Celebrating five years of sliding, high flying and breathtaking riding action, the Thredbo Freeride Series is back in 2011 with five big events that are sure to fire up the pro’s and ignite the up and coming talent this season..

With Charles Beckinsale and Sammy Towers at the helm, the park crew will create some great venues and features for the rails, freeride, ridercross and big air events. There is $50,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs, so there is plenty to get excited about. The Thredbo Freeride Series is for skiers, boarders, opens and juniors.

Mt Buller

Expect around 40cm with 4 lifts turning. Those being Holden, Blue Bullet, Bourke St Carpet and Wombat. Buller have been quoted offering “discount passes” but we don’t know exactly what. What we do know is you can ride a couple hours for FREE on Friday! On top of that expect live music, complimentary glühwein and hot chocolate, fireworks and the popular Barry Possum Show for the kids.

Hotham

30cm of natural snowfall plus snowmaking will see The Big D, Summit Trainer and Playground (to mid load) open on Saturday – with one day lift tickets at $49. Harry the Snowdragon will be out and about for the kids while The General Store have a huge lineup of music and DJ’s to welcome season 2011.

Falls Creek

Lift tickets will also be going for $49 at Falls this weekend and with some luck the guys are hoping for up to 50cm on the ground by then. Expect Towers and Falls Express to be turning as well as Mousetrap Carpet for the kiddies. I dare say everyones favorite Pete the Snow Dragon will be out and about as well as a bunch of parties as per usual for the social folk at Falls.

Mount Baw Baw

This little mountain was forecast to get the most snow throughout the week and so far have 35cm sitting on the ground with hopefully more overnight. No word on which will be going but I’m sure they’ll be enough to shred and it’s where I’m choosing to enjoy my season opener.. Oh and Denise Drysdale will be kicking around the resort too!

Thredbo

They’ve had 25cm fall this week and have been blasting the snow making, Thredders plans to kick things off on Friday as well with Easy Does It chair for riding and Kosciuszko Express only for sight-seeing. Saturday they’ll knock it up a notch with Easy Does It, High Noon, Cruiser Chairlift to ski and board on Walkabout and Ballroom, Merritts for access only and possible Gunbarrel Chairlift depending on snow and weather conditions over the next few days.

Perisher

Also a good natural base with solid snowmaking, Perisher is opening V8, Mitchell, Perisher Express and a few Carpets for beginners. Tickets will be discounted to $80 for Saturday but the real winner is Friday at $60. Oh and if that doesn’t suit your style then how about The Snowy Mountain Music Festival which is happening all long weekend? Yeah, thought so!

So there you have it folks, huge plans happening across all mountains and this above is just some of what is actually going down. So grab your friends, load the car and hit the mountains. Remember to drive safe, ride safe and have a great time. Welcome to season 2011!

Here are a bunch of pics courtesy of the respecting resorts’ Facebook pages. Get excited folks, one month to go!!

Falls Creek

Mt Buller

Mt Hotham

Thredbo

Perisher

Anyone who has ridden overseas knows these systems and knows they work well. No hassle entry onto lifts, no flashing lift tickets. Im sure its part of the plan but once they roll out the ability to use the card as cash around the mountain then you’ll see the benefit. I’m sure if its not already in place its only a matter of time.

Anyway the smart gates are in, here are a couple shots they put onto Facebook.

But it looks like Thredders isn’t the only mountain taking this step in 2011. Perisher have also launched the same system. Here is their video promoting it which kind of summarises everything quite well in case I did a bad job of describing it all:

Burton Snowboards once again partnered with MTV for this year’s Big Air snowboarding event. The one-off MTV Big Air acted as a spectacular backdrop to one of Thredbo’s biggest parties. 25 international and locally invited riders including Canadian Burton boarder, Mark Sollors and local favourites Jye Kearney and Ryan Tiene, battled it out on the 60 foot kicker, the largest Thredbo has seen, at the base in the village to win a share of the total $8,000 cash purse. Canadian Burton rider Mark Sollors, clinched the win with a flawless frontside nine. “I’m so stoked on the win, it’s my second time to Australia and although the conditions were tough, I felt really good about how I rode and had a lot of fun in the contest”. Second place was taken out by Jeremy Thompson and third, Jye Kearney with a double back flip.

Pop sensations Operator Please got the party started performing hits from their latest album, Gloves, including Logic, and Like Magic. Bliss N Eso took to the stage, rocking the throngs of fans on the mountain with their hit songs Eye Of The Storm, Down By The River and Addicted. Jonathan Notley aka MC Bliss described their performance as “Amazing. We’ve never done a show in the snow outdoors before, people were going crazy! We love Australia and are stoked to do our last show here before we head off for our US tour tomorrow.”

Off the back of the success of MTV Snow Jam in Australia, the hype is set to cross international waters as it heads to Japan next February, 2011. MTV Japan Jam is an extension of MTV Australia’s long time winter flagship event, Snow Jam. Creating the Snow Jam VIP experience into a travelling tour, MTV Japan Jam will deliver the entertainment and celebrity of Snow Jam, whilst capitalizing on the exciting and intriguing Japanese culture. Hosted by MTV VJ Erin McNaught, the MTV Australian crew are planning a mad ten day adventure that will see our 20+ VIP entourage experience the best of Japan from February 17 to 27, 2011.

Thredbo yesterday issued an apology on behalf of the NSW resorts for the inconvenience and road safety issues this may have caused. They have also urged both residents and visitors to demand the upgrade of infrastructure from the NSW government.

We can all relate to the potential dangers that lay hidden on our alpine roads and it’s becoming more important than ever that these roads continue to be developed and maintained to ensure commuter safety. Many of us invest in the alpine and snowy mountains and the government encourages this as its contribution towards our economy is a significant one. And as the resorts push ‘year round’ activities we will only begin to see our beautiful mountains grow in popularity.

Please read the below message from Thredbo and if this effects you, take action and ensure our alpine roads remain safe and most of all, our mountains remain accessible.

NSW Alpine Resorts Apologise for Jindabyne Traffic Delays and Ask Residents and Visitors to Demand the NSW Government Urgently Fix Jindabyne Traffic Gridlock.

Traffic delays of up to two hours, traffic chaos and road safety issues occurred in Jindabyne Saturday 28th August 2010 due to NSW Police alcohol and drug testing and the NSW Government’s inadequate investment in road infrastructure.

The NSW Alpine Resorts support the NSW Police in conducting RBT operations but say it must only occur at a time and place that does not cause traffic chaos and road safety issues like it did this weekend.

For many years the NSW Alpine Resorts have been urging the NSW Government to upgrade Kosciuszko Road in Jindabyne where currently four lanes merge into one at the intersection with the Barry Way. The resorts have also suggested to NSW Police that they should stop causing additional traffic congestion on peak weekends by finding alternative locations for RBT operations.

The NSW Alpine Resorts met with NSW Police prior to the 2010 winter suggesting viable alternative locations for RBT between Jindabyne and the resorts. The Alpine Resorts believe that solutions exist to allow RBT to occur and to avoid the congestion caused today, but the NSW Police appear unwilling to relocate their operation.

Despite efforts of the NSW Alpine Resorts and the alpine community in seeking to find a solution, the NSW Government has done nothing to progress improvements to road upgrades or improving Police RBT operations.

The Alpine Resorts urge visitors to contact the NSW Government including Local Member Steve Whan to voice their concern about the unnecessary traffic delays experienced today and most weekends in Jindabyne and ask what the NSW Government is going to do to fix it.

Lets speak up and get the attention of the NSW Government, email the below relevant Government officials.

monaro@parliament.nsw.gov.au
minister@borger.minister.nsw.gov.au
office@mckay.minister.nsw.gov.au
mike.kelly.mp@aph.gov.au
office@daley.minister.nsw.gov.au
office@sartor.minister.nsw.gov.au
office@robertson.minister.nsw.gov.au

To find the email address for your Local Member click here. Please make the following points in your email:

It’s about time that the NSW Government recognised the importance of Tourism in the Snowy Mountains and fix traffic congestion in Jindabyne by taking the following actions:

Action #1 – The NSW Police must find alternative locations for drug and alcohols testing that doesn’t cause traffic gridlock in Jindabyne.

Action #2 - The NSW Government must increase road capacity leaving Jindabyne towards the resorts on Kosciuszko Road between the Barry Way and Alpine Way turnoff before the 2011 winter.

Mount Buller's Watkin McLennan took out the Open Mens Ski at today's Rip Curl FreeRide Pro at Thredbo, NSW | Rip Curl/Warbrick

The result was some of the most spectacular freeriding scene in competition in recent years. Australia’s best skiers and snowboarders unloading with a variety of tricks including corked 720s, backside 540s and huge front and backflips.

The snow in Thredbo today, a mixture of dry fresh snow and light windblown powder provided the competitors with soft landings that encouraged the riders to go for it.

The finals of the junior ski and snowboards were decided today while the top eight open men’s and women’s qualifiers from today’s rounds will compete in the final tomorrow The judging criteria encouraged a mountain riding, speed and flow critical elements as well as the technical difficulty and size of the tricks. The open men’s ski and snowboard set the standard with New Zealand Olympian Mitch Brown qualifying first in the men’s snowboard ahead of local Thredbo rider Peter Long. Ben Mates, Australia’s Olympic half-pipe finalist qualified third. In the Open Ski, Mount Buller’s Watkin McLennan was the front-runner, ahead of Thredbo skier Jono Lipzker. Jindabyne skier Scott Kneller, another member of the Australian Olympic team, qualified third.

There are plenty of other big names among the open finalists including US Olympian Andy Finch, Australia’s world cup half-pipe rider Nate Johnstone in the snowboard and leading Australian freeskiers Chris Booth (Sydney, NSW) and Jordan Houghton (Jindabyne, NSW).

The top eight finalists will be joined by two Power balance wildcards, one in each category, who the judges picked based on going particularly big or landing a major trick. Kieran McLaughlin (Falls Creek, VIC) is the snowboard wildcard and Kristopher Evan (East Jindabyne, NSW) the ski.

The women’s division was hotly contested, the riders throwing down some huge airs and technical tricks. Local snowboarders Saph Farrell (East Jindabyne, NSW), Laura Williams (Thredbo, NSW) and Wiki Jones (Swansea Heads, NSW) are the top three qualifiers in that order. It was different in the ski with the top three places being filled by Mount Buller skiers, ‘08 and ’09 Rip Curl FreeRide Pro champion Zoe Jaboor (Mt Buller, VIC) qualifying first ahead of Winter X Games gold medallist Anna Segal (Toorak, VIC) and Natalie Segal (Toorak, VIC) third. Katya Crema (Middle Park, VIC), another Buller skier and Australian Olympian is the fourth qualifier for the finals.

The juniors showed Australian skiing and snowboarding has a strong future, taking aggressive lines through the terrain and throwing down some massive moves. In the boys Henry Maxwell won the snowboard and Hamish Young the ski. Alex Fitch won the girls snowboard and Renner Connor the ski.

The open finals are scheduled to start at 9am Wednesday morning and the winners should be decided by midday.

The Rip Curl ThrowDown competitors will be announced tomorrow, invites are limited to those snowboarders and skiers with the ability to push the boundaries on the purpose-built park.

The Rip Curl FreeRide Pro and ThrowDown is proudly presented by Power Balance and is a part of the Thredbo FreeRide Series.

After a relatively slow start to the season, event organisers welcomed the past two weeks’ epic snowfalls that blanketed Thredbo. The athletes are keen to hit the slopes next week and expectations around this year’s event are bigger than ever. Conditions are expected to hold up this week with more snow on the horizon.

The recent snowfalls have also given Thredbo Terrain Park Manager Charles Beckinsale plenty to work with. In its fourth year, the Rip Curl FreeRide Pro relies not only on the ‘Bluff’s’ natural terrain but also on Beckinsale’s vision and skill in bringing out the best parts of the hill.

“Our aim is to enhance the natural terrain on The Bluff by building take offs on some of the bigger cliffs, cutting in take offs in windlips and setting up some natural looking jibs like log sides and stalls made from Snowgums to keep the course looking as organic as possible,” commented Beckinsale.

With an international field of competitors locked in including former USA Olympian Andy Finch, young snowboarding prodigy Nate Johnstone and New Zealand’s free-snowboarding Olympian Mitch Brown the Rip Curl FreeRide Pro is sure to be a tightly fought competition.

Finch represented his country in the 2006 Torino Olympics, placing 12th in the half-pipe and is also the Rip Curl FreeRide Pro inaugural champion. Competing alongside the former Olympian is Nate Johnstone, the 2008/09 Rip Curl FreeRide Pro champion who qualified for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but was forced to pull out at the last minute due to an ankle injury.

“Due to my injury at the beginning of this year I haven’t had a chance to do too much snowboarding, but I plan to just freeride, have fun and see what happens. If anything I think it’s made me keener to go snowboarding!” said Johnstone of his preparations for the event.

The Rip Curl ThrowDown Invitational is a specialty night event held on the Wednesday evening under lights at Thredbo Village, attracting a large crowd of spectators. The ‘one-night only’ big air structure is also built by the Thredbo Terrain Park Crew, and its annually changing features along with the rider-judged format grant it a unique status.

“For the ThrowDown, the team has put their heads together again to come up with another mega feature that will have a ton of options for riders to go to town. We have moved away from the butter pad style we have had in previous years and we are taking a new direction this year,” said Beckinsale.

The Rip Curl ThrowDown competitors will be announced tomorrow, invites are limited to those snowboarders and skiers with the ability to push the boundaries on the purpose-built park.

The Rip Curl FreeRide Pro and ThrowDown is proudly presented by Power Balance and is a part of the Thredbo FreeRide Series.

Following the recent fresh snow dump, anticipation around next week’s Rip Curl FreeRide Pro and ThrowDown at Thredbo from August 17-19th is overflowing amongst the competitor and event organiser ranks.

The Rip Curl FreeRide Pro is a unique ski and snowboard event that makes use of Thredbo’s famous ‘Bluff’ run, which is recognised as Australia’s best natural terrain. It gives riders the opportunity to choose their own path down the mountain and hence showcase their freeriding skills.

After a relatively slow start to the season, event organisers welcomed last week’s epic snowfalls that blanketed Thredbo. The athletes are keen to hit the slopes next week and expectations around this year’s event are bigger than ever. Conditions are expected to hold up this week with more snow on the horizon.

The recent snowfalls have also given Thredbo Terrain Park Manager Charles Beckinsale plenty to work with. In its fourth year, the Rip Curl FreeRide Pro relies not only on the ‘Bluff’s’ natural terrain but also on Beckinsale’s vision and skill in bringing out the best parts of the hill.

With an international field of competitors already locked in, including former USA Olympian Andy Finch, young snowboarding prodigy Nate Johnstone and New Zealand’s free-snowboarding Olympian Mitch Brown the Rip Curl FreeRide Pro is sure to be a tightly fought competition.

Finch represented his country in the 2006 Torino Olympics, placing 12th in the half-pipe and is also the Rip Curl FreeRide Pro inaugural champion. Competing alongside the former Olympian is Nate Johnstone, the 2008/09 Rip Curl FreeRide Pro champion who qualified for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but was forced to pull out at the last minute due to an ankle injury.

“Due to my injury at the beginning of this year I haven’t had a chance to do too much snowboarding, but I plan to just freeride, have fun and see what happens. If anything I think it’s made me keener to go snowboarding!” said Johnstone of his preparations for the event.

The Rip Curl ThrowDown Invitational is a specialty night event held on the Wednesday evening under lights at Thredbo Village, attracting a large crowd of spectators. The ‘one-night only’ big air structure is also built by the Thredbo Terrain Park Crew, and its annually changing features grant it a unique status.

The Rip Curl ThrowDown competitors will be announced next week in the lead-up to the event, invites are limited to those snowboarders and skiers with the ability to push the boundaries on the purpose-built park.

The Rip Curl FreeRide Pro and ThrowDown is proudly presented by Power Balance and is a part of the Thredbo FreeRide Series.