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Posted on Thursday October 6th at 5:08 p.m.
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A small crew of us from Cardies came over that day to ride with some new friends, Katie Tsuyuki (pro-Canadian pipe rider) and Roberto Marfia (Focus Elite head coach from Colorado). And the pipe went off.... Perfectly shaped. Super-firm first thing but just starting to soften by 11am. And no crowds at all.
Riders of all abilities were pushing themselves. Some just learning to get out of the lip (which is a mighty task for those new to a 22ft pipe) and others landing completely new tricks or just simply going massive. Snowpark had even cut out the bottom of the left hand wall for the airbag, giving a few confidence boosts where needed.
Katie tweaking it out
Huge frontside airs
Setting up for the airbag
Check the front hand to tail!!
We're actually very privaliged here in Wanaka to have two Olympic-sized halfpipes - Cardrona and Snowpark. And what makes it even better is the sunny wall is different in each pipe. If you're not sure why that's useful, check it out... Every pipe has a sunny wall (that softens up ealier in the day and gets slushier in springtime) and a shady wall (staying firm and fast as a result of seeing less sun).
It's much more encouraging to try new tricks on softer snow. However, to get them dailed in with more amplitude you need firmer and faster snow. So regular-footed rider can learn a new trick on their frontside wall at Cardies (where the right hand wall is the sunny one), then head across the valley to lock-in some amplitude at Snowpark (where the right hand wall is the shady one), or vice-versa.
We finished up this super-fun day with a few runs through the box line, including various attempts at training 4 people at once over the 'longest box in town'.
Although the season in Wanaka is done, I'm heading up north to Ruapehu tomorrow to give a Level Two exam for SBINZ, with a stop in Welly to watch South Africa and Australia battle it out in the quarters... stoked!