Eleven degrees might not be perfect for wintersports but when you're outside all day cutting skis and snowboards from blanks, a shapeless rectangle of wood, fibreglass and PTEX from which a pair of skis or a snowboard can be shaped, it's perfect. Media and invited guests visited the secluded Backyard, a small back-to-basics lodge perched in the hills above Hippach in Austria's Zillertal valley, to give shaping their own custom pow ski or board a go. Plenty of power tools, good beer and perfect weather meant that everybody had a blast. On the Sunday the weather closed-in and a handful of Blank-Plankers who made the journey north to the small resort of Spitzingsee in the Bavarian Alps were rewarded with 30cm of powder to try their new gear in. All in, a fun weekend!
