Tour clip release on April 20th, 2021
All pictures: Hannes Mautner
Rolling in in two campervans curtesy of Sunlight, our tour started in Innsbruck. Marco Kada from Vienna, Levi Löffelberger from Salzburg and Phillip Gerisch, who came all the way from Leipzig, Germany, met the filmer Matthias Reich and the photographer Hannes Mautner. To warm up and get to know each other, the first stop was a classic ledge at Tivoli. Five minutes later, the first jaws had to be picked up from the ground, after Levi and Marco had already bagged several bangers on the ledge. Unfortunately that's also when the rain started, so the crew first had to move to a covered spot and later into the campervans.
To be able to load the cameras' batteries, we needed a power connection, so the next stop was a nearby camping ground, before the crew started its way to Switzerland on the following morning - a better weather forecast and Matthias' near-local knowledge of Swiss skate spots made this decision come easy. First location to visit was the little town of Chur, where we spent two days skating all kinds of spots from gaps to ledges, rails and lines. Phillip drew first blood when he landed in some glass shards, but other than one spot we couldn't finish due to rain and empty batteries, Chur was a great success.
Next on the list was Zurich, where the local Blue Tomato Shop Zurich team riders Fabian and Mike showed us around and took over negotiations with local authorities in beautiful Swiss German. Unfortunately they could only join for one afternoon, so Jimmy van Genabith took over who only recently had joined the the Blue Tomato Team for Shop Zurich, and was very eager to share his spots with his new teammates. Unfortunately, Levi was already out of business by then - a warmup gone wrong on a stairset led to a injured heel which took a couple more weeks to fully heal.
Together with Jimmy, the crew headed out to the near Aargau with its many diverse spots. As usual, Marco led the charge and delivered banger after banger! A rainy Sunday finally brought a well deserved break to recover a little, topped of with some bowling, before Monday brought back business as usual. Takeoff, search for a spot, find parking space for two campervans, kill the spot, refeed the parking meter, bag some last tricks, snack break and the whole thing starts over again. Let us tell you: it's not easy to park two huge campervans in a city. But also outside of the city, the unusually long back of the camper can be hard to handle... even huge sports ground parking lots can become obstacle courses, thank god for rearview cameras! After ten days, we had to start our way back, on which we took advantage of the (in relation to Switzerland) way cheaper Austrian prices and some of Innsbruck's spots again. With mixed feelings (especially since we had to empty the cassette toilets), we had to give back the campervans to Sunlight, but the prospect our own beds, some privacy and without three snoring guys in the van, was a silver lining.
Marco Kada, Switch Heelflip, Trick of the Trip!
