:47:00 +0200

If you hear Finland you think reindeers, thousand lakes and mobile phone companies. Rarely you would connect Finland with Argentine Tango. But - believe it or not - Finland is THE country for dancing the Tango, second to Argentina of course. To learn and improve my Tango skills I took a little holiday and flew over to Finland for a Tango workshop and a concert of the famous “Quinteto Angel” Tango-Orchestra. It was great. Somehow different to the usual sports I do, yet very interesting, as it is a very complex dance - and so nice!

In Helsinki I met Janne Kaitala, my former Finnish team-mate in the Burton Team. It was great to see him after so many years. It’s crazy how time flies. But Janne is still the same, I can’t wait to get back to Finland again!

EXTREME SAILING EXPERIENCE

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 09:26:00 +0200

photo by Christian Prenner

I joined the Olympic Champions Roman Hagara and Hans-Peter Steinacher for their training-run for the World Championships in Slovenian Sailing-Hot-Spot Portoroz. It was such a great experience on this slick Extreme-Sailing catamaran boat, being their “number five” man aboard.

Congratulations to “my” Red Bull Extreme Sailing team for winning the Silver Medal in the end!

Great job guys!

Number Five in action!

See for more pics >

SIGI AT THE IRONMAN AUSTRIA

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:02:43 +0200

Sigi beim Ironman Austria

Gestern war mein Ironman Debut!

Es war zwar nur ein Kurzauftritt von 90 km Radfahren in der Promi-Staffel beim Ironman Austria, aber ich bin auf den Geschmack gekommen! Die vielen Hobbysportler haben mich sehr beeindruckt, und auch die Stimmung auf der ganzen Strecke.

Jetzt heisst es, noch gescheit Schwimmen lernen, dann bin ich sicher bald einmal ueber die volle Distanz dabei!

SAVE THE DATE

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:52:48 +0200

The road to La Molina 2011 now open!

Hier ist es: Das erste Transparent fuer unsere Snowboard WM in La Molina 2011 - gesehen bei der Kajak WM in Sort/Spanien! Jetzt kann’s losgehen!

I found the first banner announcing the Snowboarding World Championships 2011 in La Molina - the road is open now!

CHEERING KAYAK TEAM AUSTRIA

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:56:06 +0200

Bravo Burschen!

WildwasserKajak WM und ich als Fan dabei!

Letztes Wochenende war in Sort/Spanien - ganz in der Nähe von Andorra - die WildwasserKajak WM 2010. Das Nationalteam, alle vom Kajakverein Klagenfurt, mischte mit, und so fuhr ich 80km von LaMassana bis Sort mit dem Bike über die Pässe, um die Burschen anzufeuern: Gerhard Schmid, Manuel Filzwieser und Harald Hudetz kämpften im Classic und Sprint Bewerb, Team und Einzel. Insgesamt gab es 4 Top 8 Plätze für Austria! Gratulation an die Burschen! Sie waren echt super, und mir hat es voll Spaß gemacht, sie anzufeuern!

MEETING AN OLD FRIEND

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:30:35 +0200

Austrian-Italian Snowboard-Connection

Bologna Summer 2010 - Meeting my good old friend of ISF-Snowboarding-Times Simone Salvati in his Home-Town of Bologna.

Simone has become Freeriding-Champion in his home-resort Cortina d’Ampezzo last winter and we want to do some Freeriding-Projects together in the future.

…more to come, stay tuned…

SG TESTIVAL SOELDEN 2010/2011 BOARDS

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:56:51 +0200

SG FREE SOLO ALASKA

SG Testival with all new 2010/2011 SG Boards on Soelden Glacier: Friday April 30th to Sunday Mai 2nd! Join us and shred with the new equipment. SG TestCenter mit allen neuen 2010/2011 SG Boards am Söldener Gletscher: Freitag 30. April - Sonntag 2. Mai! Komm und teste dein neues SG Board!

SPRING HIKING THE PYRENEES

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:29:13 +0200

The recovery from my ankle injury happens slowly but steadily. During the last weeks I was able to do some good training with my Bike. The last week I had my first days of hiking here in the Pyrenees. In the beginning I could walk for only 1 hour and the foot got swollen a bit. But day by day it gets better and the ankle hurts less. It is a pleasure to move around on the mountains again after having such a long break.

Moving on - Sigi

ROAD TRIP TOWARDS SUN

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:39:16 +0100

In the last two weeks I have joined the World Cup in an unusual way: I spectated the events in Valmalenco and La Molina, cheering my very successful SGriders.

Together with my American mates Vic Wild and Justin Reiter I travelled to Italy and then took some days off at Cannes on the French Côte d’Azur enjoying the warm spring weather and the French food… and of course the look of these nice French Mademoiselles…. ;-)

A NEW RACE EXPERIENCE FOR SIGI: SPECTATING

nospam@example.com (Sigi Grabner) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:46:31 +0100

My New Experience

Valmalenco is perfect this year: Epic snow-conditions, great weather and the well-known perfect race hill - all this is promising a nice race tomorrow.

There is only one thing: I will not participate! It is a completely new experience for me! It boosts my appetite for Snowboarding and Racing and I can’t wait to be back on my board again.

Tomorrow, though, I will support my riders and I am sure it is going to be a great show here in Valmalenco, a very beautiful and hidden mountain-valley close to the Swiss border. After the race I will hit the road together with Vic Wild and Justin Reiter (USA) towards La Molina/Spain for the WorldCup Finals. But first, we make a stop at the Mediterranean Sea

Cheers

Sigi

VANCOUVER 2010 - THE OLYMPIC RACE

nospam@example.com (admin) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:27:44 +0100

by Dom Daher

My Olympic Race in Vancouver was not what I expected it to be. I crashed in the first Qualification Run and so my dream of winning a medal was over.

After breaking my ankle in December I tried to do my best to be in good shape but an unnecessary mistake made me fall hard. Now I will take my time off to heal my ankle to make sure it will be good for any sports and especially for snowboarding in the future.

Congratulations to the men’s and women’s podiums: Jasey Jay Anderson wins the Gold, Silver goes to Benjamin Karl (on SGsnowboards - yeah!) and Mathieu Bozzetto wins Bronze. Nicolien Sauerbreij wins the Gold, Ekaterina Iljuhina Silver and Marion Kreiner (on SGsnowboards - yeah!) takes Bronze.

At the end I want to say one more thing:

A BIG BIG GOLD MEDAL TO ALL THE PEOPLE WORKING FOR THE 2010 OLYMPIC GAMES, ESPECIALLY TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS! YOU HAVE MADE AN AMAZING JOB AND YOU TRUELY LIVE THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT! THANKS!

See you,

Sigi

P.S.: I will be back