For the 3rd year in a row now, Perisher, Hotham and Falls Creek are teaming up to deliver one season pass for access to all 3 resorts. The Superpass is now available for $1449 from all 3 Resorts, buys your from:

Mt Hotham
Falls Creek
Perisher

Want to hear the sucky part? Last year they offered an earlybird discount which made the pass cheaper than a single resort season pass. Seems they are not doing that this year. Instead, they are giving you the chance to win the pass back if you buy before June 19th. Each resort is giving one back so 3 are up for grabs.

If this doesn’t sit well with you then maybe the joint Falls/Hotham season pass is more your liking. It’s going at earlybird prices until 27 May for only $1199.

Either way get committed for 2011, lock in your season pass now and enjoy a stress-free season knowing your ride is paid.

Basic background – How many years have you been riding? Where you from and what is your home resort? I started doing 1 week holidays when I was 13 with my parents at Falls Creek. When I was 16 my parents gave me a bunch of time off school so I could get a job down here as a snowboard instructor. In 04′ I spent 6 weeks of the season teaching part time in Falls and the rest I was back home in Newcastle at school. After that experience I knew that as soon as I was done with school I wanted to start doing seasons. So Falls Creek is definitely my home mountain.

What is your favourite resort outside of Australia? Do you spend much time riding overseas? I’ve been based in Beaver Creek for the last four seasons, which has been awesome and allowed me to ride a lot of Colorado. I can’t wait to explore a bit more of the world this summer.

Name one country/city/resort you haven’t rode yet that you are killing to get to? Bear mountain would be a treat! Also, some day I’d love to grab a few cliff bars and spend some time in Alaska with Jeremy Jones. Haha!

What has kept you busy so far this Aussie season? Been pretty flat out just working in the park here in Falls Creek along with plenty of Radical! Gloves stuff to get prepared for the future.

Do you compete much? No I haven’t competed that much, maybe 5 or 6 contests in total which have proven to be surprisingly successful. Slope-style and Big Air are definitely my favourite though!

What work have you done with Ollie Pop Films? Noticed a nice shred clip floating around put together by that crew. I’ve had a little bit to do with Ollie Pop over the past few seasons as one of my buddies actually runs it out of Falls Creek. My most recent clip I actually put together myself. However, Ollie Pop have helped Rad! a fair bit in the past and we’re going to be doing a bunch of edits this season too.

How hard is it to get recognised as a rider in Australia versus overseas? Fortunately here in Australia we’ve got a pretty tight shred scene with a lot of easy going reps that are willing to give up and comers a go. This works well for amateurs like myself to get recognised. In the States for example, I feel that your riding has to be at a much higher level. So for the Aussie big dogs like Robbie Walker and Ryan Tiene to be on international teams and film crews is just awesome, those boys are killing it!

What is your favourite terrain to ride? Park, pipe or powder? Any park shred is fun shred but the park will always be there so nothing beats messing around in the pow!

You run a company we are all familiar with – Radical! Gloves. How do you find managing your commitments for the company versus the desire to just get out there and ride? Luckily my day job in the park gives me a bit of time to ride anyway, but on a day off I always try to shred as much as I can because I think it’s really important. I must admit though it is a bit tricky trying to juggle business and pleasure. It’s hard to prioritise between two things that you love doing.

What does the rest of season 2010 hold for you? Definitely lots of shoveling and raking, tonnes of shredding and getting Radical! Gloves prepped for the SIA Trade Show!

Any shoutouts? Shoutouts to the Falls Creek park crew, the FCA, all my Rad! shreds, my family and my babe girlfriend!

Here is what Stylewars said on the website:

Day 1 and 2 of the event have been forced off due to poor weather and the forecast for the final day is about as poor as a competition forecast gets.
The best competition park ever built in Australia may, if the weather stays true to forecast, never be used.

With a blizzard forecast for the final day at this stage the night rail jam 28 Stairs is looking like the only possible money up for grabs so stay tuned.
Maybe it will turn sunny…

Check out what the riders including Seb Toots got up to during day 2:

Stylewars 2010 Day Two from richard hegarty on Vimeo.

And some action from day 1:

Stylewars 2010 – Day One from richard hegarty on Vimeo.

Stylewars is one epic content so if you are in the area get down there to check out all the action. Until we see some pics come through, here are some of the epic course set-up for your viewing pleasure. It features some massive hits, which lets be honest, Stylewars is notorious for doing. Can’t wait to check out the action!

Leading the confirmed line up of internationals is Sebastien Toutant, from Canada, (currently placed 3rd in the world) who made history last year at Stylewars with the first backside double corked 1260 ever landed in major competition, which helped him to win the overall Stylewars 2009 title. A 16-year old Sebastian left Australia last year in 1st place on the tour only to get injured not long afterwards in Europe shattering his chances of being the youngest snowboarder to hold the number 1 position for year.

The three-day and four-night festival, which is an integral part of the prestigious Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour, will kick off on Sunday the 22nd of August with the opening party featuring Aussie rockers CALLING ALL CARS, fresh off their tour with AC/DC and Brisbane punk group DZ. Monday will see the opening day of competition in the notoriously well built and world class snowboard park backed up by one of Australia’s best electro acts, BAG RAIDERS. Tuesday will see day 2 in the park and the nightlife will feature SPACE INVADAS, KATALYST and DJ DANIELSAN. The final day of competition is sure to be action paced with a full day in the park backed up by the under lights rail event 28 Stairs featuring 3 x DMC Champion DJ PERPLEX playing till late.

Also confirmed is Charles Reid, also from Canada (currently 9th in the world) returning to Stylewars having won the title in 2008. Both Charles and Sebastian are leaders in street rail competitions and Stylewars boasts a night event called 28 Stairs, which is Australia’s most reputable rail event. 28 Stairs in 2009 saw these two go head to head in duel that resulted in a tied win as the judges had never witnessed such a close competition where each trick was more insane than the one before it and neither athlete faltered over the 2 hours of non stop competition. Charles was not too happy about sharing this title and we can expect him to come out firing in a month’s time.

2010 Air and Style winner Slovenian Marco Grilc will return for his 3rd attempt at winning the night-life party title and 2010 European X-Games slopestyle gold medallist Eric Willett will be back as well to have another shot. Young Swedes Kevin Backstrom and Tor Lundstrom are both confirmed after both proving their park worthiness with Tor taking out a slopestyle title in Hemsedal Norway and Kevin sitting in 6th on the World Tour. American riders, Jeremy Thompson who was the standout at the 2010 Superpark event and Ian Thorley who placed 3rd in the Dew Tour Slopestyle have also just confirmed. Local riders including Ryan Tiene who features in the new Standard Films release The Storming, Robbie Walker, Clint Allan, Jye Kearney and a line up of only Australia’s best will all be hoping to steal some of the glory from the invading internationals.

Stylewars 2010 promises to be the biggest snowboarding event in Australia for the spectators as well as the athletes in both on hill action and out of control nightlife so get to Falls Creek from the 22nd – 25th August and check out the latest information and accommodation packages on www.stylewars.com.au

Major freestyle events such as the annual Stylewars invite-only competition come to Falls Creek purely because the resorts terrain park is seen as world-class.

An appreciative bunch of adventurous boarders and skiers accept the challenge and ride the various rails, boxes, jumps and whatever urban-style feature the park crew come up with.

Currently there’s a Rainbow Flat Box, A-frame Up and Down Box, six meter Down Rail, five meter Donkey Rail several jumps and as we get more snow, more elements will appear.

NOT what Ruined Castle looks like now!

As the second week of the school holidays is one of the busiest of the alpine resort’s winter season a concerted effort was made by the snowmaking teams to provide snow on Ruined Castle.

It is an outstanding result, within a few days, which will allow additional skiing and boarding for the influx of school-aged snow enthusiasts.

There is a good chance of snow overnight and whilst the temperatures permit the snow guns will continue to produce even more snow.

Currently there is are eight lifts operating including the just-opened Ruined Castle Chairlift, Towers Chairlift, Falls Creek Express Chairlift, Drovers Chairlift plus numerous beginner-friendly lifts such as Petes Train for three to five year olds.

Eagle and Gully chairlifts are also turning to provide access to Sun Valley and Village Bowl respectively.

There’s an average cover in the snowmaking areas of 66cms which includes the iconic 2.2km Wombats Ramble and the very popular runs alongside the Towers Chairlift, Highway 87 and Main Street.

With drink specials all night and some of Australia’s hottest snowboarding on viewing (check out the teaser below!)  it’s sure to be a great night, if you are around be sure to head down to check it out.

Overnight the artillery of snowguns which line the 2.2km Wombat’s Ramble at Falls Creek, Victoria’s largest alpine resort, were in action for the first time

24 high-tech snowguns, in an addition to the 16 put in place last winter, began what they are designed to do (produce snow) at 7.30pm and were still in operation when the sun rose this morning.

The significant increase in Falls Creek’s snowmaking capability will be evident to all the resort’s guests during the Queen’s Birthday weekend, the official start to what is shaping up to be a good snow season.

A bitterly cold night (the mercury dipped to minus 4C) and a chilly morning has allowed snowmaking to take place on numerous locations in Sun Valley.
About 4,500 cubic metres of snow was produced on Main Street, Tom Thumb and Drovers. plus the entire length of Wombat’s Ramble.

If the forecasted cool air (and snow) continues the snowmakers will provide a blanket of snow for the opening of winter this Saturday when Tim Holding, the Minister, Water, Finance Tourism & Major Events will officially declare the 2010 season open.

www.fallscreek.com.au ]]> http://www.snowlife.com.au/snowguns-blazing-at-falls-creek/feed/ 1 http://www.snowlife.com.au/ice-plunge-falls-creek/ http://www.snowlife.com.au/ice-plunge-falls-creek/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:08:05 +0000 Broz http://www.snowlife.com.au/?p=1344 A ‘feel like’ (taking into account wind chill) temperature of minus 2.8C this morning at Falls Creek didn’t deter Ice Plungers.

To celebrate the official arrival of winter a significant number of the alpine resorts community (and resort guests) took the plunge into the chilly, mile-high, crisp and cool Rocky Valley Lake.

The Ice Plunge is an event to acknowledge the first day of winter and the opening of the resorts snow season which is now less than two weeks away.

Some of the more colourful Ice Plungers included members of the Falls Creek Snowsports School Cassandra Sigmund and Lauren Bateman who plunged in one-piece pink ski suits belonging to their parents.

Cassandra Bateman said: “The 80′s ski outfit held up pretty well I just had cold feet. I’ve done it , I dove in turned around and got out – now let’s hope it’s a good season.”

Well-known caterer Barry Iddles who has taken over one of the resort’s iconic restaurants and bar said: “It is such a good community event. The new CEO of Falls Creek Resort Management, the recently appointed manager of the Quay West Resort & Spa brought his team and everyone got behind today’s Ice Plunge.”

www.fallscreek.com.au