August 8, 2025 • 6 mins
The Snow Sports New Zealand (SSNZ) Freestyle series is well and truly underway, with the next event being held this Sunday at the Remarkables in Queenstown.
Scott Palmer, the Competitive Pathway Manager of SSNZ, joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to break down the competition.
He touched on how it operates, what tracks are available for people to try, and the development of the sport in New Zealand.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from newstalk edb.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This News Talk ZB. It is eight to twenty seven
on the All Sport Breakfast. Let's taken a bit of
snowsport action now from the Remarkables and Queenstown. We go
to Snowsports at end Z's at Scott Palmer.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning, Scott's morning. How are we doing?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Doing very very well? But jealous? Which I was at
the Remarkables about to do some sliding, which, of course
you are. It's one of the big five events in
the snowboard or the ski snow sport industry, I should say.
Over the weekend. The Remarkable set the scene for us. Mate,
what's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh, it's looking pretty good up there at the moment.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
So we have our third event of the series happening
up at Remarkables. The team up there have done an
incredible job at preparing everything in the snow nice and
good for us in the park good and everyone's ready
just to get out there and show us what they got.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So what is the competition itself? To talk us through that.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
So it's a slopestyle competition, which is one of the
Olympic Disciplines, which consists of rails and park pictures and
then also a series of jumps as well, So the
event itself is kind of best of two runs. The
runs will be scored by a team of judges and
then over that score.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
There they will decide on who the winner is going
to be.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
We've got skiers, we've got snowboarders open category, and also
U fourteen category up there.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So they're all running on basically the same equipment. For
one of a better word, everybody, the skiers and the
snowboarders get to have a crack at whatever you've got
set up for.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Them exactly, and that remarkables we've got a really unique
situation where the park up there is designed for everybody.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
They've got a couple of different lines going on.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
They're going to have a little bit of an easier line
over on the side for kind of people who are
just getting into competitive sports that I'm good of a go,
and they're also going to have the bigger line open
as well, so the athletes can shows what line they're
going to decide to go down. Obviously, the judges will
look into that and they will score people accordingly.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
But it's a really core event for people to get
up there and have it go.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I used to ride when snowboarders and skiers would attack
each other with sticks, so this is great to hear.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yes, No, it's very friendly. Now that those days are
done and everyone gets one really nice with each other.
It's super cool to see.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I think one of amazing about these events is that
the community involvement.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Everyone kind of gets along.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
They do the events in the series together and they
catch up and they're competing against each other.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
But it's a very friendly competitive environment.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah. And Scott Palmer joints this competitive Pathway manager for
snowsport in z to talk about competition of the last
handful of years, it's exploded into the consciousness of a
lot of people, of course through the success of a
couple of rather large tames through the Winter Olympics and
the X Games. But for years New Zealand was a
place to train from the Northern Hemisphere. Man the last
(02:51):
couple of decades that's changed around. It really is a
go to place, not just for training. It's competitively quite solid,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, that is correct.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
You know, snowsports has been always been big in New
Zealand from the beginnings and it's just gone strength to
strength the year on year has built from the cess
of the Wales Voice back in the day and then
getting a couple of Olympic medals, going through to another
set of Olympics and then lining up from Milan this year.
It's really cool to see the development of the sport,
more people coming through the pipeline.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's just it's really awesome to be part of that.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
You had to say pipeline, didn't you, Scott.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Exactly got to got pive from there as well.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
As far as facility to concern the improvement and then
because snowspoarding there to right around providing everything they possibly can.
We know how good the pipe was at card Drona,
not quite sure if it's still the same quality, but
the facilities you've got, the technicians you've got behind them
and they still have a one quality.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Yeah, definitely. So we've got world class facilities going on here.
You know, we've got the pipe paper Kadrona when we
get a little bit more snow coming into it. We've
got the park up there remarkables, have got the train
park and then in the regions of we'll Scott Mountain Hart.
I've got a train park right through the Trudeo and
snow Planets, so there's kind of facilities all way over
New Zealand, something for everybody, and you know, the world
class events of the happening down here are still also
(04:03):
an amazing to see. Snowsports also has our very own
dry slope Big Gear which has been in development for
the last couple of years, which is very very close
to it's grand opening, meaning that our kiwi athletes can
train all year round on the Big Year, which is amazing.
Where's that at the bottom of the Kadrona access rode
up in the beautiful Codrona Valley and.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
It is a beautiful valley. I'll definitely agree on that.
Look as far as engagements consumed with the Grommets, I'm
presuming the success. You've got queues and cues of young
kids that are kind of promised to be the next
big thing. Is the quality, is the dedication and the commitment,
the physicality, Is it all there? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Definitely.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
You know, we've got we've got a really big depth
field of people coming through from the little guys coming up,
who are you know, six to ten years old, right
through the guys getting into the competition we're chatting about today.
You know, everyone's super committed, they want to get good
at it. Their travel overseas in Northern Hemisphere, we've got
some amazing coaches, some amazing programs. So it is awesome
to see and it's a sport that you know, it's challenging,
it has its costs that go along with it, but
(04:59):
at the end of the day, people love to do
it and it's a super fun recreational sport that can
also be competitive.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's a bit gateway. Once you're in, it's really hard
to escape. In fact, I know a number of families
that move from all parts of New Zealand to get
down to Wanica were your base just so their kids
could carry on skiing, because that's cheaper, right than flying
down every other day.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
You know, living in Monaca is a very very amazing
place to be and also over the hell in Queenstown
as well, and quite often we get people who come
down for a week of skiing, and then the next
year they come back for two, and then the year
after they come back for a month, and then sure
enough they move down here and they end up staying
here all year round, So just just watch out. There's
a little bit of a gateway drug, but it's definitely rewarding.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
And Scott, I know you probably don't want to identify
the up and comers, but there must be a few
athletes that you guys have got tabs on to watch develop,
people that show that that promise or they're starting to
get into that area where there are going to be
a threat on the global stage.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yep, exactly.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
So we know part of our role is look at
these athletes coming through and then you know, identify who
they might be or a group of who has potential
in the area, and then trying to support them as
much as we possibly can, you know, so we've got
their depth coming through at the moment, we're currently working
on a lot of reallyico initiatives to help those people
come through and help support them as much as we
possibly can.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Go and give us a couple of names.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I won't give any names. I won't put any secrets out.
No favorites isn't here.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
But come and check out off of the freestyle event
and you'll see for yourself exactly who's up there, who's
did really well.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Hey, look have a tremendous day of a tremendous weekend,
and carry on enjoying the joy of winter in the
deepest south. Scott Palmer, thanks so much for joining us
on the program.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Go well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
Listen live to News Talk said Be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from newstalk edb.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This News Talk ZB. It is eight to twenty seven
on the All Sport Breakfast. Let's taken a bit of
snowsport action now from the Remarkables and Queenstown. We go
to Snowsports at end Z's at Scott Palmer.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning, Scott's morning. How are we doing?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Doing very very well? But jealous? Which I was at
the Remarkables about to do some sliding, which, of course
you are. It's one of the big five events in
the snowboard or the ski snow sport industry, I should say.
Over the weekend. The Remarkable set the scene for us. Mate,
what's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh, it's looking pretty good up there at the moment.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
So we have our third event of the series happening
up at Remarkables. The team up there have done an
incredible job at preparing everything in the snow nice and
good for us in the park good and everyone's ready
just to get out there and show us what they got.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So what is the competition itself? To talk us through that.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
So it's a slopestyle competition, which is one of the
Olympic Disciplines, which consists of rails and park pictures and
then also a series of jumps as well, So the
event itself is kind of best of two runs. The
runs will be scored by a team of judges and
then over that score.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
There they will decide on who the winner is going
to be.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
We've got skiers, we've got snowboarders open category, and also
U fourteen category up there.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So they're all running on basically the same equipment. For
one of a better word, everybody, the skiers and the
snowboarders get to have a crack at whatever you've got
set up for.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Them exactly, and that remarkables we've got a really unique
situation where the park up there is designed for everybody.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
They've got a couple of different lines going on.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
They're going to have a little bit of an easier line
over on the side for kind of people who are
just getting into competitive sports that I'm good of a go,
and they're also going to have the bigger line open
as well, so the athletes can shows what line they're
going to decide to go down. Obviously, the judges will
look into that and they will score people accordingly.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
But it's a really core event for people to get
up there and have it go.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I used to ride when snowboarders and skiers would attack
each other with sticks, so this is great to hear.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yes, No, it's very friendly. Now that those days are
done and everyone gets one really nice with each other.
It's super cool to see.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I think one of amazing about these events is that
the community involvement.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Everyone kind of gets along.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
They do the events in the series together and they
catch up and they're competing against each other.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
But it's a very friendly competitive environment.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah. And Scott Palmer joints this competitive Pathway manager for
snowsport in z to talk about competition of the last
handful of years, it's exploded into the consciousness of a
lot of people, of course through the success of a
couple of rather large tames through the Winter Olympics and
the X Games. But for years New Zealand was a
place to train from the Northern Hemisphere. Man the last
(02:51):
couple of decades that's changed around. It really is a
go to place, not just for training. It's competitively quite solid,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, that is correct.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
You know, snowsports has been always been big in New
Zealand from the beginnings and it's just gone strength to
strength the year on year has built from the cess
of the Wales Voice back in the day and then
getting a couple of Olympic medals, going through to another
set of Olympics and then lining up from Milan this year.
It's really cool to see the development of the sport,
more people coming through the pipeline.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's just it's really awesome to be part of that.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
You had to say pipeline, didn't you, Scott.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Exactly got to got pive from there as well.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
As far as facility to concern the improvement and then
because snowspoarding there to right around providing everything they possibly can.
We know how good the pipe was at card Drona,
not quite sure if it's still the same quality, but
the facilities you've got, the technicians you've got behind them
and they still have a one quality.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Yeah, definitely. So we've got world class facilities going on here.
You know, we've got the pipe paper Kadrona when we
get a little bit more snow coming into it. We've
got the park up there remarkables, have got the train
park and then in the regions of we'll Scott Mountain Hart.
I've got a train park right through the Trudeo and
snow Planets, so there's kind of facilities all way over
New Zealand, something for everybody, and you know, the world
class events of the happening down here are still also
(04:03):
an amazing to see. Snowsports also has our very own
dry slope Big Gear which has been in development for
the last couple of years, which is very very close
to it's grand opening, meaning that our kiwi athletes can
train all year round on the Big Year, which is amazing.
Where's that at the bottom of the Kadrona access rode
up in the beautiful Codrona Valley and.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
It is a beautiful valley. I'll definitely agree on that.
Look as far as engagements consumed with the Grommets, I'm
presuming the success. You've got queues and cues of young
kids that are kind of promised to be the next
big thing. Is the quality, is the dedication and the commitment,
the physicality, Is it all there? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Definitely.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
You know, we've got we've got a really big depth
field of people coming through from the little guys coming up,
who are you know, six to ten years old, right
through the guys getting into the competition we're chatting about today.
You know, everyone's super committed, they want to get good
at it. Their travel overseas in Northern Hemisphere, we've got
some amazing coaches, some amazing programs. So it is awesome
to see and it's a sport that you know, it's challenging,
it has its costs that go along with it, but
(04:59):
at the end of the day, people love to do
it and it's a super fun recreational sport that can
also be competitive.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's a bit gateway. Once you're in, it's really hard
to escape. In fact, I know a number of families
that move from all parts of New Zealand to get
down to Wanica were your base just so their kids
could carry on skiing, because that's cheaper, right than flying
down every other day.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
You know, living in Monaca is a very very amazing
place to be and also over the hell in Queenstown
as well, and quite often we get people who come
down for a week of skiing, and then the next
year they come back for two, and then the year
after they come back for a month, and then sure
enough they move down here and they end up staying
here all year round, So just just watch out. There's
a little bit of a gateway drug, but it's definitely rewarding.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
And Scott, I know you probably don't want to identify
the up and comers, but there must be a few
athletes that you guys have got tabs on to watch develop,
people that show that that promise or they're starting to
get into that area where there are going to be
a threat on the global stage.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yep, exactly.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
So we know part of our role is look at
these athletes coming through and then you know, identify who
they might be or a group of who has potential
in the area, and then trying to support them as
much as we possibly can, you know, so we've got
their depth coming through at the moment, we're currently working
on a lot of reallyico initiatives to help those people
come through and help support them as much as we
possibly can.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Go and give us a couple of names.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I won't give any names. I won't put any secrets out.
No favorites isn't here.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
But come and check out off of the freestyle event
and you'll see for yourself exactly who's up there, who's
did really well.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Hey, look have a tremendous day of a tremendous weekend,
and carry on enjoying the joy of winter in the
deepest south. Scott Palmer, thanks so much for joining us
on the program.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Go well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
Listen live to News Talk said Be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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