Wintersports
Freeskiing
Red Bull Playstreets hits Austria this weekend!
The streets of Bad Gastein, Austria will be transformed for freeski competition Red Bull Playstreets
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Red Bull Playstreets
© Red Bull Content Pool
Thousands of fans will line the streets of the picturesque ski resort of Bad Gastein in SalzburgerLand in Austria on Saturday for the fifth staging of Red Bull Playstreets.
It's far from straightforward to create the course that will be used by 22 of the world's top freeskiers, but here's an idea of what's involved.
- Total track length – 520 metres
- Wooden track part length – 130 metres
- Total wood used – 140 cubic metres
- Security fences required – 900 metres
- Total screws used – 10,000
- Amount of artificial snow required – 4,680 cubic metres
It will take 780 truck loads to get the snow into position, after which the snowblowers will do their thing and training can begin.
Paddy Graham and Elias Ambuhl
© Max Steinbauer
Qualifying gets going at 4 p.m. on February 23 and a three-person jury will decide on the top eight freestyle skiers of the day who will contest the grand final at 8 p.m.
Getting themselves ready for a wild ride over roofs and streets on two skis will be: Nick Goepper (US, Gold Medal Winner X-Games, Slopestyle, Aspen 2013), defending champion Elias Ambuhl (CH, 3rd place X-Games, Big Air, Aspen 2013), Charles Gagnier (CAN, 2007 Winner), Bobby Brown (US, multiple X-Games Champion), PK Hunder (NOR), Paddy Graham (UK), Roy Kittler (GER) and Markus Eder (ITA, Freeride World Tour Winner, Courmayeur 2013).
To add to that mix, five Austrian heroes, including Tobi Tritscher – a Styrian who has enjoyed years of success, as well as Fabio Studer from Vorarlberg (2nd place on Freeride World Tour, Chamonix 2013) and Salzburg's Toni Höllwart will be giving their all in front of their home crowd.
If you can't be there to witness the excitement, don't worry, all of the action will be streamed live on redbull.tv.
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