The BASE Triple Comp begins with the POW Banked Slalom in Treble Cone’s Saddle Basin. The course is designed to test precision and speed. The next competition is the Bern Express Session, a great opportunity for snowboarders and skiers to show off their creativity over a section of natural terrain.

In the afternoon, the Rossignol Big Air will take place at the Saddle Air of Treble Cone Ski Area. Of course the jumps and tricks will be accompanied by music and MCs, and so it’s bound to be a great snow party. $2,000 in cash and products will be up for grabs at the BASE Triple Comp which will be awarded at the prize giving ceremony at Mint Bar in Wanaka. The ceremony will start at 7pm, with a great after-party lined up as well.

BASE Triple Comp: 11 September 2010

19-year-old Petja Piiroinen and Enni Rukajarvi made it to the top of the podium after a tough closing competition. In the girls’ section many chose the mega 20-metre jump over the 17-metre option, and Enni Rukajarvi got the top score of 26.0 with a great backside 540 with indy grab off the big kicker. Silver and bronze went to Urska Pribosic and Klaudia Medlova respectively.

In the men’s division, Petja Piiroinen won for the send year with a score of 27.3 and a backside 1080 toppo cork. Seppe Smits from Belgium came second while Ville Paumola from Finland rounded the podium. At the end of the 2010 FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships closing ceremony Russia received the Marc Hodler Trophy for the most successful snowboard nation.

Enni Rukajarvi from Finland

Petja Piiroinen from Finland

Austrian freeskier Lorraine Huber (currently ranked seventh in the world on the Nissan Freeride World Tour 2010) was filmed on the snow and then her technique and stance was analysed by two of Treble Cone’s top coaches. Lorraine Huber says: “I found the lessons hugely beneficial, especially the video analysis.”

Treble Cone’s Private Intense Programme is a two-hour ski technique lesson and includes verbal assessment, filming by a second instructor and a full video analysis. The second hour moves outside to put theory into practice on the diverse slopes of Treble Cone Ski Area. The Private Intense Programme costs $280 and can be booked online or at the Snow Sports office at Treble Cone.

Lorraine Huber Ski Lesson

The event is expected to attract more than 1,000 elite athletes from all over the world to New Zealand’s Southern Alps. In 2009 the inaugural 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games made history by producing the first winter sports event of its kind outside of the Olympics. The Winter Games also combined able-bodied and adaptive athletes – a real novelty! In 2009, a stunning ten Olympic and seven Paralympic medallists competed at the New Zealand event.

For 2011 the provisional programme has been expanded with the Adaptive Super G and Super G alpine skiing events now planned to be held at Mt Hutt. Further snow competitions will take place at Coronet Peak, while Dunedin will be the focus for ice sports such as speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey, and the curling programme will be held in Naseby. Snow Farm Ski Area is scheduled to host the able-bodied and adaptive cross country competition and the brand-new Winter Triathlon, while Cardrona Alpine Resort will host the free ski and snowboard halfpipe and big air competitions alongside the snowboard and ski cross racing. Finally,the  snowboard and freeski slopestyle competitions will take place at Snow Park NZ.

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games 2011: 13 – 28 August 2011

On Saturday the Freestyle Ski Cross competitions of the 2010 FIS Junior World Championships took place at Cardrona Alpine Resort. In the women’s section Fanny Smith from Switzerland took out the title after a fierce final, with Katrin Ofner from Austria and Yulia Livinskaya from Russia coming second and third. Fanny Smith said: “It was a great race and very tough. I didn’t start as well as I could have but I came here to win […] and it worked!

The men’s race was just as thrilling: Norwegian Didrik Bastian Juell came first after qualifying in third. His team mate Morten Ring Christensen and Georgy Kornilov from Russia rounded the podium. Didrik Bastian Juell couldn’t believe that he actually won the title: “It’s amazing and I never expected this – it’s quite a shock!”

On Sunday the centre of the action was Cardrona’s massive 22-foot halfpipe with the Freestyle Ski Halfpipe competitions taking place. The start of Sunday’s FIS Junior World Championship competitions were delayed as the superpipe had to be emptied after heavy snowfall. But from 1pm everything ran smoothly – especially for Noah Bowman from Canada and Britta Sigourney from the USA who took out the titles.

In the men’s section Walter Wood from the USA and Kristopher Atkinson from Canada came second and third. However, the men’s finals had to be decided on just one run due to dense fog which was disappointing for New Zealand skier Byron Wells who didn’t land his first run.

In the women’s Freestyle Ski Halfpipe competition the finals also reverted to a one-run final. Here, Hannah Haupt from the USA came second and Devin Logan earned bronze. At the end of the competition the USA received the Nations Trophy as the most successful nation in the freestyle ski disciplines.

The final event of the 2010 FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships will take place tomorrow. The Champs will end with live music, the Snowboard Big Air and the official closing ceremony.

Noah Bowman from Canada

Freeski Ski Cross Women's Final

Freeski Ski Cross Men's Final

Yesterday Snow Park NZ was the centre of attention as just under 70 snowboarders competed in the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom at the 2010 Junior World Championships. With driving blizzards, high winds and limited visibility the weather at Snow Park NZ was challenging but couldn’t stop the junior snowboarders from all over the world. Annamari Chundak (20) from the Ukraine and Edwin Coratti (19) from Italy topped the podium, taking out the World Championship titles.

Annamari Chundak says: “The weather was horrible but we train in all different conditions so it didn’t affect me so much. It was a very tough competition but I believed in myself and now I am so happy to be world champion.”

Julie Zogg from Switzerland and Ina Meschik from Austria came second and third in the women’s race, and Konstantin Shiplove from Russia and Stefan Baumeister from Germany took out silver and bronze in the men’s section.

Today, the finals for the Snowboard Parallel Slalom will kick off at 12pm.

Olympic medal-winning skiers from top-countries such as Germany, the US, Norway and Russia all flocked to Cardona Alpine Resort to set up camp during the Southern Hemisphere winter. The New Zealand High Performance Centre Women’s Team has undergone world-class training with many of the ski racing medal winners from the Vancouver Winter Olympics! And the international competition has certainly pushed Kiwi skiers to some great results. Lucie Tait-Jamieson, for example, has won the first three FIS events, and Taylor Smith recorded her first ever podium finishes.

Some of the top names training at New Zealand’s Cardrona Alpine Resort are Julia Mancuso and Bode Miller from the US, Viktoria Rebensburg from Germany and Aksel Lund Svindal from Norway.

In the women’s team Cilka Sadar (18) from Slovenia became World Champion, while 14-year-old Taku Hiraoka from Japan earned the title in the men’s competition. New Zealand was thrilled to see Rebecca Sinclair (18) in the silver position after landing a tricky Crippler 7 (inverted 720 Spin) despite an injured ankle! Second in the men’s division was Australia’s Nathan Johnstone (20), and the podiums were rounded by Haruna Matsumoto (17) from Japan and Manuel Pietropoli (20) from Italy respectively. New Zealand snowboarder Ben Stewart (18) finished in ninth place.

Head Judge Ola Sundequist says: “[The riders] ended up going very big, and while some were affected by gusts, most landed fine resulting in some good scores. Taku’s run was incredible, everything was so smooth.”

Today, Snow Park NZ will take centre stage in the snowboard action. Qualifications for the Parallel Giant Slalom start at 9am and finals will kick off at 12pm. And as usual Brown Bear will be right there cheering for the New Zealand snowboarders!

27 lucky men and women made it to the semi finals and finals. 14-year-old Taku Hiraoka from Japan performed magic, delivering the highest scoring run a New Zealand halfpipe has ever seen! The second highest scoring run came from Norwegian Staale Sandbech (17), just after he took out the world championship title at last Saturday’s slopestyle. Third on the podium was Japanese Masakaze Yoshida (15). The top three will be joined by Belgian Seppe Smits (19), Canadian Derek Livingston (19) and Swiss Jan Scherrer (16) for today’s finals. In the women’s section, Cilka Sada (18), Rana Okada (19) and Kelly Marren made it straight through to the finals.

Before the finals kick off at 11am the remaining qualified snowboarders will battle for the last six finals spots in the semi finals though. The semi finals are scheduled for 9:35am at Cardrona Ski Area, and Brown Bear keeps his paws crossed for Kiwis Ben Stewart and Rebecca Sinclair.

For more info check out www.juniorworldsnz.co.nz.

Taku Hiroaka at Cardrona Ski Area

The ski and snowboard stars took on the 40 foot big air jump in Treble Cone’s Saddle Basin, showcasing flips, tricks and big air with stunts ranging from Rodeo 5s and corked spins to 1080s. In the men’s ski competition Wanaka local Hamish McDougall came first and his brother Fraser McDougall second, while snowboarder Jim Dabbadrie topped the podium in the men’s snowboard section. New Zealander Hadley Boyle came third in the snowboard section, and Daniela Darilova from Slovakia claimed the snowboard title for the women’s competition. Amongst the young’uns ten-year-old Finn Bilous and twelve-year-old Hank Bilous stood out, achieving third and fourth overall in the men’s ski competition.

The second Racers Edge-Volkl Big Air is scheduled for Saturday 4 September and it’s definitely worth coming. Last weekend there were plenty of giveaways for the crowd and great music, and Brown Bear is sure it’ll be just as good in two weeks’ time.

Second Racers Edge-Volkl Big Air: 4 September 2010

Men's Ski Winner Hamish McDougall