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Posted on Monday June 7th at 10:47 p.m.
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The first Heli Challenge took place in 1995 under the name of the “International Ski and Snowboard Festival". Organiser Tony Harrington wanted to create an event where skiers and snowboarders from across the whole range of alpine disciplines could compete alongside one another in a Freestyle and Big Mountain environment using heli accessed terrain for the event. The event quickly gained worldwide renown amongst the ski and snowboard fraternity and regularly drew in the best names in the business.
The Heli Challenge was originally comprised of the three events:
The Freestyle Day, this allowed competitors to showcase their freestyle skills in a backcountry environment using the natural terrain to initiate their tricks
The Extreme Day, (now known as “Big Mountain”), the steepest and most loaded face would be selected for the skiers and snowboarders to showcase their Big Mountain skills in selecting line and navigating their way down it in the most fluid and aggressive manner possible.
The Chinese Downhill, This event was the shortest, fastest event of the three. All the skiers or snowboarders would be lined up at the top of a slope and would race one another to the finish line at the bottom, some incredible speeds were achieved by both camps.
In 2001 the fallout from 911 saw funding for the Heli Challenge fall by the way prior to its successful resurrection in 2009. The Heli Challenge returns again this season and will run from 30 Jul - 8 Aug.
