Hailing from Lofer, a small village butted against the Wilderkaiser in Kitzbül Alps, Austria, Stefan Gimpl is a sort of enigma in Austrian snowboarding. Not really being part of the prevailing snowboards scenes of the time, Gimpl honed his skills at his home resort of Saalbach-Hinterglem in relative isolation to other riders of the same level. He ‘burst’ onto the scene follwing a night session in the Fieberbrunn pipe, busting 3m high b/s 7’s and leaving everyone sessioning the pipe that night thinking, “Who the fuck is that...?”. That one session nailed Gimpl a check out in Onboard Magazine at the age of 16. Gimpl’s international homecoming came shortly afterwards when he beat all odd’s taking out the world famous Air&Style title in front af a frenzied hometown crowd. This was the first of three Air&Style crowns making him the youngest rider to take the title and the only rider to have taken three consequtively. The king of pop, Gimpl always put on power riding performances busting bigger than anyone almost all of the time, and matching that with legs of steel, often stomping a trick several meters into the flat, going a third bigger than everyone on the day. One of eight brothers, Gimpl was not your a typical snowboarder of that time. Modest, quiet, polite and well spoken... He always did rather than said, and always said “Thank you.” after you had just told him that he had just blown your mind. A gentleman, and all round sportsman adept at anything he puts his mind to. Gimpl is an acclaimed golf and tennis player, and avid rock climber.