The PistenBully Park success story began in May 2000 in the USA. That's when the first eight PistenBully 200 Parks were sold to American ski resorts. Since then, Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG has achieved consistent growth, and the Laupheim company has sold over 1,000 vehicles to its countless national and international customers. Today, with the PistenBully 600 Park and PistenBully 400 Park, absolute professionals are at work, ensuring perfect competition conditions worldwide.
PistenBully 400 Park at Flachauwinkl-Kleinarl
Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG provided an additional PistenBully 400 Park to support the Flachauwinkl-Kleinarl ski resort. The ParkBully created perfect competitive conditions for the international field at the various events held in the Absolut Park.
The Jib King was the first event of the winter, opening the annual competition season in the Absolut Park. Eighty-two participants lined up to take part in the Freeski event, divided into the categories Men, Women and Rookies. The ten most successful competitors from the men's heats battled it out in the final to decide the ultimate victor. The best two out of four jumps were counted. In order to increase the levels of difficulty and excitement, the finals were held in a different area of the park.
There were a total of 51 participants in the Snowboard discipline, and the winners were chosen in the same way.
ParkBully – partner at the O’Neill Evolution Event in Davos
The second big park event in the PistenBully winter season took place in Davos. A PistenBully 400 Park prepared the fun park and the halfpipe for the Big Air Contest at the O’Neill Evolution Days, creating ideal competition conditions.
The world's best snowboarders met at the six-day O’Neill Evolution Event to battle it out in the Big Air and Halfpipe disciplines. The Big Air contest consists of a big kicker, several small kickers and various obstacles that have to be tackled as spectacularly as possible. Competitors had to get through four elimination rounds to be one of the last four in the big final. Maxence Parrot and Miyabi Onitsuka were the winners of this year's final. Twelve out of a total of fifty starters in the halfpipe competed to produce the winner in the final. Jan Scherrer and Verena Rohrer impressed the jury by performing the most spectacular jumps.
The international field comprised 128 competitors, who fought it out for a total prize money of USD 125,000 in the Men and Women categories.
ParkBully – partner at the Burton European Open in Laax
The next park event in the PistenBully winter season was held in Laax. At the Burton European Open, a PistenBully 400 Park prepared the fun park and the halfpipe for the Slopestyle contest, producing a perfectly shaped pipe.
Every year, the six-day Burton European Open attracts the world's best snowboarders, who compete against each other in the Slopestyle and Halfpipe disciplines. The Slopestyle trail features several kickers and various obstacles which are to be handled in spectacular style. As the weather was very bad on the day of the final, the results of the semi-finals were declared final for the men, which left Torstein Horgmo as the winner. The women’s event unfortunately had to be cancelled completely.
In the Halfpipe, twelve out of a total of eighty starters competed to produce the winner in the final. The old hands found themselves sidelined by two young newcomers: 14-year-old Ayumo Hiranound and 16-year-old Arielle Gold, who achieved the best scores with highly spectacular jumps.
After that it was the turn of the juniors. The winners among the under-14s were Chloe Kim and Jake Pates.
All together, this year’s Burton European Open attracted no fewer than 300 entries, who competed in the in the Men, Women and Juniors categories for a total prize money of USD 125,000.
PistenBully 400 Park deployed for the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup in Grasgehren
Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG supported the Grasgehren Ski Area with an additional PistenBully 400 Park for its Ski Cross World Cup event. In spite of the bad weather and heavy snowfall, the ParkBully provided perfect conditions for the event.
On the Saturday, the first rounds of the World Cup had to be cancelled because of strong winds and heavy snowfall but on Sunday, after a truly impressive night shift worked by the trail grooming crews, the complete event could be held. The world’s best elite boarders were confronted by an almost 1,000 m long trail with several jumps that had to be completed in the shortest possible time. Of the forty women and seventy men in the original line-up, the 16 fastest women and 32 fastest men went forward into the k.o. rounds, where four ski crossers were lined up against one other each time, with the two fastest reaching the next round. The winners in the big finals were Ophelie David of France and Tomas Kraus of the Czech Republic. The spectacular races attracted 2,800 spectators and were also broadcast on television.
