Snow level soars

Winter Games NZ slopestyle takes on new dimension

LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (July 7, 2011) – All eyes will be on 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games for the first FIS freeski and snowboard slopestyle events since the IOC’s announcement the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics will include slopestyle.

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will feature some of the world’s top freeskiers and snowboarders who now have the added incentive of starting their campaign for the 2014 Olympics. These include New Zealand athletes, Wanaka freeskier Jossi Wells who was the 2010 overall World Champion and Ohakune’s Shelly Gotlieb who was on the podium at the 2011 World Championships and is ranked amongst the top five in the world in snowboard slopestyle.  Byron Wells, Jossi’s younger brother, is ranked in the top 10 in the world.

New Zealand played a key role in ensuring a positive outcome for the addition of slopestyle. Snow Sports NZ, in conjunction with Winter Games NZ, staged the first-ever FIS ski slopestyle competition during the FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships. It was this event that played a major part in gaining IOC approval for slopestyle.

“We are absolutely thrilled with the news,” said Arthur Klap, CEO of Winter Games NZ. “New Zealand is very strong in these disciplines and we can expect to see the best in the world joining our athletes here in New Zealand for these groundbreaking slopestyle events.”

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games’ link to the Olympics is further strengthened with two key officials from Sochi attending the event. Aleksandra Savilov (Sochi snowboard and freeski venue manager) and Alexander Adamyants (Sochi sports manager – snowboard) will use Winter Games NZ to gain additional experience in their roles.

Both Winter Games NZ slopestyle events take place at Snow Park NZ, near Lake Wanaka, with freeski slopestyle taking place on 15 August and snowboard slopestyle taking place on 21 August.

Slopestyle is a judged sport in which athletes perform acrobatic tricks while making their way down a mountain course with a variety of features that include jumps, straight or rainbow-shaped rails and boxes or platforms. Its inclusion in the Olympics will provide an opportunity for the sport and its athletes to be showcased to a massive global audience, along with freeski halfpipe which is also included as an Olympic sport for the first time in 2014.

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games takes place from 12- 28 August 2011 featuring 22 snow and ice sports over 38 events and involving 1,000 elite athletes from 50 nations. The 16-day long Games also include a full Downtown Sessions festival programme featuring films, live music and entertainment and rail jam extravaganzas in Queenstown, Lake Wanaka, Dunedin and Methven. The on-snow competition will take place at Coronet Peak, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Park NZ, Snow Farm and Mt Hutt with the ice sports taking place at Naseby and Dunedin. For further information, visit www.wintergamesnz.com

Off the Edge Film, 1977 (Documentary, Sport)

Off the Edge is director Michael Firth’s ode to the exhilaration of adventuring on the spine of NZ’s Southern Alps. Something of a snowy Endless Summer, Firth follows an American and a Canadian as they ski, hang-glide, walk, climb and delve beneath glaciers, over nine months in the Aoraki-Mt Cook area. Thrilling footage amidst requisite spectacular scenery was shot over 45 days, where extreme weather and geography meant few chances for second takes. The film was nominated for an Oscar (best documentary, 1977); the LA Times called it, “beautiful and awesome”.

Retro ski classics such as Flare film

This short documentary about freestyle skiing was directed for the NZ Tourist and Publicity Department by Sam Neill (who would shortly achieve fame as an actor). This was one of several docos directed by Neill while at the National Film Unit; other subjects included the Red Mole theatre troupe and architect Ian Athfield. The skiers put on daring displays of their ‘art’ in locations including Mount Hutt, Queenstown and Tongariro National Park. 70s snow-styles (and beards) abound. The film was translated into French, Japanese, Italian, German and Spanish.

Coronet Peak celebrates opening

Queenstown’s Coronet Peak ski area celebrated its opening day today (Thursday June 30) with bubbles and cheers, as up to 400 keen skiers and snowboarders waited for the first lifts to open at 9am.

Numbers swelled to more than 1,500 guests throughout the day, many of them school groups, visiting Australians and some diehard locals.

First on the Coronet Express quad chairlift were the Bryant family from Queenstown, father Tim and son and daughter Cougar (8) and Tallulah (6) who had been waiting patiently since 5.45am, and Rebecca O’Reilly of Perth.

“We were second last year and wanted to be first in 2011,” said Mr Bryant.

Sixteen-year-old Rebecca said her family was here for a holiday until the end of July, and was “stoked” to get a coveted ‘First on the lift 2011’ T-shirt.

As staff from local winery Amisfield poured hundreds of free Arcadia ‘bubbles’, Coronet Peak ski area manager Hamish McCrostie welcomed his first visitors and said ‘We’re open and have a great day’ to cheers from eager snowsports lovers.

“It’s so, so good to finally be open and our staff are really buzzing to get underway for the season,” he said.

The ski area opened with limited beginner, novice and intermediate terrain, with trails accessed from the Coronet Express and Meadows Express chairlifts, and two conveyor lifts.

Base building services up and running included rental, where the ski area’s new BYS rental system came into its own on the first day dealing with large groups of visiting schoolchildren.

Also open were the snowsports school, crèche, café, coffee bar, guest services and retail.

Mr McCrostie said snowmaking would continue at every opportunity with the ski area’s 211 snowguns ready to blast out more of the white stuff as temperatures allowed.

“We’ll open up more trails just as soon as we can. We’re looking forward to conditions improving as we go further into winter.”

Remarkables all set to open

Ski area staff were delighted to be told today (June 30) that The Remarkables ski area in Queenstown will open at 9am on Saturday (July 2) for the 2011 winter season.

Following the successful opening of its sister ski area Coronet Peak today, The Remarkables will also open with limited beginner, novice and intermediate terrain.

Lifts and trails opening include the Base Lodge conveyor, the learners’ area, Alta Quad Chair lift accessing the Alta Green Trail, and the Sugar Bowl Quad Chair accessing the TNT, Water Race and Gotham trails

Ski area manager Ross Lawrence said it was the first time in the history of The Remarkables that it had been able to open solely as a result of snowmaking.

“Previously there’s always been natural snow with the addition of snowmaking, so this is a first for us and really does reiterate the value of snowmaking to our business,” he said.

“The Remarks crew are very excited to be getting a start to the season.

“It’s been great to see the support they’ve been giving each other and the support we’ve had from the community in holding the team together while we have been waiting for this moment.

“We’re looking forward to a great opening with sunshine for the weekend.”

Mr Lawrence said all trails open had a base of between 20cm to 40cm snow coverage, but terrain was limited and runs were narrower in places than normal. “Unfortunately no terrain parks are set up yet,” he said.

“At this stage it really is only suitable for beginners up to early intermediates, with no off piste at all, so care must be taken in these early stages of operation,” he said.

Mr Lawrence said The Remarkables would host the Quiksilver “BoxZilla challenge” for freestyle skiers and snowboarders on Sunday July 3 as part of the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival. The event will be held near the base building and not in one of the ski area’s terrain parks.

“It’s a revised event which should be great fun to watch – it’s a series of boxes one after the other and competitors will have to ride them all without touching the snow,” he said.

Entries will be accepted on the day on site.

Base building services will include rental, snowsports school, crèche, café, guest services and retail.  Coveted ‘First on the Lift 2011’ T-shirts will also be on offer to the first four guests on the Alta Chair.

Speculation Turns Jubilation

Since the announcement of the USA vs Canada International Ice Hockey series was made in June last year, there have been mixed emotions from all angles as anxious ticket holders speculated about who might be on the rosters of the invitational teams. The general vibe had been a mix of excitement and skepticism from many fans who had been promised the ‘best teams to ever reach our shores’ struggled to comprehend 22 pro level players from North America making the journey to play in a country ranked 46^th on international ice hockey standards and which to date had attracted no more than 2,000 spectators to a game.

Promoters at Douglas Webber Events have played their cards close to their chests, releasing only a few names of who can be expected on the rink for the July/August events in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. Aaron Miller and Derek Armstrong were named first as captains of USA and Canada respectively, and later the goal tenders John Grahame and Andrew Engelage. The promoters were to announce the remainder of the teams when the players arrived in Auckland on 21^st July, but after mounting pressure from fans and skeptics alike, they have succumb to the mounting pressure put on them in a public release of the full team lists today.

Among the highlights include a Stanley Cup winner, Olympic Games silver medalist and a number of North American pro stars of the past and present from American Hockey Leagues (AHL) and National Hockey Leagues (NHL) which are the two highest ranking levels of pro hockey in North America. Other outstanding talent with NHL credited to their names are Bates Battaglia, Mark Hartigan, Kevin Doell, Aaron MacKenzie , Cam Paddock and Brad Smyth.

While both teams are strong and appear to live up to the hype which has swelled in light of significant media attention and marketing campaigns, each has its own unique drafting approach. Canada makes its debut on NZ shores with an older team averaging 31 years, but with age comes experience as can be seen from the player resumes, many of which boast successful NHL careers, making Canada the pick to win. USA has drafted a younger team averaging just 28 years with less NHL experience, but with the energy of youth on their side and 39 year old NHL veteran Aaron Miller in charge, not to mention the ‘Great Wall’ John Grahame in goal, this game could go either way.

The teams will face off for the first time in Auckland’s Vector Arena on 23^rd July where the 10,000 capacity concert venue will be transformed into a temporary house of hockey with the installation of a temporary NHL spec ice rink from Holland. Game two will be held at CBS Canterbury Arena on 30^th July, with the same rink from Auckland being melted down and transported by road to the new venue. The winner will be determined by the highest total points scored, so anyone could take the cup in the final game at Dunedin’s Ice Stadium on 3^rd August.

Regardless of whom wins, some facts will remain true; this ice hockey series will go down in history as the biggest action sports event we’ve had, putting ice hockey on the kiwi sporting map and showcasing the hard hitting action as it was intended to be. Tickets are selling fast, so if you don’t want to miss out on the landmark event go to www.internationalicehockey.co.nz and get yours today!

International Ice Hockey – For Christchurch

Billabong is celebrating

Billabong is celebrating its 10^th year and going bigger than ever at Snowpark in NZ!

The ol’ Bro Down is now the Billabong Slope-style and it’s happening from Thursday 4^th August up on the hill at Snowpark in Wanaka.

We’ve upped the TTR rating, we’ve upped the prize money (US$30k total), we’ve upped the prizes and we’re cramming a dozen or so hits into the Slope-style course, just to make things really interesting.

Antti Autti, Robbie Walker, Clint Allan, 2010 Open Men’s winner, local Jake Koia, Sebastien Toutant, Zach Stone & current TTR World Women’s Champion Jamie Anderson are among those who have already confirmed their attendance.

There are Open Men’s, Open Women’s and Juniors divisions.

Parties? Yes.

There’s a launch party on Thursday 4^th, at Revolver Bar in Queenstown.

Our mates from across the ditch in Sydney, Australia, Van She Live, will be playing. We love these guys. Van She Live are a four-piece who bridge the musical gap between boldly adventurous shoe-gaze and danceable glint disco. Tickets are $10 NZ smackers at the door.

 

And of course, there’s gunna be a preso and after-party for competitors and their guests at the Woolshed at Snowpark. We’ll have DJ’s dropping some beats and live music to boot. So if you’re on the hill, there’s only one place to be!

 

Anyone who is looking to get up to Snowpark from Wanaka, we’ll have some free buses running on both competition days. Leaving Good Sports in Wanaka at 7am and 8am, returning from Snowpark at 5pm on Friday 5th. Same deal for Saturday 6th with more buses leaving after the Woolshed party at 11pm and 12am.

Please note:

August 4^th is a practice day!

August 5^th-6^th Slope-style comp days

August 7^th (additional weather day, if needed)

 

Our mates at Sony are going big with some insane electronic prizes too!

We’ll be giving away a crazy 14.2 Megapixel camera that features interchangeable digi lenses. It records in Full HD and has a revolutionary 3D sweep panorama. It’s the world’s smallest and lightest of its kind. Whoop!

 

Plus, we have a couple HDRPJ10 Projector Sony Handycams, some 3D Sony Bloggies and more. Better to win these things going big, than dipping into those deep pockets of yours at the mall, yeah?

 

While we have your attention we should tell you the Billabong Slope-style is presented by Sony and made possible with the support of our friends from Monster Energy, Sony Ericsson, Snow Park, DaKine, VonZipper.

 

Wanna enter? Spots are still available. Get your details in via the registration page on the TTR website / http://www.register-for-events.com

 

Speculation Turns Jubilation

« Previous Page — Next Page »