Connor Harding – Throwtogether edit from piersfh on Vimeo.

Local Canterbury rider and photographer Niels Ypelaar has been following developments up at Mt Hutt recently which have seen the birth of their first Superpipe…Heres his report from pipeside as to what’s been going down over the past few weeks…Check the full story coming in the May 2014 issue…

At the end of the winter just been Mt Hutt locals witnessed something never seen before, something that they hope will continue for many winters to come. With the Olympics looming, a handful of the worlds best Snowboarders along with a hard working team had a 22ft Superpipe built just under Mid Towers for an Olympic training camp. The riders, included Olympic gold medalist Torah Bright, high flyer Danny Davis, brothers Ayumu and Eiju Hirano and their compatriot Ryo Aono, Hannah Teter, Kaitlyn Farrington, Queralt Castellet and Valentino. It was these select few who made things happen reaching deep into their own pockets to bring the project to fruition.

With John Meville and Jamie Kennerley behind the mammoth job of moving 50,000 cubic meters of snow and Benny Bright coordinating, an Olympic sized hafpipe was formed! All of the riders have trained hard to produce an Olympic gold worthy run and the tricks have been being thrown down, 15 ft FS airs, Cab 900’s, FS double cork 1080’s and everything in between. Amongst all the hard work and training, the public, mainly Mt Hutt locals were invited to check out what was happening and the crew that made the effort were definitely rewarded when the Superpipe was open to all to shred for just over an hour.

After a solid season and with only limited time until the Sochi Winter Olympics, Mt Hutt and Methven have been witness to something special. Lets hope this keeps happening in this part of the world for years to come!!

Photos: Niels Ypelaar

The first ever Superpipe at Mt Hutt. Could this be the start of something for Canterbury riders after all these years?..Lets hope so!

Ryo Aono, Frontside 5

Torah Bright, Cab 9

Danny Davis, Frontside Air

Cardrona Alpine Resort has for the last couple of decades cemented itself as one of New Zealand’s best snowboarding destinations. Although Cardrona does have a name for being a little on the mellow side of the freeride scale for those in the know there are pow stashes, chutes cliffs and backcountry spots to satisfy most off piste urges. ‘Cardies’ has become the go to resort for park and pipe riding and has showed a dedication to delivering world class freestyle facilities since the early 90s when Sean Gilbertson and friends built New Zealand’s first halfpipe with wool bales, some #8 wire and a chainsaw. It has also long been the center for New Zealand snowboarding competitions and continues to host high caliber national and international events.

 Cardrona has long led the charge in terms of man made terrain be it parks or pipe, it looks like this most of the season!

Cardrona opens most years in late June and Closes early October and it gets an average annual snowfall of 2.7 meters. Its base area sits at 1670m, the highest lifted point is at 1860m and out in the backcountry Mt Cardrona stands at 1936m. Its terrain is predominantly intermediate and there’s 345 hectares of it accessed by 2 quads, 2 high speed quads and 3 beginner tows / magic carpets. The resort has excellent facilities including ride in ride out accommodation, a host of coaching and instruction options, childcare and when you need to stop for a bite you can choose from a Pizzeria, a Juice bar, a Noodle bar, an a la carte restaurant and fast food fare.

Cardrona Alpine resort was originally founded and opened by John Lee in 1984 who then sold the resort 6 years later. In the early 2000s John and son Sam Lee continued in ski filed entrepreneurship by opening the legendary but unfortunately now closed Snowpark. Cardrona has always had a historical connection to snowboarding in New Zealand and hosted the Snowboard Nationals for over a decade a contest that was for many years the pinnacle of snowboarding in New Zealand. In 2000 Cardrona enlisted the services of Jim Mangan who set the bar for park design at that time and now with grooming staff such as Hamish Rudhal and Alli Zehetner the park is still epic! Cardies pipes are also top notch and they have NZ’s only Olympic spec (22ft!) pipe and have even eliminated hiking by installing the ‘Wells’ platter tow.

The Arcadia chutes are within a snowballs throw from the park and offer some mean lines like this sizeable back 3 from Will J

Cardrona has for the history of snowboarding in New Zealand been almost unrivaled as the premier host of national and international snowboarding competitions. The resort was for over a decade the host of the New Zealand Nationals, the ‘Extremes’ and more recently international events such as the Winter Games and the Burton Open and High Fives events. Cardrona has undoubtedly helped to push kiwi snowboarding throughout the years as a platform for exposure and progression in the sport.

For those that just want to go snowboarding Cardies has more to offer than just comps and groomed take offs. Do a bit of exploring around Captains Basin on a powder day and you’ll find plenty of hidden stashes and rock drops. Similarly Arcadia Chutes has a ton of rad little lines and cliffs to hit and if its back country you crave there’s plenty of freshies to hike to over the back of Queenstown Return and Captains Basin, on a good season there’s a few spots below the base area worth checking too.

Cardrona is must do on the Kiwi shred map and has something for all shredders be it park, pipe or pow. The resort is no secret so the best time to ride is during the week and don’t forget the puffer things get a little chilly when the southerly is blowin!

Cardrona has a little of everything in terms of terrain and offers plenty of powdery options from pow turns to cliffs to back country booters just a short walk from the lift.

It is hard to beat the feeling of a being up the mountain on a glorious Spring day.

Let us paint you a picture – the sun is beaming down and you have nice soft snow to shred and plenty of daylight. The birds are chirping and the barbeque is waiting for you after riding..AHH..it feels good..it’s the best!

Yes BUT Spring is a bit of flippant beast and a glorious sunny day can soon be swapped with a storm that brings epic powder to your favourite spot on the mountain. This is what Spring is all about. Keeping us on our toes, keeping us guessing and surprising us with those last blasts of epic snow.

In this episode we salute Spring, and make the most of some of the best powder conditions of the season. Blue skies and powder is a hard combination to beat. Combine that with one of the best zones we have ever found and you have Episode 5.

Featuring Nick Hyne, Jake Koia, Mitch Brown and Nick Brown plus a recap of the very best of the season. It sure has been a good one!

Enjoy!