A while back we hold a nice little raffle together with the help of Peak Performance, to give some young up and coming skiers the chance to fly all the way north to Riksgränsen with the option to compete at the annual Scandinavian Big Mountain Championships.

Konsti Ottner and his friend & filmer Valentin Walther not only got the chance to had up to the SBMC but Konsti was also given the chance to compete, and he went straight for a spot in the finals.

 

We would like to thank every single one of the competitors again, who took time and sent in so many amazing clips over on Instagram, it was a really hard choice to pick a winner. Thank you so much, without any of you Downdays.eu would not be possible!!!

 

To celebrate the SBMC and Konsti’s as well as Valentis trip up to Riksgränsen here is a little interview we did with the both of them about their experience. More over the boys put together a nice recap clip from their trip, which you should definitely check out!

 

Hey boys, we hope you’re doing well and you had a blast up north at Riksgränsen for the Scandinavian Big Mountain Championships. Before we start off please introduce yourself.

 

Konsti: Thanks, I am doing great. My name is Konstantin Ottner, I am 19 years old and living in a small town in Bavaria called Kaufbeuren (close to Austria). Started skiing at the age of three and after a few years of alpine racing, I finally made the step into freeriding.

Valentin: Hey Hey, ouh yes we had a blast.
The week before I was in Poland and was very exhausted from all the sightseeing, so a ski vacation was perfect to recover. I like to ski, surf and work with cameras. This season I started to do skiing videos, so I’m very happy that my first released video won a competition.

 

You guys are living in Innsbruck right now, right? So how come you got into the #peakperformancespring competition?

 

Konsti: No, I am still living in Kaufbeuren (GER), but spending a lot of time in Innsbruck or the mountains around. But who knows what comes in the near future… We decided to go filming in Hintertux (AUT) after the first big dump in April and got rewarded with a bluebird day and powder. On the same day I saw a post on the Downdays Instagram channel and sent it to Valentin. He created a short edit oft the day and yeah haha… Somehow we won the trip to Riksgränsen.

Valentin: More or less haha. I live in Kaufbeuren, ski in Innsbruck and work mostly in Munich. A lot of my friends moved to Innsbruck for studies. So if i go skiing there I can sleep on their comfortable couches.

 

Did you especially plan your winning clip or was it more of a correlating coincidence that you took part in the video competition?

Konsti: No it was the outcome of our spontaneous trip to Hintertux.
Valentin: Absolute coincident! A few days before Konstantin told me about the competition, we have been filming together with Tobi and Victor from the Sinkflug crew. The father of my girlfriend, who is by the way a psychologist, must have thought I’m retarded. He was about to mow the lawn as he sees me creeping throw his garden while shooting flowers…

As the winners of the #peakperformancespring both of you won a ticket up north to Riksgränsen. How did your trip go?

 

Konsti: I was in school when I got the answer that we won the trip. I wrote Valentin and he couldn’t believe it, too.

The whole trip and everything else was super fun, thanks again to Peak Performance for the super good organization.

Valentin: The trip was well organized by Peak Performance. All I had to do was being on time for my flight.

 

Can you tell us a little bit about Riksgränsen and of course the Scandinavian Big Mountain Championships?

 

Konsti: Riksgränsen is a very small ski town in the north of Sweden close to the border to Norway. The landscape is amazing and everybody is super friendly. There are just a few lifts in the ski resort, but super fun terrain with a lot of different options to ski fun runs and jump around. The Scandinavian Big Mountain Championships (SBMC) is a freeride contest taking place every year in Riksgränsen. Every good skier (freeride and park) is coming to compete over three days (one qualification and two finals) to get crowned as the Scandinavian Champion. And the level of riding is insane!!!

Valentin: Riksgränsen is a tiny ski village in northwest Sweden. There is only one Hotel and at the SBM Championship it was full of freeskiers, if you followed the Downdays Instagram stories you know what that was leading to… The ski resort is very fun! You have nice spots such as big wind lips, cliffs and crazy kicker spots. It’s hard to tell how much snow there is, but they said around 3m. The Scandinavian Big Mountain Championship are a very well organized event. A lot of fans came up and watched the whole competition while doing BBQ’s and drinking beers.

 

Konstantin, you qualified straight fort he finals of the Scandinavian Big Mountain Championships. How did it go for you and how was it to take part in one of the biggest Scandinavian competitions?

 

Konsti: It was super cool to compete! And you are allowed to ski the face right before the comp starts. The SBMC doesn’t count for the European qualifier series, so I wasn’t stressed at all. I just wanted to have fun and showcast some good skiing. The first day didn’t go so well for me, because of total flat light during my run (The weather changes very fast and sometimes every five minutes). So I tried to send it on day two, but backslapped on my first backflip of the run. At least the last day went well and I finally could bring a run down without many mistakes and ended up in 5th place. Not super happy with the result but it was a rad time though!

 

What would your advice be for anybody traveling to Riksgränsen for some skiing?

 

Konsti: Prepare your skis! You really need good edges. Also bring a rad crew for some crazy rat packs to enjoy the terrain and time. The trip will be worth it.

Valentin: Book a room with a curtain because it’s not getting dark at night. Konstantin was freaking out, haha.

 

We hope you guys enjoyed yourself and we wish you a great summer. You still got any skiing plans for the upcoming months or you’re already planning your next winter? Any trips in particular?

 

Konsti: I think we have to thank you guys from Downdays and from Peak Performance. We had a banger time and hope to be back next year! Maybe I am going back to New Zealand this summer but nothing planned yet. But for sure some more slushy days on the glacier to get some park skiing done! Thank you and have a great summer.

Valentin: I will enjoy the rest of the spring season in Kaunertal and Hintertux. Also I saw last summer that Zermatt has a very decent snowpark. I will definitely have to check that out too. Thank you very much for inviting us and see you next year 😉

 

Thank you Valentin and Konstantin for your time and we hope you enjoyed your week up north, hopefully we’ll see you guys again next year 😉