Jossi Wells Invitational at Cardrona will be huge

Jossi Wells Inivitational has a nice ring to it and is long overdue. The eldest of Cardrona’s amazing Wells brothers, Jossi is arguably the Kiwi’s best performed skier ever, with incredible results going back to his mid-teenage years. In a sport where youth is often king, he took his stellar career to new heights with an X-Games Gold earlier this year (which gives him the full sag of X-Games medals).

His new invitational Big Air event for the world’s best skiers & snowboarders at Cardrona Alpine Resort this August, presented by Monster Energy, will be huge and if you are in the Wanaka/Queenstown area you better get along and check it out.
Kiwi skiers and snowboarders will go head to head against a stacked field of international heavy hitters, with finals scheduled for Saturday, August 13th.
The event will run over two days, with qualifiers and finals for both men’s and women’s ski and snowboard events. It will take place on Cardrona’s huge 75+ft Big Air jump, which will be specially built for the competition.
The event celebrates a relationship between Jossi Wells and Cardrona that spans more than 20 years, as well as Jossi’s recent success in winning Ski Slopestyle gold at the most recent Winter X Games at Aspen, Colorado.
“I’m really honoured to be given the opportunity to collaborate on an event with Cardrona. Cardrona is my home mountain – I learnt how to ski here and have spent every winter riding at Cardrona since I could walk,” says Jossi.
“To be able to give back to the industry with the resort that has supported me for so long is really amazing. It’s really cool to be able to throw an event at home for my international & local peers.”
The invited athletes will also take part in adventure and adrenaline activities based in the Southern Lakes region in the days before the competition, to welcome them to New Zealand in the most exciting way possible.
On event days there will be free spectating zones on the mountain at the base of McDougall’s Quad by the fence, and the Noodle Bar. There will be a snow bar and Monster Energy sampling area at the McDougall’s viewing area. Skiing and snowboarding guests will find amazing view points of the Big Air from the Skyline Ridge above the jump, accessed by McDougall’s and Whitestar chairlifts.
The athletes are competing for a share of a US$20,000 cash purse, with the men’s ski and snowboard event prizes contributed by naming sponsor Monster Energy. The women’s event prizes are sponsored by Dragon Alliance.
The snowboard competition is particularly significant in the lead up to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, where Snowboard Big Air will make its debut as an Olympic event. The ski side of the competition has been sanctioned as a silver event on the AFP world tour.
The Jossi Wells Invitational for 2016 is the inaugural event of what is hoped to become an annual, internationally significant event on the professional skiing and snowboarding calendars.
Cardrona is already having a record season, with an amazing all lifts open start in June, then staying good through the lean spell that followed for natural snow over the Tasman, and now topped up to perfection with the latest dumps.
Maybe it’s time for a Russ Henshaw Invitational at Perisher too?