Cardrona Resort Morphs Into Snow Sports Arena

J Dogg — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 01:23:23 -0400

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Cardrona Alpine Resort is this week being transformed into a snow sports arena as final preparations take place before the inaugural Coca-Cola Cardrona Games kick off on Thursday.

FMX and snowmobile jumps are being constructed, the scaffolding for the TV towers is going up, sound systems are being installed and athletes are hurrying in to register for the competition, which carries a $45,000 cash prize pool, Cardrona sales and marketing manager Bruce McGechan said.

“Most people think of pipes, berms and rails when they think of freestyle snow sports competitions, but there is so much more to the Coca Cola Cardrona Games. It’s a party or celebration of snow sports that marks this competition from other competitions in New Zealand. The music, FMX, and snowmobile big air all near our iconic archway is what helps make this so exciting for the audience,” McGechan said.

The most-watched head-to-head competition will be X-Games gold medallist Tanner Hall versus New Zealand’s own Jossi Wells in the double halfpipe competition. At the age of 16, Wells is New Zealand’s number one freestyle skier, and this could be the event where he beats the X-Games superstar.

The double halfpipe event on Friday, September 8 is tipped to outshine all other halfpipe competitions in the country, with competitors expecting to boost more than 7m out of the superpipe and perform tricks such as complete 1080s (3 full rotations).

The slopestyle event on Saturday September 9 will have some surprises to really test the competitors, including a 16m-long, 3m-high “rainbow” rail near the top of the course. More aspects of the course will be revealed on the day.

Competitor numbers are rising every day for the Gravity X competition on Thursday September 7, with a number of Winter Olympians entering, including Wanaka’s Juliane Bray, UK’s Lesley McKenna, as well as X-Games gold medallist Nate Holland (USA).

Snowmobiling legend Chris Brown arrives in Queenstown from Colorado today to start practicing for his snowmobile big air demonstrations, which take place at the end of each day’s competition, along with the Moto FMX demonstrations. Salmonella Dub DJ Sound System will be playing live each day of the competition.

See www.cardronagames.co.nz for more details.

Jossi Wells Wins NZ Slopestyle

J Dogg — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 02:53:22 -0400

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Wanaka teenager and rising ski star Jossi Wells proved he is up there with the world’s best after taking first place in the slopestyle event at the NZ Free Ski Open today at Snow Park NZ.

Canadian Kaya Turski, who is also a pro rollerblader, picked up the winning title for the women’s slopestyle event.

Wells (16), who is now New Zealand’s top freestyle skier, displayed an outstanding performance at today’s event, including a switch 720 double nose grab (rotating twice and holding onto the front tips of his skis before landing), a switch 630 (rotating one-and-three-quarter times) before landing successfully on the rail, as well as a switch 1080 (three rotations).

“Everything he did was so smooth and so easy. Jossi’s improved so much this year. Last year, he was good, but he didn’t quite have the tricks to take out the big guns. But now, he’s proved he’s one of the world’s best,” Open head judge Jake McCleary said.

Wells said his winning run was one of the best he’d ever had. “I’m aiming for the world scene, and this definitely a great competition with lots of international riders. Every little step counts.”

Turski (18), has been freestyle skiing for a year-and-a-half. Her winning run included a cork 540 mute grab (spinning one-and-a-half times off axis, grabbing the front of one ski with the opposite hand). She also successfully pulled off a switch 900 (rotating two-and-a-half times) and attempted a switch 1080 - a world-first in women’s free skiing, but unfortunately her ski came off on landing.

“The standard of competition was unbelievable – we were blown away with today’s event. Competitors were all throwing down as hard as they could,” McCleary said.

The slopestyle course, designed by Snow Park NZ slopes manager Frank Wells, began with a quarterpipe-style drop-in, down to a custom Snow Park NZ stair feature. Skiers then approached a gap-to-snow box, before moving to a 14m jump, followed by an 18m jump. They completed the course by hitting a flat-down rail and a jump-to-down box, which is the latest craze in free skiing slopestyle and makes for spectacular tricks, such as 900 and 1080 rotations.

The NZ Free Ski Open is the southern hemisphere’s largest event of its kind. With park and pipe events now completed, the next stage of the competition the Volkl Big Mountain prelims, which take place at Treble Cone on Friday August 18. The finals will be held at Treble Cone on the first following fine weather day.

Results:

Womens

Kaya Turski (CAN)
Tori Beattie (AUST)
Anna Segal (AUST)

Mens

Jossi Wells (NZ)
Russ Henshaw (AUST)
Alexis Godbout (CAN)

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Cardrona Resort Morphs Into Snow Sports Arena

Jossi Wells Wins NZ Slopestyle