Milano Cortina 2026 – new dry slope facility ‘massive’
The long awaited facility is “massive”, according to Snow Sports NZ General Manager of High Performance, Luke Hetzel.
“Our snowboarders and freeskiers such as world champions Zoi (Sadowski-Synnott) and Luca (Harrington) are using the dry slope facility now and they are already getting a lot out of it,” says Luke.
The Cardrona dry slope facility is one of the biggest in the world and caters to the high end tricks athletes will be doing in Milano Cortina.
“It is very timely to have a facility that recreates what our freeskiers and snowboarders experience in an Olympic and World Cup environment,” says Luke. “It’s a massive win for us to have the facility ahead of Milano Cortina and our athletes are telling us that the feel is really good and is helping them solidify their skills before the Games.”
Another big benefit is that all Milano Cortina bound freeskiers and snowboarders can remain in New Zealand for dry slope training, rather than having to head to China or Australia to access a dry slope and air bag facility.
“Being able to spend extra time here in New Zealand is a significant benefit. Not only are our athletes able to spend longer in their home environment but it also reduces the number of long haul journeys they would typically make to get time on a dry slope.”
Snow Sports NZ staff on first day of testing dry slope facility
Planning and securing the necessary funding for the dry slope facility has been six years in the making.
HPSNZ has invested $600,000 into the facility, an investment HPSNZ Director of High Performance, Steve Tew, says is significant.
“The dry slope and the rationale for our investment is that the facility increases the training days available to Snow Sports NZ athletes which has the potential to lead to significant performance gains.
“It also provides a safer environment and a lower impact profile than traditional on-snow jumps,” says Steve.
The remainder of the funding required was secured by Snow Sports NZ from generous donors and partners from both within New Zealand and abroad and through various fundraising initiatives.
While the Milano Cortina athletes are gaining immediate benefits from the facility, Luke says there will be significant longer term benefits, especially for development athletes.
“Having access to a dry slope has evened the playing field for New Zealand athletes. Many of our development athletes are young and struggle to find the funds to jet all around the world to train. Facilities like the dry slope hopefully will make it less prohibitive financially, enabling all our athletes to achieve more.”
An official opening of the dry slope facility is expected to be held in late October.
Check out the spectacular video footage in this recent One News story on the dry slope.