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This weekend, 12 pro skiers and boarders descended upon Australia's most amazing, untouched backcountry snowfields for the 2002 Red Bull Air Raid.

In the backcountry of Falls Creek, Victoria, Mt Mackay is rarely visited due to its spectacular grand terrain accessible only by piste basher.

Following the success of the first Red Bull Air Raid held last year, this event challenged the invited snowboarders and skiers to take on the massive man made tombstone kicker in a jam style competition.

Monster Jump

This year's jump looked to be a monster with a natural in-run to a tombstone kicker launching the guys 25 feet into the air. The gap was 60 feet to the landing.

“This is by far the biggest jump I’ve ever seen in Australia,” said skier and jump co-builder Mitch Smith, as the heavy machinery that built the ramp over three full days was dwarfed beside it. “It’s the perfect jump.

“How they’ve used the natural terrain is just perfect,” said Reggae Ellis, the editor of Chill Factor
magazine, on hand for the event. “You’ve got this in run, which is massive, coming in through the gum trees, then this massive kicker, with the perfect outrun down into the valley. And it feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s just huge. Huge!”

Oddy Graham pulls switch 540 to win

Australian freestyle skiing phenomenon Oddy Graham, 21, yesterday won the event with a seamless switch 540 to hold off fast finishing Japanese rider Makoto Kondo and pocket the $5,000 winner’s cheque.

“I’ve really been thinking about this contest a lot,” said Graham, who has been skiing since he was two years old. “I’m really stoked – this is one of the biggest jumps I’ve ever seen, and everyone was going big”.

Third place getter was fellow Australian and former international Olympic moguls skier Andrea Berchtold, 23, whose switch kanga was the single highest scoring move of the big air event.

After a delayed start, competitors were confounded by slow snow conditions hampering their speed into the giant tombstone kicker. Skidoos were then called in to tow the skiers into the jump at unheard of speeds, allowing them to pull off massive moves up to 30 feet above the snow.

The tow-in assisted snowboarding section of the event will run today. Due to the remote location and importantly, for the protection of the National Park environment, the Red Bull Air Raid is a non-spectator event. However, you can keep up-to-date with all the action on the official website

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