Valdez, Alaska – The latest stage of the World Heli Challenge (WHC) scheduled for launch in Alaska has been placed on hold for 2012.

Event Director Tony Harrington on Monday announced the postponement of the planned expansion of his New Zealand-based backcountry heli-accessed competition but has not ruled out continuing to explore options for a future event in Alaska.

“It is disappointing to put our exciting plans for a World Heli Challenge in Valdez on hold for now, but it was important to everyone involved to get the event right,” Harrington said. “There were some elements including guarantees for athlete safety, access to the best-suited terrain and some key permissions we needed to be in place to proceed confidently.  The World Heli Challenge team prides itself on delivering a competition like no other so we chose to defer the event rather than risk any compromise to the high standards our athletes, sponsors, media partners and supporters know us for.”

Harrington added that the World Heli Challenge will continue to work closely with its valued Alaskan partners and supporters, including Karen McCune from the World Extreme Skiing Championships and Nick Perata’s King of the Hill to explore a future for the World Heli Challenge in Alaska.

“It’s been a long-held dream to bring the World Heli Challenge to the heartland of backcountry and extreme skiing and boarding up here in Alaska and it’s something we’ll continue to work towards. The support and feedback we’ve had from athletes, sponsors and the grassroots community across the sport has been overwhelming and inspires the WHC team to keep that passion alive,” said Harrington.

For now the next chapter for the World Heli Challenge will unfold in New Zealand’s Southern Alps above Wanaka, Aug. 1-17, 2012.  Fifty athletes will gather for the unique competition format that includes two days of heli-accessed competition for the leading men and women in big mountain and freestyle skiing and boarding globally.  In addition to the competition days the athletes explore the Lake Wanaka region during the event’s weather window and experience a diverse mix of challenges including bungy jumping, sky diving, jet boating, surfing and even sheep shearing while soaking up New Zealand’s lifestyle and culture.

“The building momentum of the Wanaka event is snowballing and we are expecting a sold out event line up, we wish now to highlight the need for athletes to register or risk being forced to sit on the wait list,” Harrington concluded.