Do you like an early night after a hard day on the slopes? You’ve got no chance at the Snowbombing festival. AMY ADAMS reports.
When you head down the mountain after a hard day’s snowboarding, there’s nothing like seeing the Cuban Brothers jigging round a bar in g-strings and Robin Hood hats to give you a second wind. Coming towards the end of Snowbombing, a week-long festival that promises pistes by day and beats by night, all your body wants to do is go to bed. But the funk collective are soliciting dance-offs, jugs of beer are making the rounds, and everyone’s stomping in their salopettes. The chances of you going home to bed are minimal. Best forget about sleep until hometime.
Ski/board/music bonanza Snowbombing started seven years ago, with a merry crowd of 200 in the French resort Risoul. Last year, numbers were upwards of 2000, the venue was Austrian village Mayrhofen and the likes of Mylo, Aphex Twin and the Freestylers were on the bill. This year, with 2ManyDJs, Audio Bullys and Felix from Basement Jaxx lugging their records to the Alps, the festival shows no signs of slowing down.
The organisers have stuck with Mayrhofen because, according to the blurb, it’s a real place – an alpine village, rather than a tower of concrete blocks”. With the street parties and general mayhem that comes in the wake of Snowbombing, the village becomes somewhat surreal, but there’s no denying its charm. One of the most popular resorts in the Tyrol, Mayrhofen combines a traditional, functioning town with 620km of runs, the only problem is dragging yourself out of bed to see them.
Arriving midweek, our first morning coincided with the start of the Slope Style competition. Sprightly with the Alpine air, we made our way to the Burton Board Park, expecting an all-action scene of corkscrews, railslides and blaring Busta Rhymes. What we got was a couple of snow cats and some piped Shania Twain. It seems the temptation to stay out all night had got to the pros too.
Two days later, after sets from Scottish mixing wizard Mylo and techno DJ Dave Clarke, we were starting to understand their delay. During Mylo’s set, a slightly stunned-looking local made a point of telling me that Mayrhofen wasn’t usually like this. Towards the end of the night, when a grown man donned a life jacket and began conversing with the speaker, I was sure he was right. As we stumbled out of the Arena at 5am, the Garage below was only just opening. At breakfast the next morning, a woman raving about her hatred of rabbits had clearly just left.
Staying up late enough to see the madness set in, and making for the slopes in time to witness the aftermath, you’re soon ready for some TLC. Luckily, Mayrhofen does well in the spa stakes. By all accounts, the Cuban Brothers put on even more of a performance off stage, strutting round the compulsory-naked saunas of the Strass Hotel as though Eve had never eaten the apple. For the more modest there’s Hotel Mannis, where you can relax in an outdoor hot tub, easing aches and pains as the steam blurs the blanched mountains in the distance.
What the village doesn’t do particularly well is restaurant opening times. I’m sure there’s some great Austrian cuisine on offer – providing you’re keeping regular hours. But if you’re disco napping and want to eat late (past 9pm), your options are narrowed to the Strass Bar and Grill and pizzas at Mamma Mia (if they offer you free schnapps, take it – it will help propel you back up the hill).
What it lacks in late-night eateries, Mayrhofen makes up for in clubs. During the week the action ricochets between the Schlussel, a wooden-beamed fairylights affair with the option of table football; the cavernous Arena bar that stretches under the mountains and the saloon style Speakeasy next door. The party-hards at Snowbombing also set up sound systems in the mountain restaurants, so when the DJs make it out of bed, Shania Twain bites the dust.
Despite the spas and plenty of time spent watching the freestyle comps (the competitors did finally turn up), it’s a relief when a white out descends on the mountain on the final day, making skiing or snowboarding impossible. There’s no choice but to head to the nearest refuge, and though this is easier said than done when you can’t see your own board, at Snowbombing the music’s always loud enough to guide you.
At Pilzner Bar the party’s in full swing, with everyone snuggling their beers or each other in an attempt to get warm. The only person braving the elements is the DJ, spinning records under a canopy, presumably wired up with the hope of better weather. After a while he’s joined by a lone dancer, who bends and weaves before the al fresco decks, looking, like the rest of us, as though he’s had a lot more après than ski.
• This year’s Snowbombing Festival takes place in Mayrhofen, Austria from April 2-8. For more information, call 0845-331 3061 or see www.snowbombing.co.uk.”
