AUDI NINES: ALL IS READY FOR LIFT OFF!
Tomorrow the 2019 edition of the Audi Nines will take over Sölden and Obergurgl-Hochgurgl, Austria, and everything is ready for the show. Here’s a recap of the latest developments as we prepare to blast off with the biggest and best Audi Nines yet.
Massive snow features have been built in Sölden and Obergurgl-Hochgurgl
The Audi Nines shape crew has been hard at work for the past weeks at our two event sites on Sölden’s Tiefenbach Glacier and above the Festkogel gondola at Obergurgl. That’s right: it’s double the trouble at this year’s event, with two different locations that will run concurrently!
This is the set up build specifically for the girls at Obergurgl.
In Sölden a team of 16 shapers, three snowcats, and three excavators is nearing completion of the men’s venue. When all is said and done, a total of 150,000 cubic meters of snow have been moved to build this stunning two-tiered setup. Meanwhile, in Obergurgl, a second team of eight shapers, two snowcats, and one excavator has been busy finishing the women’s obstacle using 35,000 cubic meters of snow.
Creating visually spectacular features has always been a central tenet of the Audi Nines philosophy, and this year is no different! In Sölden, the “Launch Pad” is already in place. This truly experimental, if not slightly mad, sci-fi feature is a metal scaffolding ramp, 10 meters high and just 2.25 meters wide, which will launch our team of adrenaline junkies over a 32-meter gap. Over at Obergurgl the build team have installed the highlight feature of the women’s setup: the “UFO,” a multipurpose rainbow rail and wallride feature that embodies the Audi Nines’ Space-Age design concept.
More top riders confirmed; “Become a Nine” winners and World Rookie Tour Qualifiers
Notifications have been flooding in from around the world as more top-notch athletes confirm their attendance. Newly minted Freeride World Tour champion Markus Eder (Men’s Ski) is the newest addition to the riders’ list, while other international heavyweights like Sarah Hoefflin (Women’s Ski), Anna Gasser (Women’s SNB), David Wise (Men’s Ski) and Terje Haakonsen (Men’s SNB) have all given the green light.
The riders’ list is further bolstered by the winners of the “Become A Nine” video contest, which received over 70 entries from ambitious up-and-comers all around the world. This year’s “Become a Nine” winners are Dean Bercovitch and Elias Syrjä (Men’s Ski), Margaux Hackett and Caroline Claire (Women’s Ski), Yuri Okobu and Niek van der Velden (Men’s SNB), and Lia-Mara Bösch and Loranne Smans (Women’s SNB).
For the first time this year, the winners of the World Rookie Tour have also been given invites to the Audi Nines cosmos, meaning we will have more hungry newcomers than ever before! They are: Annika Morgan (Women’s SNB), Mitchell Daven (Men’s SNB), Ida Sofien (Women’s Ski) and Ulrik Samnøy (Men’s Ski).
