Aline Bock interview
It’s mid-March in Verbier, Switzerland. Despite it being a clear, bluebird day, the wind has picked up, shutting down the aptly named Jumbo téléphérique that was due to take the competitors on the Nissan Freeride World Tour up to the formidable Bec de Rosses - a pyramid-shaped mountain that plays host to the Verbier Xtreme. Instead, the mix of skiers and snowboarders hang around in wait, sharing jokes and comparing photos of the mountain face that will help them plan their lines.
“Ah, on a day like today, I’d prefer to be jibbing in the park,” says one of the female competitors, a blonde German pro by the name of Aline Bock.
But wait a minute, Aline – this is a backpack and shovel event, a place for transceivers and airbags not XXXL tees and headphones. So what’s a jibber doing here? “I just got sick of all these fifteen-year-old kids in the park who think they are rock stars, and plus I’m getting old,” says the twenty-six-year-old in perfect English. “I had to try something new, but I still love jibbing.”
Hailing from Lake Constance in southern Germany but now based out of Innsbruck, Aline is making a huge impact on the freeride circuit. The Nissan Freeride World Tour is a series of events that sees seasoned mountaineers tackling some of the most extreme faces on the planet. And, having brought her carefully honed park skills to the big mountain, Aline is definitely holding her own.
While other riders can bomb near-suicidal lines down the mountain, Aline chooses to throw in a few tricks along the way. “Basically, I just want to ride like Nicolas Müller,” she tells me with a smile.
Aline is no stranger to a double life. As well as being a pro snowboarder and gaining sponsorship from the likes of Roxy and Smith, she has just completed a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management – a course that took six years to complete with Aline often having to choose between exams or competing. “I’m really glad to have done it, when I finish snowboarding I can actually still apply for a proper job,” she says.
According to Aline, an education is something that is sorely neglected by the new generation of snowboarding superstars. “There are some really young riders being treated like heroes, travelling the world and staying in five star hotels – but they lose touch with reality,” she says. “Some may get by, but some may get injured and then they have nothing. It really concerns me, I didn’t want that.”
But for the time being, snowboarding is the number-one priority. After going on to finish overall second on the 2009 Freeride World Tour, she vows to come back “on the attack” this season. But don’t go thinking she has forsaken the park just yet. “I still want to do both park and freeriding,” she says, “because there’s nothing better than riding the park in the sun with your homies!”
‘Homies’? You can take the jibber out of the park, but you can’t take the park out of the jibber.
Look out for Aline Bock on the 2010 Freeride World Tour, beginning January 21 in Sochi, Russia.
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