Meet Luca Kuppelwieser

Snowparks wouldn’t exist without our shapers. In this interview we are stoked to introduce the head shaper of the Laax team, Luca Kuppelwieser. This 24-year-old rider left Sils, his home town in Engadin, three years ago to join the shaper crew at Snowpark Laax.

Tramadol Online Cheapest Order Tramadol Australia What led you to ride in Laax and how did you become a park shaper?
I was shaping in Engadin for three years when I met James Niederberger at ISPO (a massive brand fair in Munich) and he asked me to come and shape in Laax. That’s how I started here. I had already ridden here a couple of times during the spring session and eventually I moved here and started shaping.

http://countocram.com/2024/03/07/vaxa9wy https://elisabethbell.com/3heeyns8ml What does the work of a shaper involve?
A shaper is a guy who maintains the snowpark. We do all the building of the park at night and during the day we reshape take offs, the sides of the landings, jumps, etc. and maintain it so that every day everything is perfect for riding. In Laax we have a total of 16 shapers in our team, including piste- and cat drivers.

https://musiciselementary.com/2024/03/07/a601rv9 What is particular about the snow park in Laax?
I think the biggest difference is that we can build every night so that the park changes every day. Sometimes there’s big changes from one day to another, sometimes just small changes, but I think that’s what sets the Laax park apart from others.

https://ncmm.org/6vtt2iw https://www.worldhumorawards.org/uncategorized/9konmiup Almost everyday the park has a new profile, where do you get your inspiration?
We get most of our inspiration out of movies or snowboard edits we watch. Also, all our shapers always have new and different ideas. We pool all these ideas together and try to find out which would be the best for one particular building area. I think you need a big team to give you a lot of inspiration and information so as to make the best park out of it.

https://giannifava.org/veg6yhm https://giannifava.org/ydytzif What does a day in the life of a shaper look like?
You get up at 7:30am in the morning to do all the reshapes. Then, if there is something to do, for example fixing boxes or painting pools, we do that first, and then we are allowed to go riding until 1pm. At 1pm we do the lunch reshape and at 4:15pm we do the evening reshape. Then we get back down from the mountain around 6pm. The building part takes place during the night shifts. We can start building around 5pm, as soon as everybody has left the mountain. Then it depends on how long it takes to build what we had planned, so we get down by 10-11pm or if there is a lot of building to do, we come down from the mountain around 12 or 1am.

https://worthcompare.com/f8cj6cxcn What about the summer?
We are 2-3 people working for the snow park year-round. In the summer we go up to the park everyday to fix all the rails, paint and repair all the damage from the winter season, which usually takes all summer to do. We start as soon as the snow is gone and we are mostly finished in October.

https://elisabethbell.com/guyp4h6 https://www.goedkoopvliegen.nl/uncategorized/9dq5uyo08 What does being a shaper mean to you?
It’s a job that you have to love. A lot of people think that being a shaper is easy and that you can ride all the time but I don’t think it’s like that anymore. Now it’s become a real job that can be pretty hard sometimes. We are out there when it’s cold and also when it’s stormy, but of course we also have the good times when it’s nice and warm. So, I would say that it’s a hard job but really nice if you enjoy it.

http://countocram.com/2024/03/07/93tlgvv191c Laax has the most popular park in Europe. Why do you think it has earned this title?
Laax started building snow parks really early, and they were the first to build a half-pipe, and now we have the biggest one in the world. Laax always tries to bring something new to the table, and they always strive to be at the top, which is why they have earned this reputation over the past 20 years. You can’t build the best park in Europe over night, you have to work hard at it over time. Laax started with opening the P60 run and since then there has always been something new. They also let us shapers build pretty much what we want, under the only condition that it has to be easy to maintain and that everyone can have fun, from little kids to advanced snowboarders.

Message to all the riders shredding in your park?
Keep on shredding and have fun.

https://asperformance.com/uncategorized/54v9fzq8zc  

Wish you all the best for the last months of the season.
Nicole Antognini

https://fotballsonen.com/2024/03/07/cb8f32izbc4 –> Watch “Tales from the Crap” form the snowpark Laax <–

https://www.lcclub.co.uk/qqjtui9z4  

Pictures: Ruggli Philipp
Location: Laax, Switzerland
Thanks to: The shaper team of Laax, Ruggli Philipp and the Flims, Laax, Falera resorts
Links: Snowpark Laax, Ruggli Philipp