Cardrona Boarding & Freestyle
Many of New Zealand’s best freestyle skiers and snowboarders, and increasingly off-season northern hemisphere athletes, base themselves at Cardrona and the three terrain parks offer a wide range of rails and jumps, up to four halfpipes and a gravity cross course.The Heavy Metal trail runs the length of the Whitestar Express on a purpose-built terraced course – home to the larger rails and features. The Playzone trail runs alongside upper Heavy Metal utilising smaller features.
The pipe-park – said to be the biggest in the southern hemisphere – consists of four pipes (International, Rookie, the Monster and the Johnny). The last two are built to the enlarged Superpipe dimensions, while the Rookie and International are shallower.
Usually two pipes are in operation on any given day – one used exclusively by the High Performance Centre until mid-September, and the other open for public use. The 800m Gravity Cross sculptured track below the MacDougall’s quad is made up of banked corners, jumps and rollers.