Family of Olympic Hopefuls Open New Halfpipe Lift at Cardrona

World Champion Halfpipe skier Jossi Wells and his family have opened Cardrona Alpine Resort’s new dedicated ski lift for its Olympic and International Halfpipes today (Tuesday).

Jossi cut the ribbon alongside his parents Bruce and Stacy, and brothers Byron, Beau-James and Jackson to officially open the surface lift with their namesake the ‘Wells Pipe Platter’.

Cardrona Sales and Marketing Manager Nadia Ellis says the ski area named the new lift after the Wells family in recognition of their long history with Cardrona.

“Bruce and Stacy met while they were working here and consequently had four extremely talented sons who learnt to ski at Cardrona. All of the Wells’ boys have potential to compete at the next Sochi Winter Olympics,” she says.

“Bruce was named the New Zealand Snowsports Coach of the Year 2010 in recognition for his fantastic work with our winter performance athletes and his kids.”

Ms Ellis says the addition of the Wells Pipe Platter further cements Cardrona’s position as a world-class training facility.

“We are the only ski area in the Southern Hemisphere offering a dedicated mechanised lift to access its halfpipes. This means no more ‘hiking to the pipe’, providing athletes more training laps each day.”

“With Ski Halfpipe now being included as an Olympic discipline, focus on training in the Northern Hemisphere ‘off season’ will intensify. This means we’ll see more of the world’s best athletes training in New Zealand during winter.”

In 2009 Shaun White and Torah Bright were among the world-class athletes who trained at Cardrona in preparation for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Cardrona’s 22 foot Olympic Halfpipe is the only one in the Southern Hemisphere to have been homologated by FIS as World Cup standard. The pipe is 18 metres wide, 6.8 metres high and has an 18 degree pitch.

IMAGE: World Champion Freeskier Jossi Wells at the bottom of Cardrona’s halfpipe