Snowboarding
Snowboard Session on the Massive "Hippie" Jump
The search for air time and good vibes brings us back to the Austrian Alps.
13 min
Hippie Jump
Hippie Jump
Take a fine selection of the world’s best street and transition snowboarders, a huge pile of snow crafted into a frosty launch pad, spice it up with a dash of passion and you get a high-calibre snowboarding event: The Hippie Jump – massive air time and good vibes.
We met the friendly Austrian organiser for a short interview about the Hippie Jump – and Marc Swoboda had some good stories to share about his week at Kitzsteinhorn in May. Sharing a flat with some of the best snowboarders of the world, we talked about the project, and air time in general.
Marc, just to get it out of the way – how did the Hippie Jump get its name?
A “hippie jump” is not just a leaping longhair – it’s the name of a skateboarding trick where the skater jumps over an obstacle while the board rolls under it – and ideally the skater lands on the board on the other side of the obstacle.
I wanted to build a hip that would fulfil every snowboarder’s dream, no matter what style he feels at home with – street, slopestyle or transition. A big playground where everybody can have a good time.
Why did you choose a hip as the basis?
For me, as a snowboarder there is no better feeling than jumping a hip or a corner. Who doesn’t dream about flying? When you are skateboarding or snowboarding a corner you get exactly THAT feeling, that dead centre, the absence of gravity – a moment of freedom, if you want to call it that.
The rails and smooth transitions that we added later made sure that it would provide room for plenty of creative style and an extremely fun session.
Hippie Jump
© Lorenz Holder
The riders spent the week in Kaprun sharing a flat. Why did you decide to cook your own meals instead of staying at a fancy hotel?
While preparing for the event I spent a lot of time thinking about which guys I would like to invite in order to get a homogenous group of riders, filmmakers and shapers. I wanted the event to have the right vibe, and housing was very important to me, too. With the shared freeride flat we just stayed home. We cooked together, had barbecues and just spent the evenings together relaxing in the living room. It was also important for me that the guys wouldn’t check off the Hippie Jump as just another event but would really remember all the good sessions.
All invited riders are good friends and team-mates of yours. Looking back, would you say you made the right choice?
Definitely! As I said, I wanted the whole session to go as smooth as possible. I wanted street riders, just like me, so my Nitro team-mates Dominik Wagner, Benny Urban and Basti Rittig were must-haves. But it’s all in the right mix. It was a matter of particular concern for me to have a Hippie Jump Crew that knows a lot about transitions as well. With Arthur Longo and Sam Texwood in the team we definitely accomplished that. And nothing could go wrong with having Wojtek Pawlusiak on board. What made the Hippie Jump even more special for me was having Terje Haakonsen there for a few days. He’s ruled pipes, transitions, quarterpipes and hips all over the world.
Our film crew was the perfect match – and that was the icing on the cake. You wouldn’t believe how much depends on the film crew.
But in the end everything worked out perfectly and hopefully it wasn’t only me who had a great time at Kitzsteinhorn with a lot of style and air time.