Commitment
From top-class to popular sport - the sporting activities of our young people are important to us. We are therefore involved in various partnerships with regional athletes, associations and institutions to promote our young talent. Great things always come out of these collaborations. We are delighted every time our "protégés" are able to celebrate success. As small as the progress may sometimes seem, we take the path together step by step.
Sponsoring athletes & sports associations
Many passionate and talented athletes are sprouting up in our region. Some stars are already shining brightly in the sporting sky. Others are still diamonds in the rough, waiting to be polished in a talent factory. We want to help these talents to emerge and give them the space to develop further.
That's why we support the athletes of today and tomorrow to achieve their goals and grow with their dreams. Whether as a personal sponsoring partnership or by supporting sports associations and teams, we invest in the future of the region. As part of our sponsorship activities, we support athletes from various sports. But they all have one thing in common: the Pizol is their playground. Thanks to the good training conditions, it's not just skiers and snowboarders who benefit. Trail running specialists also train regularly on our trails and are even actively involved in product development on the Pizol.
We are convinced that the commitment is worthwhile and wish the athletes continued success.
Cycling club RSV Pizol
The Pizol Cycling Association, RSV Pizol for short, experiences cycling in all its facets. The association has been actively promoting youth cycling for some time now. It looks after and supports a kids' bike group with around 60 youngsters aged between 6 and 15 from all over the region every year. The aim is to teach the youngsters the fun of biking with playful elements in nature and with technical aids. In this way, the kids receive appropriate and well-founded training from the trained leaders.
"We are very happy that we can use the Pizolbahnen AG parking lot for our training sessions. The large space in Wangs is ideal for our skills exercises. In addition, our popular Kidsbike event takes place on the Pizolbahnen AG site every year. Thank you very much!"
Mountain bike team Raceteam Südostschweiz RTSO
We are a dynamic mountain bike racing team from the region. The racers live in the region of south-eastern Switzerland and have been racing since they were very young or have now started at a young age.
The children share their enjoyment of cross-country racing and appreciate the experience of being out in nature. We mainly train in Sarganserland and prepare for regional and national races both together and individually.
The shared experience of the competitions strengthens our team spirit and our training is rewarded with good results. Some of our riders have also enjoyed podium finishes time and again.
Our club is a member of Swiss Cycling and we have riders who are also members of the squad. The children are very important to the leaders. With great commitment, they pass on their enjoyment of this sport to the children and young people.
It is with pride and great gratitude that we represent the Pizolbahnen on our team clothing. Most of our team members refer to the Pizol as "Üsä Huusberg". It is very multifaceted: beautiful nature, combined with great hiking trails, ski areas, good gastronomy and, of course, varied bike routes for us.
We enjoy the experience on the Pizol, whether on foot, on skis or on wheels.
@Pizol Bergbahnen: Thank you very much for your support!
Young skier Alina Willi
Skiing is my great passion. I was already on skis at the age of two, as it was simply part of life in our region. Even back then, I really enjoyed racing down the slopes on two skis over hill and dale. At the age of five, I joined the SC Vermol JO, then the racing group, where I did my first races. When I was ten, I started training for the Pizolrace. I was at the top right from the start.
During all this time, I also did gymnastics in Mels, which was my second passion. As skiing took up more and more of my time, I decided to concentrate fully on skiing.
After the Pizolrace, I joined the SSW development squad at the age of twelve. Thanks to my ambition and my technical skiing development, as a young skier I quickly rose to the highest squad at SSW. I've also been in the Head Future Team since I was twelve, which was founded by Didier Cuche and only supports 50 skiers throughout Switzerland across several age groups.
In the last JO year, I was able to take part in the International Longines Future Hahnenkamm Champions in Kitzbühel at the beginning of winter, which was an impressive experience for me. We were allowed to compete against teams from Austria, Germany, etc. We came 2nd in the final team ranking. I was also able to take many podium places in national, interregional and regional races last winter. In the IRO ranking, I was enough to win overall and in the national Swisscup Youth Cup ranking I came 5th overall.
I'm currently training as a business administrator at the United School of Sports in St. Gallen. This year I'm competing in FIS races for the first time and I'm really looking forward to it. My goals for this winter are to steadily improve my FIS points, achieve National Performance Center East (NLZ) status and continue to have a lot of fun skiing.
"As I love the region and have spent many hours on the Pizol, I am delighted to have the support of the Pizol."
Trail runner Jonas Freund
My name is Jonas Freund and I grew up in Vilters. I have been running for over 10 years. Today I mainly do long-distance runs of 10-21 km on the road as well as trail and mountain runs.
Successes
In the fall of 2021, I celebrated my greatest success to date as U20 Swiss champion in the half marathon. The highlight of this year was the European Mountain Running Championships on the Canary Island of La Palma, where I was able to take part in the juniors.
Fascination with trail running
"I've loved being out and about in the mountains for a long time. Trail running allows me to combine this with my greatest passion, running, in a wonderful way."
"For me, there is nothing better than practising my passion for running on narrow and challenging hiking trails in a beautiful mountain landscape."
Up-and-coming snowboarder Arne Kathriner
I started snowboarding at the age of 8 and discovered my passion for it. As I was on the slopes almost every free minute, I joined a snowboard club. At the age of 11, I was accepted into the base squad. I honed my skills there. The biggest setback was when I broke my wrist in training at the age of 14 and missed the whole season. Last year was my first FIS season. I was able to gain a lot of new experience there, despite the corona crisis. I'm currently training for my second FIS season and hope to be able to race more.
My biggest successes so far have been a Swiss Championship title U/13, a runner-up Swiss Championship title U/15 and an 8th place in the FIS race at Pizol.
My goals for next season are to improve my strength, race well and move up in the Swisssnowboard squad.
"The collaboration with Pizol is very important to me, as Pizol is my first major sponsor who stands behind me and believes in me."
Ski cross athlete Anna Dietrich
I have had a passion for skiing since I was very young. My first time on skis was at the age of two on my local mountain, the Pizol. From that moment on, skiing was my greatest passion, and that hasn't changed to this day
After my first races at JO age, my passion grew even stronger. The competitive type in me immediately took a liking to racing. From then on, my passion drove me on and I went through all the squad levels of the Sarganserland-Walensee Ski Association. At the same time, I attended the sports school in Unterterzen and then the sports high school in Davos. Thanks to a good final season in the U16 category, I qualified for the National Performance Center. I then switched to the FIS category. After two difficult years at FIS level, I found a better track and skied an appealing third FIS season. Unfortunately, I just didn't qualify for a Swissski squad.
From then on, my career was somewhat dogged by bad luck. The last two winters went anything but according to plan. After missing two seasons due to injury, I decided to take a new direction. I've often toyed with the idea of switching to ski cross and now it's becoming a reality. I'm really looking forward to the new challenges and am grateful for the opportunities.
The preparations for the season went very well and so did the first races. In my first two European Cup races, which were also my first ever ski cross races, I was able to celebrate a podium finish. The start of a new chapter couldn't have gone better. However, I had a fall while preparing for the next European Cup races and tore my anterior cruciate ligament and both minisci. So it was back to rehab instead of racing. My return to the snow has already begun.
Mountain bike team Calanda Racing Team
The Calanda Racing Team is an ambitious mountain bike team from the Chur Rhine Valley.
We have been infected mountain bikers for many years. In recent years, we have been able to keep up with the top riders in the various Swiss series (marathon and cross-country) in the various categories and achieve podium finishes. We like the idea of competing as a team. Going to races together, motivating each other and sharing experiences. It's better to do all this together than on your own! We also want to give young riders from the region the opportunity to join a team, share their passion with us and benefit from our experience.
"The partnership with the Pizolbahnen means a lot to us, as it gives us the opportunity to train specifically in the Pizol recreational area or to recover and recharge our batteries after competitions."
Ski alpinist & trail runner Geri Schneider
Geri is a trained metalworker and now works as an SA technician at SBB. He became a top-class ski mountaineer at the age of 20. He has been learning everything from his father as a hobby since he was 6 years old. In 2011, he became Swiss team champion in ski mountaineering - one of his greatest successes. Geri has also won countless regional competitions, including the Pizol Altiski twice. Geri has been part of the trail running workshop leader team for the Pizolbahnen since the 2021 summer season.
"For me, the collaboration with the Pizolbahnen is extremely important. It's a great training area for ski touring in winter and for trail running in summer. I take the cable car down a lot so I don't have to walk. That's worth its weight in gold."
Ultra Trail runner Denise Zimmermann
Denise was one of the world's top ultra trail runners for many years. In addition to national successes, the Mels native also achieved various podium places at international competitions. Denise prefers to run ultras of 100km - 350km with lots of steep climbs. Trail running is a passion for her and she is fascinated by what her body can achieve.
"I'm very happy about the collaboration with Pizolbahnen. As I live right at the foot of the Pizol, I'm often out and about in the Pizol region. Even after so many years, I still really like the area. It is very varied and the landscape is unique."