Winter Games NZ is the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest snow sports event. Traditionally it welcomes the world’s best skiers and snowboarders to compete in the opening of the FIS Park and Pipe World Cup season and The North Face Frontier, a Freeride World Qualifying Tour 4* & 2* event. This year that can’t happen, so rather than let the event lapse Winter Games NZ will run Obsidian.

Obsidian

Obsidian is an epic new mixed Team Challenge event for the Winter Games NZ 2020, set across New Zealand’s Southern Alps. 21 of New Zealand’s best freeski and snowboard athletes pitted against each other in five challenges over a ten-day weather window between the 10th and 20th of August 2020.

Each 9-person team will comprise a mix of 7 elite snow sport athletes and 2 world class videographers. Male and female, ski and snowboard, freeride and park athletes and will be led by a Team Captain.

From Conception to reality the Obsidian has been an athlete focused, sport and content driven event with Olympic medalists, Freeride World Tour winners and film orientated athletes at the top of their game involved throughout the journey.

There will be a thrilling Freeride event in a breath-taking backcountry venue, two progressive Park events (Park Jam and Big Air) to showcase the immense style and skill of New Zealand ski and snowboard talent. These three events will be scored by an expert panel in each of the sporting disciplines, while the fourth and fifth challenges will be very different.

The Mountain Shred challenge will see all three teams sent to separate ski resorts for a one-day shred where they will build and session a line that can feature natural, man-made or enhanced natural features. The teams will be scored on their style, creativity and sport from their video edit of the day.

The fifth challenge is the videographers edit and this is where each teams embedded videographers will shine. The videographers will capture the action as it unfolds on and off the mountain from their team’s perspective. This will allow them to bring their creative talents to the fore with the Videographers overall competition, which will form part of the overall event scoring.

Finally, to really spice up the sporting action, we have incorporated the Obsidian ‘joker’ card. Each team will receive a Joker card and they will have to nominate which of the four ‘sporting’ events they play it on. This card gives the team double points for the event they play their Joker card on, so it is up to the team to determine which event they think will be their strongest.

The final Obsidian Team edits will be premiered in Wanaka and Queenstown at the end of August as community events supporting the local snow industry and our region.

Winter Games NZ CEO Marty Toomey believes the Obsidian will be the envy of the snow sports world and will provide snowsports content that fans have been starved of since the northern hemisphere ski season was brought to an abrupt halt due to COVID-19. Not only will the content be impressive but he is confident it will inspire young New Zealanders to get out and enjoy the freedom and exhilaration of skiing and snowboarding.

Team Captain, six times X-Games medalist and Olympian Jossi Wells is stoked to be involved. “The opportunity we have been dealt during this worldwide pandemic lends itself to really showcasing New Zealand’s diverse talent pool in the field of snowsports. From X-Games, World Cup, Olympic & Freeride World tour podium places to backcountry film stars, Kiwi’s have been pushing the boundaries in all areas of snowsports for a number of years & to have the opportunity to bring all these athletes together for a 10-day event is what I see as a celebration of all that has been accomplished across the board. For me personally I am excited to participate as I feel like an event encompassing these diverse disciplines is suited to my skiing. NZ has come such a long way in the area of snowsports and I’m very much looking forward to celebrating that with all the amazing athletes involved.”

Where to watch the Obsidian?!

We will be pumping out heaps of epic content over the next few weeks, so to keep up with the latest news, action, your favourite athletes and teams, plus exclusive behind the scenes frothing. Follow us here!!!!

Sky Sport NZ – Our friends at Sky Sports NZ will be showing all our highlight across their social platforms during the event and be broadcasting OBSIDIAN, our four-part Broadcast Shows in September! These will be three x 1/2 hour shows and a cracking hour finale! For those of you overseas we are busy selling these into your country and will let you know which channel and when it will be on as soon as we know.

Instagram – We will have all the epic images, competitions, behind the scenes moments and news on insta! If you haven’t already turn on your notifications so you don’t miss a beat!

Facebook – All the highlights, news, images and social edits will sit here for you to peruse!

YouTube – The Team Videographers edits as well as our own WGNZ Social edits from each event will be here for you to tune into!

Website – News and videos will live here as well, just in case you missed it on all of the above!

Our Five Challenge Format!

Each 7 person team will comprise of a mix of male and female, ski and snowboard, freeride and park athletes who will be led by a Team Captain. All athletes are elite level; FWT winners, Olympic medallists and film orientated athletes at the top of their game.

Each team will also have a dedicated videography team joining them through out the ten days, capturing content and creating two edits which contribute to the overall score of their team. Our videographers are locally based and world-class.

Each team of athletes and videographers will complete five challenges across the 10 day weather window between the 10th and 20th of August 2020. The following five challenges, equally weighted at 20% each of the final score, determine which team is our 2020 Obsidian Champion. The five challenges are:

Freeride –  A classic freeride competition format and judging based on the North Face Frontier event usually held during Winter Games NZ. The venue will be heli accessed and the terrain is epic!

Park Jam – A jam format in a custom built rail garden at Cardrona in lower Stag Lane with judges eliminating the lowest placed athletes until a winner is found.

Big Air  –  A jam format on the last jump in the Cardrona’s Big Bucks park. Athletes will compete against each other until one athlete is left victorious.

Mountain Shred – Each team will be allocated a different local resort, where they will shred the mountain and session a line of their choice involving natural and enhanced features on the mountain.  Their videographers will create an edit from which they will be judged, 50% by the sports panel on the riding and execution and 50% by the media panel on the creativity and quality of the edit. The Mountain Shred venues are:
•    Treble Cone
•    Coronet Peak
•    The Remarkables

Videography Edit – Each team’s dedicated videography team will create an overall edit showcasing their team at Obsidian. The edit must be filmed within the 10 day weather window and all riding action must be captured on the day of the particular event. This edit will be 100% judged by the Media Panel.

Follow us on our Social channels for highlights of each day, the latest results and when our Big Air and Park Jam will be held at Cardrona so you can come on up and get amongst the action!