About Dogs, Elephants and Why Everyone is Crazy about the Big O!
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Scene: Swatch Snowpark Sölden… Special obstacles are steadily gaining popularity within the freestyle world. The most recent and for sure one of the most extraordinary examples, is the enormous Oakley Elephantbox placed inside the Swatch Snowpark in Sölden, Austria. We wanted to go further into the subject and talked to Rudi Wyhlidlal, QParkdesigner in special mission as well as to Oakley Sports Marketing Manager Alex Rieger!The story commences back in 1975, when the “mad scientist” James “Jim” Jannard decides to get into business with enhancing industry standards. With a budget of USD 300$, he founds Oakley, named after his dog. His first invention is an improvement in material at motorcycle handgrips that gain more grip when getting wet – soon thereafter, Jim developed the first Oakley goggle, the O Frame®. The outcome would be a blast and became a great success in motocross and MX sports, soon reaching over to other sports as well. The rest is history… And the history has now reached the Swatch Snowpark Sölden: With this season, Oakley is one of the main Sponsors of the renowned snowpark situated in the beautiful region of Ötztal valley, western Austria. This can also be seen as the start of a young and promising collaboration between QParks and Oakley: “We are absolutely convinced by the great potential of the Swatch Snowpark Sölden and the work of QParks and we are already looking forward to the second year of collaboration!“, states Oakley marketing executive and team-manager Alex Rieger enthusiastically. As a special gift and gimmick, Oakley has contributed a massive and unique special obstacle to the park, already standing to be rode from the 23th of January on. Asking about Oakley’s motivation for deploying such a mighty obstacle inside the park area, Alex cheerfully remarks: “Generally, the innovation of the freestyle sport, also for those who don’t practice the sport professionally, really lies at our heart. On the other hand, we wanted to actively help extending the Swatch Snowpark Sölden and therefore we have realized this, at the same time inventive as safe jib-element together with QParks!” So what is the Elephant about?For all those who haven’t yet seen the Elephant in “wildlife” or want to know more about the background, Parkdesigner Rudi Wyhlidal helped us at describing this “real monster”: Rudi, can you tell us what’s the “special” thing about special obstacles? Well, the special thing is of course its uniqueness: An obstacle that you won’t find anywhere else in a park. And of course, it presents a perfect platform for the sponsors to show their engagement for a park, as is the case with Oakley. Can you describe the Oakley obstacle a little to us? Basically, what we have here is a 14 meter tall Elephantbox, i.e. a rainbowbox merging into a downbox. The special about the Oakleybox is that the rainbowbox is made of the famous Oakley “O”, which looks just gorgeous. I think due to its length it won’t be easy to ride though; this really is something for the elite! Does a special obstacle automatically equal “good park”? No, of course not. The most important thing is a diverse setup and elements for all levels. However, the Oakley Elephant really complements and enhances our park, as it would up-value any other snowpark! How about the build-up of such an obstacle: Is it a tough challenge? Yeah, I was really curious in advance how erecting this pachyderm [anm. Dickhäuter] would be like. First and foremost it needs enough of snow and enough space, as well as the right place to position it adequately. Fortunately, we have found the perfect location for the Oakley box for a best possible integration into the setup. Are there any limits in dimension or difficulty for setting up special obstacles? As long as machines and manpower can handle it, there are no limits to fantasy ;) Have you already designed such an element by your own? Yes, indeed. The a-frame-wallride originally was my idea and together with Alex “Railex” Fischer we made it real for the former base summercamp. We already had struggled a couple of ideas, such as the Y-rail, the wu-rail, the gondola-rail and so on! What’s the obstacle of your dreams? Hmm…actually I’ve never dreamt of an obstacle, but if I do one time, I’ll let you know of course, so you can get into building it ;) Thanks to Oakley at this place: QParks looks also forward to some really terrific seasons together in Sölden. Let’s push freestyle on our mountains to the next level! |