The Woodstock from snowboarding

30 cm of fresh powder the day before and bright sunshine, this is how the 20th anniversary of the Longboard Classic (LBC) was celebrated in Stuben am Arlberg. With 560 participants it was probably also one of the biggest events in the history of snowboarding.

Meeting place Moonlight Bar

Friday evening. We sat in the car directly after work and made our way to Stuben. After what felt like 100 speed cameras in Austria, we reach the Arlberg and thus Stuben. Even before entering the village you can see the camps of snowboarders, which had formed along the main road on the parking lots. Small skater camps were set up and the one or other veritable campfire was already burning in the middle of "Wagenburgen".

After we checked into the Après Post Hotel and had an excellent meal there (hotel and food are and food are highly recommended), we went on to the Mondschein Bar for the "Welcome Party".

The Mortal Kombat sound system was playing in the Mondschein Bar. But I stayed in the adjacent pub, where I met many old faces. Not old, because of age, but because I knew them from before. Mmm, so also old, because of the age... Item, among many known Swiss I met there also Dani "Kiwi" Meier and Oliver Holzmann, the latter spontaneously traveled from California to the LBC. Some lucky ones arrived already on Friday morning, could make their tracks on the Albona with 30 cm of fresh powder and let the late arrivals experience with pleasure what they missed. The many old hands who arrived showed already the evening before that the twentieth edition of the LBC will be something very special.

At some point, relatively early, but I pulled the rip cord and allowed myself the necessary night's rest. Other riders, I was to learn the next day, had a very short, but intense night...

Paul Gruber and the beginnings of the Longboard Classic

Paul was Jake Burton's first customer outside the USA in 1980. After a few years as a team rider for Sims, he founded the Crazy Banana brand with his partner Harry Gunz in 1984. At that time snowboarding was still unknown and also many of the lifts let them on the mountain mostly only after long negotiations. In Stuben it was completely different from the beginning. Rudi Pichler from Tourismus Stuben said to them "Don't make any trouble and come back down before the lifts close. That was the starting signal for a lifelong love of the snowboard heaven Stuben with Paul's favourite mountain, the Albona. 

The brilliant idea for the LBC came then in the restaurant Mittelstation in Stuben. Just in time for the Weekend friends called and asked where they were going snowsurfing? The answer was always the same: meeting at 07.00h in the office and then immediately to Stuben. So they said to each other: Why don't we organize a special snowboard day, where we all friends and their friends invite you to sail the Albona together. In the first year 80 people came, this year, it was 560. Paul's old friends from the '80s, including Terry Kidwell, Shawn Farmer and Jose Fernandes, are regular visitors. What What fascinates Paul above all is the fact that Stuben is the cradle of the Skiing applies. The ski pioneer Hannes Schneider went already in the 20's and 30's years with his friends on the Albona and the motto was: Whoever is first in the Village has won. They copied exactly this format, because snowboarding is most beautiful together with friends.

I think we can give him nothing more to add.

Unexpected rush

As an LBC rookie, I didn't know what to expect. That's why I didn't want to show up at the registration at the last minute. After a comfortable breakfast we went to the event tent, which was about 1 minute away from the hotel and the parking lots. In the tent itself there was already a long queue of Elho and Oxbow porters.

So with my 20-year-old clothes I still felt too modern. I no longer had older clothes at home, everything that was older was worn until it fell apart or was passed on. My personal ISF start number from 1994 I dug out of an old boardbag and wore it. And I was not the only one who wore his old ISF starting number. Companies as sponsors could be read on it, some of which don't exist anymore or have nothing to do with snowboarding.

The early queuing was worth it, because Paul Gruber was completely surprised by the many participants this year. With 560 participants, an increase of almost 20 percent compared to last year, one really could not expect. So it happened that the last registrations had to go home without one of the cult T-shirts.

Nevertheless, everyone was able to take part in the race and 60 meal vouchers were made by hand on the spot, so that everyone came to their lunch after the race.

Everyone Participants received a Lei (Hawaiian flower chain) as lift ticket and with it one could pass any turnstile and without further delay get onto the Mountain come. In general the organization was first class, you can feel that this Competition already anchored in the DNA of Stuben and Paul Gruber is.

Everything on LBC has been organized by Paul, from the marquee to the DJs, from T-shirts up to the permits of the municipality. He is supported by Muck Müller for the press work, Fredy Hollenstein for the website, Thomas from Hotel Post for the catering and Gebi Pichler from Stuben Tourismus for Overnight stays. A sworn community without whose help it would not be more would be possible.

Against big business

In the finish area of the LBC there was not only the marquee and the Red Bull finish arch but also a whole village with countless stands where you could rent the latest test boards. At the corresponding booths you could also meet legendary personalities from 40 years of snowboard history, like Yogi März or Serge Dupraz for a chat. Or you could also chat with the legendary Titus or have a beer.

Everything was very relaxed and in a family setting, just as you would expect at the end of the season. This is also done deliberately, because in all the years one has explicitly refused the big sponsors in order to keep the event personal. And already now Stuben as a small village with the LBC is reaching the capacity limit and more and more participants have to be "outsourced" to Klösterle.

At 11 o'clock the last competitors made their way to the Albona ridge and the finish area the finish area belonged to the relatives and friends. Even some stands were deserted for a short time. Apparently the people also "briefly" went to the the Albona...

Thousand and one

The race is very simple: the first to the bottom wins. The choice of route is up to each person. There are different categories: LBC Masters (boards from 172 cm (m) / 162 cm (f)), LBC no school (no restriction (m/f)) and LBC old school (board older than 1990 (m/f)). The start on the Albona ridge is at 2408 m above sea level and the finish in the village at 1407 m above sea level, which means 1001 meters of pure fun. The route is 100 percent "off-piste". From start to finish, you don't even go near an official slope.

I can imagine very well why the Albona is a dream slope, if not just the day before -zig riders have drawn their lines on the Albona and on the race day 560 down again.

At 12 o'clock the last clouds leave the starting area and the Arlberg presents itself in the imperial weather. The conditions could not be more perfect. Despite the megaphone, Mück Müller is the first to lose his voice.

It is impressive to see over 500 boarders in their partly very old clothes and boards standing on the mountain waiting for the start.

What was also noticeable is that many older semesters took their children to LBC. Some of the children also had old clothes and boards. For example a teenager with an old brushie board and Chiemsee clothes, all material that was older than the girl herself.

There was a lot of fun in the starting area and from time to time a hip flask was taken out to distribute water from the curves.

At some point, after what felt like an eternity, there was finally the start. The LBC has one mass start per category. That means the start is done in Le Mans style. About 50 meters from the edge the competitors wait for the start signal and then run over the flat piece until the gradient allows to mount the board. Le-Mans is actually a lame sh**ss against it.

The whole spectacle per category lasts a few minutes, because besides the ambitious riders who make a spurt, there are also the connoisseurs, who run comfortably to the edge, mount the board and then set off to clean up the field from behind. For most participants, taking part is everything, because everyone who made it to the Albona that day is a winner. This may sound trite, but what you get here is unparalleled.

Boarding and chilling

The ride to Stuben is first over a moderately steep but wide slope, which is in principle easy to ride, but you can see some falls on the pictures... Here some participants rode over their limit and had to pay with falls.

But there were no injured, so that the mountain rescue team could spend their afternoon up on the Albona as spectators.

After the big slope, there is a flatter part and the choice of the agony of the route. A few have taken the more direct, but more difficult route through the couloir. The majority went over another slope and then let it go to the finish.

There were also some participants who stopped along the way, had a picnic and only after the last group, took the board under their feet again. They also made it to the finish line at some point. At the finish line, almost every rider is personally welcomed by Dani "Kiwi" Meier in the legendary Evil Knievel suit or Paul Gruber.

And every boarder who crossed the Red Bull finish line was celebrated by the spectators like a winner. And so the finish line of the participants went smoothly with the celebrating and chilling. The more boarders arrived, the bigger the party became.

To In the end, Mike Obermeier and Mück Müller took the easier route with all children and drove with them into the valley. With their arrival the race was now officially closed.

3P: Platform, prizes and plastic bags

You can find out who won in which discipline on the official website longboardclassic.com read up. I won't bore you with it. This year again there were many well-known names, respectively repeat offenders. The youngest participant was 6 years old and one really managed to ride the Albona with a board without binding.

Special mention should be made of the auction of an LBC unique from Boerteun in favour of skate-aid.org a foundation founded by Titus Dittmann, which stands for offering a holistic, self-determined approach to the promotion of young people within the framework of youth welfare, sport, culture and international understanding.

There was a diploma for all podium places and also all children who participated could choose a material prize from countless boxes. All remaining prizes were then thrown into the spectators. Now I also realized why some boys were standing in the front row with plastic bags the whole time. These were LBC "professionals" who knew exactly what would happen now. So almost every spectator got one or more material prizes and especially the children present were overjoyed. We also had an increase in sunglasses and caps.

After all the boxes had been emptied, the official award ceremony was also over.

People either retreated to their accommodation, sat down comfortably with a few cases of beer, listened to the rocking sound act "New York Wannabe", skated on the miniramp or just enjoyed the sun. Many stayed until sunset and enjoyed the peaceful being together with like-minded people.

Party till the beams burst

After a shower and a hearty dinner, the absolute highlight of the evening could start the live acts in the marquee. By the way, there is a "running gag" that during the DJ set in the night the people were so animated that everyone was "tapping" their feet on the floor. As a result there were often holes in the dance floor, a lot of fun. But the tent builder is adaptive and has been using thicker floor boards for the last three years...

So first "A New Day Band" performed with the jack-of-all-trades Paul Gruber on the guitar and offered coolest sound on a very high level. They managed to bring the whole tent to boil already after a few songs and with this mood to pass on to the following act. With such a preheated audience it was easy for Ucee and his reggae band to celebrate the crowning conclusion of this year's anniversary LBC. The tent was shaking.

A soul event

We were allowed to sleep in on Sunday and comfortably enjoy the excellent breakfast take us. And again, familiar, tired but happy faces sit at the Tables all around us. This weekend, Stuben was in the hands of the boarders and I'm incredibly glad to have been a part of it. The LBC is a Soul event that lives from the special atmosphere and the incredible mountain. So Paul Gruber doesn't think it can handle more than 1000 participants. Until then. but it will still take some time and so we are curious to see how many We will be able to name participants next year.

After the event is before the event. Next year we can expect a perfectly organized LBC again, which looks shirt-sleeved but is perfectly orchestrated. Hold the signature of the Grandmaster of Snowboarding Paul Gruber!

On April 18, 2020 the time will come again.
We're in!
And you?

Link to the official website and even more photos: longboardclassic.com