Free Skills Sessions at Snowplanet

Celebrating the onset of winter in New Zealand by promoting the thrill of snow skiing, some of the country’s top winter athletes will be offering free skills sessions at Snowplanet on Saturday May 18, 2013. The special ‘Welcome to Winter’ event will feature loads of tips from Anna Wilcox, Tom McGaw and Byron Wells, helping newcomers and seasoned snow sport enthusiasts to hone their skills for the coming season.

Based in Wanaka, Byron Wells participated in the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships held at Colorado’s Breckenridge Ski Resort in December 2012, claiming second place in the Men’s Freeski Superpipe event, thereby adding to his growing list of achievements. As one of four talented brothers, Byron was born in Wanaka on April 3, 1992, and was introduced to the snow at a very young age. He earned the title of the New Zealand National Champion for ski racing in his age group from 2000 through to 2006.

With her eye on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games set to take place in Sochi, Russia, freeskier Anna Wilcox-Silfverberg’s career best thus far has been third place in the International Ski Federation (FIS) Freestyle Ski World Cup women’s slopestyle finals held in Sierra Nevada Spain. Based in Auckland, Wilcox has only been competing in the slopestyle discipline for a year, so the third place victory reveals the skier’s huge potential for the future.

Based in the Southern Lakes region and training at Snow Park and Cardrona, Tom McGaw is fresh out of high school and already making an impression on the New Zealand snow sport scene with his daredevil talents.

Go Snow marketing coordinator Jo Lynch is encouraging skiers and snowboards to join in the fun and learn new tricks and ride with the pros on Snowplanet’s terrain park, noting that the athletes are taking time out from their busy training schedules to pass on some tips, share their experiences and answer questions.

Skiers and riders can also see this as an opportunity to try the latest gear, see some equipment demos, stand a chance of scoring some awesome giveaways, and enjoy the music. Welcome to Winter starts at 9am on May 18 and goes on all day. Pre-sold discounted tickets are available on the Snowplanet website from today.