Lake Wanaka, New Zealand – Snow Park NZ  this week opened its 22-foot, Olympic-sized halfpipe.

Built by world-renowned halfpipe and terrain park builder John Melville of Development Snowparks, Snow Park NZ’s halfpipe is now open in advance of a busy training and competition season.

Completion of the halfpipe also marks the culmination of weeks of work designing and building the Snow Park NZ terrain park, the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Melville’s New Zealand-based company is best known for the development of its groundbreaking halfpipe technology, the Global Cutter. The company’s laser guidance system was used to prepare and shape the halfpipe for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

“Snow Park just keeps getting better and better,” said Snow Park team rider and Olympic hopeful Amy Sheehan. “This year’s halfpipe is the best pipe we’ve ever offered and maybe the best halfpipe I’ve ever ridden.  Set alongside Snow Park’s awesome triple line, and all of the other new features this season, it’s the best terrain park experience in the world.”

Melville and the Snow Park NZ grooming and park crew have been working day and night over the past couple of weeks to complete the halfpipe, and to ensure it is built to last for the bulk of the season still ahead.

“With the pre-season earthwork developments, natural snow and snowmaking, two new groomers, and a strong team we have all the tools in place to build an exceptional pipe and park,” said Melville. “It has been the combined efforts of our team that have made it exceptional – Jamie Kennerley in the pipe, Joe Mackenzie in the box run and Scott Shields in the triple line.”

Snow Park NZ’s halfpipe will this season host the New Zealand Freeski Open as well as various international team training camps and photoshoots.