While there are still some details to be worked out and at least one venue yet to be confirmed, today we can announce (most of) the 2024/25 FIS Freeski and Snowboard Park & Pipe calendar, which is scheduled to get off to an early start from 1-7 September 2024 at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand, south of the equator.
As confirmed last week, the season opener in Cardrona is an exciting one for FIS Park & Pipe and Snowsport NZ as they return to the site of so many memorable moments over the years for the first World Cup competition since the start of the 2019/20 season.
Once again, the World Cup competition in Cardrona will form part of the New Zealand Winter Games, the southern hemisphere’s largest snow sporting event.
Cardrona’s first World Cup was in 2007, when the Snowboard Halfpipe event took place in the Cardrona Parks U-Tube, and in 2012 the resort hosted freeskiing for the first time.
The list of legends who have stood on the Cardrona podium is long, including some of the biggest names in snowboarding such as Shaun White, Kelly Clark, Iouri Podradchikov, Jamie Anderson, Janne Korpe, Jenny Jones and Marcus Cleveland, as well as freeskiing stalwarts such as Torin Yattar-Wallace, Devin Logan, James Woods, Cathy Sharp, Joss Christiansen and Eileen Ng.
Cardrona will host the Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup from 1-3 September, followed by Freeski Halfpipe from 6-7 September. Immediately following the World Cup in Cardrona will be the Australia New Zealand Cup, featuring Snowboard Halfpipe and Freeski Slopestyle.
What’s more, the Cardrona World Cup also marks the start of the qualification period for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, meaning that from now until the end of January 2026, every competition will take on a little extra meaning as the park & pipe world’s elite battle it out for a coveted spot in the O-Show.