Vorarlberg residents Markus Schairer, Lukas Mathies as well as the Haemmerle brothers Michael and Alessandro underwent a special training unit in their home region called Montafon two weeks ago.

Labelled as endurance test, the four snowboarders did an eight-hour mountain hike combined with a sweat-inducing uphill-run on the Europatreppe (Europe stairs).

The quartet kicked things off in St. Gallenkirch, home town of 2009 Snowboard Cross World Champion Markus Schairer.

The routing crossed the peaks called “Bösen Buben”, “Netzalpe” as well as the “Madererspitz (2,769 m) before heading homewards conquering the “Grappeskopf”.

The next day even upped the ante.

First, the riders cranked the pedals of their mountain bikes up to “Nova Stoba”, a 1,300 meters ascent, to get their breakfast at Brunellawirt.

But after their climb in the morning, all four had to face some “real problems”.

Interval runs on the Europatreppe were on the program which equalled interval runs over 4,000 stairs and 700 meters in elevation.

No wonders that a recovery day wrapped up the fitness camp in the Montafon mountains.

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