THE STORY BEHIND THE COVER WITH WERNI STOCK

WORDS: WERNI STOCK  PHOTOS: TOM KLOCKER AND PHILIPP PHOTO

The crew involved in the cover shot was the full Local Surroundings squad, including our filmer Julian Pintarelli, Photographer Tom Klocker, Mario Wanger and Tom Tramnitz. 

We were already getting into spring weather and the temperatures for the next couple days looked crazy warm, cloudy and with a slight chance of rain showers. So basically it was a mix of everything.  The 21st of March was our game day no matter what, and either it would work out or not, but we were committed. So we headed out to the Ski Resort in Zell am Ziller as early as possible.  

We hopped on a couple of chairlifts to get to our spot which was in a pretty high and remote alpine area.  Right away we hiked up to where we would build the jump, and I immediately started thinking about time management.  But I hoped and knew that if we went full throttle with the build that we could pull this off.  So we got right into constructing the jump. The boys were focusing on building the kicker and I was focused on the in run.  

I’ve built this jump before and the last time we didn’t give the in run a lot of work so it barely worked.  I was making sure that this wouldn’t be our issue this time around.  Two to three hours later, our setup was ready. So we took a little break to let the jump and in run firm up.  

I started to walk around again, to look at the spot, jump, distance and trajectory.  I noticed and told the crew that we had overbuilt the jump. I was like, “Boys, holy crap, how big did you guys stack up that kicker? It is way bigger than last time!“  At that time our bud Mario Wanger had to leave us, because he had a doctors appointment later that day.  Without him we would have never had the manpower to finish the jump in time.  I’m still so thankful to Mario, that he got up the mountain to help us build, and get a session going.  

A couple speed checks later Tom and I were ready to go.  I went first and attempted a frontside 720.  I had a bit more airtime and speed than I expected so I wasn’t able to land that first one, and almost landed at the bottom.  After the first try my impressions were like “Wow, how much airtime WTF!!”  And then on my second try I tried to take it really chill on the take off so I would not over rotate… and boom.  What a touchdown.  I landed so smooth.  I went massive, and landed with almost no impact!  As soon as I landed I was just so freaking stoked.  Julian and Tom freaked out too.  Tom and Julian were checking out each others shot.  They both just said, “SO UNREAL Werni! To the moon.”

By then I was just overwhelmed with happiness. My fingers were crossed for Tom’s try. And a couple tries later he nailed it too!  But my session wasn’t over just yet.  I had a Backside 1080 in mind.  Man, it was crazy.  I was hiking as fast a I could.  I tried 2 backside 1080’s, with a little late dip, and I landed them, but never clean.  We were running out of time. We needed to be at the chairlift by 4 pm.  I was like, fuck it I'm gonna run up as fast as possible and give it another try.  I’m pretty sure it was 3:55pm when I was at the drop point.  And I conveyed to the crew that we would need to pack up as fast as possible.  

I got to the top, took the radio, and let they crew know that I was ready and would put the radio into my pocket and drop in 10 seconds.  I was so exhausted but so fired up at the same time. I told myself, enjoy the moment Werni, and just have fun.  It’s been such a great day already.  I went for another BS 1080 and nailed it.  I seriously couldn’t believe it.  The stoke and happiness I witnessed from Tom Tramnitz, Julian, and Tom Klocker was indescribable.

This was a session I’ll never forget.  One day I’m going to tell this story to my kids and by now I can already promise I’ll have a big smile and tears in my eyes.  We packed everything up as fast possible. Tom Tramnitz got a head start to talk to the lifty and let him know we were on our way.  I wasn’t too concerned with making it to the chairlift because in moments like this I was in bliss about how the day had gone.  Living these moments with my friends is more than I could ever ask for.  I got the to the lift, loaded up and that was probably my best and happiest lift ride ever.  What a day!

To see this shot now a year later on the the cover of PLEASURE MAG is seriously one of the craziest and best moments in my life.  Especially now with the COVID 19 quarantine and these craziness that we are living. This brightens up my world like crazy. It’s really really hard for me to describe all these beautiful, happy and unforgettable moments.  I am so thankful for everything!

If you want see all the tricks, the session, the emotions and stoke don’t hesitate to check out LOCAL SURROUNDINGS below.  Stay healthy and positive guys. The future is close and it’s bright!