Perisher Valley (NSW), Australia – Australia’s only Superpipe made its season debut on Front Valley at Perisher ski resort over the weekend ahead of a welcome storm that dropped up to 55cm (22 in.) of snow across the resort.nMeasuring just under a 100 meters (328 feet) long, 16 meters (52 feet) wide and with walls over five meters (17 feet) high, it is the only halfpipe of its type in Australia. It took a dedicated team of groomers over ten days and around 9,000 cubic meters of snow to build the Superpipe.

“The grooming team have worked hard all week and through the night to get the pipe finished,” explained Perisher’s general manager of marketing, sales and hospitality Gary Grant.

Perisher’s specialized Terrain Park Cat was used to shape and step out the transition. Snow was pushed up the walls of the pipe, giving it strength and structure. A Half Pipe Grinder, the only one of its type in Australia, is then used to shape and finish the walls.

Snow began to fall across Perisher Valley on Sunday morning, ending an extended dry spell at Australian resorts, and by Monday morning 55cm had fallen and it was still snowing. Forty lifts are now in operation at Perisher and more are expected to come online shortly as the Australian weather bureau is calling for snowfall to continue over the next several days. Most Australian ski resorts have benefited from the change in the weather pattern.

Australian Winter Olympic Halfpipe Gold Medalist Torah Bright is expected to be in attendance at Perisher’s Superpipe during The 2010 Australian Junior Halfpipe event on Saturday, Aug. 14, and Perisher has also launched a special promotion to “Board with Torah for a Day” via their website. Intermediate or better snowboarders may enter to win the contest by filling out the form and answering a few simple questions.
The winner and two of their friends will each receive a lift ticket for the day and four hours on-snow with Bright. Entries must be submitted by 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Aug. 11, and the winner will be the first correct entry drawn on Aug. 12.
The competition entry form and details of the promotion can be found at www.perisher.com.au/winter/torah_comp.