After Sunday's Freeride, and with fresh snow on Tuesday, conditions were ideal for the Extreme element of the World Heli Challenge yesterday in New Zealand. This report comes from Iain Leitch of direct from Mt Arthur in NZ:

'Monday night's announcement that the competitors were set to fly next morning had the crew in a frenzy of waxing, tuning and binding adjustments, followed by a forced early night and early rise. After a 0600 wake up call the crew were set for a big day on the hill. .

Although competitors had been previously warned that it was going to be an especially cold day, no one was quite prepared for the straight to the bone winds. Psyched, they loaded onto the helicopters and flew through some of the most beautiful wilderness with snowy peaks and the glassy water of Lake Wanaka in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.

On approaching the site, the smiles only got bigger. The deep and untouched powder at the Mt Arthur location provided steep faces to challenge the competitors in the Extreme competition. With loads of chutes, cornices and cliffs, the competitors and crew had to scope the hill and pick the best lines to ride, before being lifted to the peak.

Connie Danzl from Austria, was the first of the female competitors to descend. Connie ripped up with super impressive skiing and a solid run, but admitted at her finish: "I was so scared". Those watching would have never guessed.

The lines selected varied enormously. The riders and skiers abilities to look at the side of a mountain and gauge its degree of difficulty without ever riding it before were put to the test. With only one run to do their best work for the judges, it was difficult for the competitors to get the feel the mountain and try to impress the judges. The conditions were perfect, and the crew were ecstatic with what was offered. "It's sick terrain, and sick conditions, the best I've ever seen in New Zealand" was the call from Robin Soifer.

The day progressed with an amazing display of talent from the international crew. Loads of powder turns, Richard Hegarty's final slash of a pocket of powder was huge, and Niki Umlauf's cliff drop was massive.

The standard of skiing and riding kept the spectators and judges well impressed with huge cheers of support. The collective and individual talent gathered for The World Heli Challenge is incredible, but it's not over yet. Still to come is Chinese Downhill, where the competitors straight line it to win, and hit speeds of 100 k/p/h.'

Stay tuned for more results from Extreme Day and Chinese Downhill.

Report on Freeride Day
Report on Extreme Day
Report on Chinese Downhill
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