Snow dump freezes big downhill racing

By JO-MARIE BROWN

Turoa skifield's attempt this week to host New Zealand's first full-length international downhill ski race has been held up because of too much snow.

Around 20cm of snow fell on Mt Ruapehu in the early hours of yesterday, closing access roads and further postponing the only International Ski Federation downhill race to be held in Australia or New Zealand this year.

A scheduled training run for the 35 skiers competing was cancelled and race organisers are praying for fine weather today and tomorrow.

Some competitors have travelled from Canada, the United States and Australia for the event

Hosting the race is a huge coup for Turoa, which with a 650m vertical drop is the only skifield in New Zealand suitable for downhill ski racing.

Federation technical delegate Eric Henry said downhill was the "blue ribbon event" of alpine skiing.

"It's the purest form, in that it's straight downhill, go as quick as you can."

Top skiers can reach speeds of up to 130 km/h and are expected to blast down Turoa's 2.2km course in as little as 1m 20s.

"It's over pretty quick for all the preparation that goes into it," Mr Henry said.

The event is considered an opportunity for New Zealand skiers to get downhill experience as it is costly for them to race in the Northern Hemisphere.

The racing will also feature Super G - a cross between downhill and the giant slalom discipline - and the Turoa event is part of the federation's international circuit.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts marketing manager Mike Smith said Turoa would now be a regular part of the circuit each year and the event would hopefully draw more international athletes in future.

"If you start to attract international ski teams like the Austrians, for example, they are very well financially looked after, so it would be adding quite a bit of money to our local economy."

Turoa had spent around $50,000 staging this year's race, as a course had to be specifically constructed, including permanent start and finishing huts.

"The really important thing for us is to actually run the race, to get video footage of it," Mr Smith said.

"Then we will start marketing that around the international ski racing associations from around the world."

He said the weather was frustrating but safety had to be the prime consideration.

Because of the speeds reached, cold and clear conditions were needed to allow the snow to freeze before racing could begin.

In the South Island, Canterbury skifields are reaping the rewards of the late-season cold snap.

Tuesday night's southerly blast drew skiers up the mountains in droves yesterday.

Porter Heights ski area general manager Uli Dinsenbacher said the late-season dump had boosted numbers on the mountain in what was an already buoyant winter.

Mount Hutt ski area manager David Wilson said the 15cm to 20cm overnight dump and continuing cold conditions made for a great couple of days on the mountain.

He said about 1600 people had hit the slopes yesterday.