Grand opening of the world's newest halfpipe

Silvaplana/Corvatsch, Engadin, 24.02.2024 - It's done! Corvatsch AG's long-standing project was officially opened today with numerous riders and guests. Corvatsch now has one more halfpipe and is one of the few resorts in the world to offer a top superpipe. It is enthroned directly in the Corvatsch Park at the Murtèl middle station at 2,700 meters above sea level, is 170 meters long, has 7 meter high walls and conveys the feeling of freedom that freestylers love so much, far above the tree line.

The honor of the first test run went to Swiss snowboarder David Hablützel, who showed how much style the riders fly through the pipe: "The orientation of the halfpipe is brilliant, because it faces north, which means you always have the sun from behind, it never blinds you when you're doing your tricks. That's a huge advantage, you won't find that anywhere else. What's more, both walls are perfectly exposed to the sun. At exactly 12:00 noon, the entire pipe is bathed in sunshine, which makes it really cool."
Alex Ferreira (USA), who has won everything there is to win in the halfpipe this year - all FIS World Cups, the small crystal globe, gold at the X-Games - also did the honors: "The shape of the pipe seems to be absolutely perfect, definitely one of the best, but everything that is Swiss-made is fantastic. I like this pipe and can't wait to be here again next year." World Championship gold is still missing from his medal collection, but he will have the chance to do so in 2025 when the Corvatsch Park is one of the venues for the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships in the Engadin.

Building a superpipe is an art that only very few shapers worldwide have mastered to perfection. Every degree of slope change and every centimeter of the walls is important and has an influence on the rider's flight phase. Carlo Rusterholz, who is responsible for the design and shape of the pipe together with Kobi Würsch from Corvatsch Park, explains: "For me, it started in mid-January after around 20,000 m3 of snow had been produced for the pipe. The artificial snow is mixed with the natural snow, which is important for the quality of the snow. It took me around 250 machine hours to get the pipe to where it is today. And from now until the end of the season, I'll be working on it between 4-6 hours a day."

In addition to the riders from Swiss-Ski and Swiss-Snowboard, the German halfpipe hopefuls Leilani Ettel and André Höflich were also there on Saturday. The latter had this to say about the pipe: "The halfpipe feels really good, especially because of the slope. It faces north and is really steep, not too much and not too little. The shaper has done a really good job and knows what he's doing. I'm looking forward to the next few years that we can train here." Engadin snowboarding veterans of the 90s such as 1999 halfpipe world champion Martina Tscharner and French freeski veteran Kevin Rolland, who won world championship gold in 2009, also inaugurated the halfpipe together with the kids from the FRESK Freestyle School.

The pipe is now open to everyone. The snowboard & freeski community says: Thank you, Corvatsch!