We have been getting dumped on in the North Island! The base is rapidly climbing to four meters! Blue skies and soft snow were seen here over the weekend and many riders stayed on though Monday.

The Pinnacles are looking crazy so many lines we haven’t seen in the competition to date are well skiable.

This weekend we’ll be out getting new photos for you to see for yourself.

The dates for the comp are now set as follows:

11 September    Ski qualifiers                                      Sky Line.
12 September    Ski semis and snowboard challenge     Police mans (Two starts, one ski one board)
13 September    Ski finals                                           The Door.

This is a little different from the schedule last year, taking away the day off for skiers. That leaves us with three contingency days to insure the event is completed.

You may recall that on one day during last year’s comp the cloud, while not making the worst conditions, gave limited visibility such that the judges could not see the course. On that day Turoa was in the clear. If this scenario were to take place again Turoa would be a contingency venue. There are two locations on that side well up to the task. This kind of planning allows you a stronger chance of completing those semis and finals runs you will need to combine to walk away with the best result.

If you are planning on heading to the mountain for some turns and to check out the venue, drop an email to Tommy at events.turoa@mtruapehu.com.

Looking for Accommodation? Check out these establishments. Prices ranging from $28 and up per person. You may want to stay in Ohakune as the opening night and prize giving’s may possibly be in Ohakune.

Rimu Park Ohakune
www.rimupark.co.nz
063859023

National Park Backpackers, National Park
+64 7 892 2870                                                                 
Nat.park.backpackers@xtra.co.nz
Adventure Lodge, National Park
+64 7 892 2991
www.adventurenationalpark.co.nz

Miro Ridge. Ohakune
Ph: 06 385 8413
stay@miroridge.co.nz
 

For more options, please visit: http://www.mtruapehu.com/winter/accommodation-activities

$139 7-day competitor lift pass     
This pass is available only for Export Gold Xtreme competitors. It will be available starting Tuesday September 5th until Tuesday September 14th (effectively may be used 7 times in 9 days).  The pass is only available during this period at both Whakapapa & Turoa and will expire after September 14th 2008 Note a regular day pass is $83.

The cost is $85 for skiers and $50 for the snowboard challenge. This includes Breakfast on all days.

Registration  forms will be on line in the next few days.

A word from the Judges……

With another dump of snow on the already fat Pinnacles and under Four weeks to go until the Export Gold Extremes I thought it might be time for a few words of wisdom from the judging panel to help get you in the right mindset.

As with all big mountain events, you will be judged on the five criteria laid out by the IFSA all those years ago:

Difficulty of Line
Control
Fluidity
Technique.
Aggression


While each of these criteria is given a separate mark out of ten, it is important to remember that each will have some impact on the others. For example:

Difficulty of line is the most important in that all other scores can only be two marks above this line score. Say you take the easiest route down the middle of the course and are scored a 3 for line. The maximum you can score are fives in the other categories. . If you hit every cliff possible and score an 8 for line, we can give you anywhere up to a 10 across the board. The difference between a 4 and a 5 line can be an extra 5 points on your final score. All categories are totalled to give a score out of 50 for each run. Generally we will average your runs for each day of competition to decide who will go through to the next day.

We also look at how much less control was required by keeping your skis or board on the snow versus hitting some features along the way. The same can be said for aggression and technique. It is much harder to rail turns through steep rocky terrain and therefore the competitor that uses more difficult terrain is showing that they have better technique than those who play it safe. Obviously, you are being more aggressive by going to the steeper real estate.

The easiest way to think about line score is this. The more difficult features you can link together whilst maintaining a fairly direct route to the bottom, the better your line score. Go out and poke around the venues in the next few weeks so you can be inventive and know exactly where you are going on the day. One other thing to remember is that we can only judge what we can see, so make sure you know where the judges are sitting before you head off billy-goating.  Basically the bigger, steeper and faster you go, the better, but only as long as you can stick it, which brings me to the next category, Control.

The trick to Control is to show us what you can do rather than what you hope you can. Big Mountain events are all about showing your skills in all disciplines of your sport. We want to see that you can read the terrain like a backcountry guru, make good strong turns to control you speed like a racer, stomp tricks like a park rat and generally rule the mountain. It is a fine line between doing all that and exploding into a tumbling mess. If you fall, not only will you control mark suffer, so will you technique and your fluidity.  Going for high aggression by hitting something you may or may not stick isn’t going to win you any cash. In say that, you will be rewarded for how well you recover should you blow it. If you can get back on your feet without stopping it will help with the next category, fluidity.

Fluidity can be thought of as moving like water, flowing down the hill with gravity, rather than fighting it. We want to see that you know where you are going by not stopping on top of every cliff, that you can control your speed by not crashing, you can attack your line by going as fast as your line and ability will allow you and you really know how to turn your equipment. We can clearly see those who are on top of their gear and are having fun. It is important to choose a line that you can hit with fluidity. If you do need to traverse to get to your next feature, do it with speed and energy and make sure what you are traversing to is going to be worth it in line score.

A good Technique mark is what sets the winners apart. If you are in the backseat, arms flailing, barely hanging onto control all the way down, it is going to be pretty hard to convince us that you know what you are doing. Moving smoothly through difficult terrain is a good way to show us you can actually ride, as is stomping tricks. A well landed spin of a cliff shows more skill and aggression than a straight air and high speed turns as you come out of a straight line shows more control and better technique than just pointing it and holding on for the flats at the bottom to slow down. Also think about the way you land off cliffs. It is much more aggressive and fluid to stomp a landing in the fall-line off a cliff and then deal with you speed, than it is to land going across the hill.

Aggression can pretty much be described as a confidence mark. The faster and bigger you can go through the most difficult terrain, pulling the sickest tricks will all count towards a good aggression score. Go out there and attack the terrain and show us you rule it. Just remember that crossing the line of control will cost you points. 

As I have said, we are looking for the free-rider who can best use the terrain to best show us their abilities and looks like they are having the most fun. If you keep thinking about what constitutes a good competition run in your build up, scope the venues in advance without ruining the landings for the actual event days, and practice skiing every run top to bottom, we will reward you on the score cards.

See ya on the 9th…. The Judges.