<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On 21 December 2024, the Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY hosted by Blue Tomato kicked off its twelfth season in glorious sunshine with the first tour stop in the Hochzillertal-Kaltenbach ski region. The opening event of the popular Ästhetiker Snowboard Tour attracted over a hundred participants from all over Europe to travel to the first holiday region in the Zillertal. With its unique combination of snowboard freestyle coaching, style sessions and internationally recognised snowboard slopestyle competitions, the VÄLLEY RÄLLEY has been established as an important junior tour represents an important springboard for young snowboarders into international professional sport. Click here for the highlight video of the 1st tour stop by monepic.at: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPueUtaHZRs" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPueUtaHZRs</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Perfect start to the season with over 100 participants</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It couldn't have been better! Just in time for the 1st Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY Tourstop 2024/2025 hosted by Blue Tomato, the Betterpark Hochzillertal shone with its first-class freestyle setup in bright sunshine. Over 100 participants travelled from all over Europe to the first holiday region in the Zillertal for the first VÄLLEY RÄLLEY event of the popular snowboard tour. On Saturday, the conditions were perfect for the snowboard competition in the Olympic ‘Slopestyle’ category. International teams set the bar high in the battle for the first podium places early season. Plenty of medals, prize money and prizes from partners Zillertal.at, Blue Tomato and Horsefeathers awaited the winners of the eight categories.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>International winner's podium in Hochzillertal-Kaltenbach</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the end of an exciting day,<strong> Niklas Huber </strong>from Team Germany was delighted to take first place in the open class for all male riders. The Spaniard <strong>Unai Lopez Sousa</strong> caused a sensation with his ‘Backside 1260 Double Cork’ and won the Horsefeathers Best Trick Award. In the ladies' category, it was Austria's <strong>Selin Lakatha</strong> who was delighted with her gold medal as the best female rider in the Open Women. In the Rookie Boys category (U18), <strong>Oliver Šťastný</strong> from the Czech Republic dominated the podium in a very strong field. His performance also earned him the silver medal in the overall standings of the open class. <strong>Janina Walz </strong>from Germany impressed the judges in the Rookie Girls (U18) as the best snowboarder of the day. In the Grom Girls (U16), <strong>Marie Kuhlmann</strong> from Germany was delighted with her first place, with <strong>Adele Vankerschaver</strong> from Portugal, tight on her heels, while <strong>Gustav Nawarkiewicz-Wiśniewski </strong>from Poland won the gold medal in the Grom Boys competition (U16).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Super Groms (U13), <strong>Klaudie Pouchova </strong>from Team Czech Republic and<strong> Fedde Smith</strong> from Team Great Britain climbed to the top of the podium as the day's winners. The 7-year-old newcomer <strong>Franz Xaver Hoffmann</strong> from Germany was also over the moon with his title as ‘Most impressive Grom of the day’. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Martha Schultz </strong>from the Hochzillertal-Kaltenbach ski resort is delighted with the successful kick-off event: <em>‘Thanks to the team of the Ästhetiker. Professionals are at work here! Events of this kind are very important for winter sports and for our kids and young people - they convey the fun of being outdoors and the young people measure their skills together.’</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The hunt for points has officially begun</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first of four contest results in the Hochzillertal-Kaltenbach ski region marked the start of the hunt for new VÄLLEY RÄLLEY points. The overall tour winners will be crowned the 12th Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY royal family in spring 2025 on the Hintertux Glacier. Points on the international World Snowboard Point List (WSPL) are also awarded for participation and the tour stop counts as the ASA (Austrian Snowboard Association) Austria Cup. All under-18s collected points in the World Rookie Ranking at Betterpark Hochzillertal and can therefore qualify for the World Rookie Tour Finals. Find out more at <a href="http://www.powdern.com" target="_blank">http://www.powdern.com</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Style sessions, coaching and fresh new snow to round off a successful weekend</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Sunday, some motivated snowboarders met up for the snowboard coaching and Ästhetiker style sessions at Betterpark Hochzillertal. To round things off, Mother Hulda shook her pillows and delivered a great load of fresh snow to everyone's delight. What a fantastic start to the season!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>All remaining Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY dates 2024/2025 at a glance:</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2nd tour stop 25-26 January 2025 Zillertal Arena</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3rd tour stop 08-09 March 2025 Penken Park Mayrhofen, Mayrhofen-Hippach in Zillertal</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4th tour stop 03-04/05/2025 Hintertux Glacier, Betterpark Hintertux, Tux-Finkenberg</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The Ästhetiker would like to thank the partners of the Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY for their support:</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Zillertal Tourismus, Skiregion Hochzillertal-Kaltenbach, Tourismusverband Erste Ferienregion im Zillertal, Blue Tomato, Red Bull, Horsefeathers, Dana Beanies, Betterparks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Special thanks go to the co-operation partners:</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">World Snowboard Federation (WSF), Austrian Snowboard Federation (ASA), World Rookie Tour (WRT)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The complete list of results, photo and video galleries can be found at </strong><a href="https://valleyralley.at" target="_blank">www.valleyralley.at</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Facebook: </strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/valleyralley" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/valleyralley</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Instagram: </strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/zillertalvalleyralley" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/zillertalvalleyralley</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Youtube:</strong> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@zillertalvalleyralley" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/@zillertalvalleyralley</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Tiktok:</strong> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@zillertal_valley_ralley" target="_blank">https://www.tiktok.com/@zillertal_valley_ralley</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>More info at </strong><a href="https://valleyralley.at" target="_blank">www.valleyralley.at</a> <strong>and </strong><a href="http://www.zillertal.at/valleyralley" target="_blank">www.zillertal.at/valleyralley</a></div>