Nevini Galmarini – Alpine Snowboarder
With the silvery gondola into the white ski area
We meet Nevin Galmarini on a cloudy but cold morning before Christmas at the valley station in Scuol. Winter is in the air, it smells of fresh snow and the clouds look like it too. Today we want to get to know the slope with Nevin, where the World Cup final in Alpine snowboarding will take place on 10 March 2018 with a parallel giant slalom.
The trip to the ski resort is not only special in that we get to ride up in a gondola with the silver Olympic medallist, but also because he has chosen his silver-clad mountain gondola for the trip.
From the classroom to the World Cup piste
Nevin has just returned from a successful World Cup weekend in Cortina d'Ampezzo and is enjoying his home to the full. He is an ambassador for Engadin Scuol and therefore also an ambassador for the World Cup Final on 10 March 2018 in the Lower Engadine.
«What makes the ski resort so special for you?», we wanted to know:
«In the beginning, it was the proximity to my home in Ardez that made it special. My brother started snowboarding and I did the same a year later when I was 10. We could be found on the mountain every free minute. When I went to high school at the High Alpine Institute in Ftan, the slopes became my daily gym, so to speak». Nevin remembers how much he looked forward to the slopes every lesson. – «Especially when Latin was on the agenda», he laughs. The High Alpine Institute in Ftan offered him the ideal conditions to optimally combine high school and sports.
From carving turns on the World Cup slope...
After a ride in the Naluns chairlift and a few bends, we are now at the start of the World Cup slope. The World Cup slope is sun-drenched with a beautiful view over the fraction of Ftan and Tarasp. We are lucky and meet Nevin's former coach, René Hürlimann, with his protégés from the sports class of the Ftan High Alpine Institute on the slope.
The professional snowboarder doesn't miss the opportunity to test the slalom himself and carves a razor-sharp line into the track.
And how does it feel to ski on the future World Cup slope? How would you describe the course? «The medium steep World Cup slope in Scuol is ideal for a snowboard race. There will be a race where all athletes can go full throttle from top to bottom. The key spot will be the terrain transition in the middle of the slope. Those who get it right there will have a decisive advantage. We don't have to worry about the snow situation. There is enough snow and if the worst comes to the worst, the newly built snow-making facilities will be ready. Personally, I hope the slope will be crisp and icy. I like it when I can make my turns in the snow powerfully and dynamically».
When carving, I have the feeling of almost flying over the piste.
Nevin Galmarini Profi-Snowboarder
The Nevin Galmarini slope
After the World Cup run, Nevin takes us to "his" slope. Namely the black piste, which the Scuol ski area dedicates to him and therefore bears his name. We take the «Prui» lift up to Clünas, take the right-hand, blue piste and after a few turns we are faced with a steep, sloping slope - the «Nevin Galmarini piste». The piste is not yet open at this point, but from here an incredible panorama reveals itself over the World Cup piste, all the way to Ftan and even to Nevin's favourite place, the Lai Nair, above the village of Tarasp on the other side of the valley. We are overwhelmed and amazed.
From the black runway to the black lake
After the piste, Nevin wants to show us his resting and anchoring point. Opposite the ski area, on the right side of the valley, is Tarasp with its famous castle. But we don't want to go there, the path leads us past the castle into a snow-covered fairytale forest. The last stretch we trudge through deep snow and soon find ourselves on a plateau. The sudden tranquillity and intactness of this place seem like something from another world. We have arrived at Nevin's favourite place: at the «Lai Nair», which is the name of the black lake in Romansh. «Here I find energy and peace, in winter as well as in summer. In summer there is one of the most beautiful barbecue spots here, combined with a swim after a bike tour - simply dreamlike». We don't see the lake, but a winter fairy tale covered in deep snow. Nevin tells us to close our eyes and listen carefully. We simply hear... nothing.
When we open our eyes again, the sun is giving us a game of hide and seek behind the Pisoc massif. No wonder this place is Nevin's favourite.
We wanted to know if he would be able to get up here before the World Cup final: «That is already possible», says Nevin.«But then certainly with a huge anticipation of the event in my home country in front of a home audience», he continues. «I am proud to bring my home country closer to my fellow combatants in this way». Understandable, we find. And somehow also enviable.
«Inavant», Hopp Nevin! We look forward with you to March 10, 2018.
And when Nevin starts his way home, the announced flakes fall from the sky.
Text: Madeleine Pope
pictures: Claudio Daguati & Dominik Täuber
Nevin Galmarini - Profile
Ardezer (GR), Profisnowboarder, Biker, Outdoorsportler, Botschafter für Engadin Scuol, Student
Born: 4.12.1986
Disziplin: Snowboard Alpin
Club: Club da Snowboard Umblanas Scuol
Greatest successes: Olympic silver medal winner SOCHI 2014, World Championship bronze medal winner Sierra Nevada/ESP 2017, World Cup winner Rogla 2017, Swiss champion 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Around the FIS Snowboard World Cup Scuol
Location: Prui slope in the Scuol ski area in the Lower Engadine
Access to the race track: Access lifts from Ftan and Scuol. From Motta Naluns Scuol mountain station a 50-minute walk.
Side events on Friday: distribution of starting numbers, performance by Snook the Swiss rapper from Tarasp.
Side-Events on Saturday: Top-class suspense in the finish area, concert between the qualification and the final with Snook. World Cup party in the Marmotta and Cult.
Event homepage with publication of various information: engadin.com/fis-snowboard-weltcup-alpin-scuol
Facts: Historical facts about the Snowboard Alpin in Scuol
Scuol has been at the center of the alpine snowboard scene from the beginning:
- 1987 the first snowboard school in Europe was founded in Scuol
- 1993 the Scuoler Cla Mosca became the first world champion in the sport snowboard alpine
- Since 1993/94 the High Alpine Institute Ftan has been running a sports school for young snowboarders
- 1997 the Scuoler Fadri Mosca (Cla's brother) also became world champion in snowboard alpine
- 2014 Nevin Galmarini from Ardez won the silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia
