CWS Freeride Session Thredbo

Looking over Thredbo Resort

What a weekend!! Whilst a long drive from Melbourne I always love returning to my favourite resort Thredbo, and this visit did not disappoint! As Tori and I corned around the corner from Dead Horse Gap on the road from Victoria the warm glow of the village appeared and with some speckles of snow still suspended from a recently flurry. Now we all know Thredbo has more to offer than just excellent skiing so we quickly popped into a local restaurant to say hi to some of the Thredbo regulars and the rest of the Chicks with Stix crew who had come together to catch up.

Chicks with Stix had the opportunity to connect with local skiers on both Saturday and Sunday in Thredbo and we had a range of coaches and ambassadors there to share their hard earned knowledge and experience.

Zoe introduces everyone to the program

Local snowboarders were able to connect with Ali, Olivia, and guest Roxy rider Biba Turnbull who was fresh off a second place in the Billabong Bro Down in NZ.  Jess Rich, Olivia Coates and Ali Deane took the boarders up for a few leg-warmers, then on to the Merritts park to work on 50-50’s, boardslides, straight airs and 180’s. The snow was perfect – and all the new recruits had a blast picking up a few pointers in technique, park safety and taking the next step.

Ali, Olivia, Biba and Leonie loving the sunshine on the way up for anotherone oo Merritts

Leonie our wakeboarder pops some sweet air

Seeing the girls make small adjustments to their techniques, commit to riding switch, try things for the first time in the park, and conquer goals was really cool, and by the smiles and giggles all day, it was pretty clear they were truly stoked.

Olivia goes over some tips in the park

Tori, Zoe, Katya, Hanna and Karinya led the skiers with local Thredbo ambassador Anna Segal also spending time with the skiers as well as CwS ambassador Jenny Owens.

The conditions were brilliant and we saw a mixed group of seasonal staff, locals and those even from other mountains meet at Friday Flat with one having driven up from Sydney for the day!! There were a couple of familiar faces from last year which was fantastic to see and the progression they had made was incredible! With such a strong line up of CwS coaches and ambassadors both skiers and snowboarders had a variety of skills to develop and experience to learn from. 

Stunning day at Thredbo

Olympians Jenny and Katya shared some skier cross tips through their group on the Saturday and similarly the current Slopestyle World Champion Anna Segal with those keen to learn new tricks in the park on Sunday.  Big mountain skiers Tori and Hanna showed the group how to tear up the Bluff which had a range of natural features and some of the steeper pitch on the mountain. KT mixed it up with a session on how to conquer the moguls below the Basin T-bar which were soft and a great place to progress technique.

Sunday morning saw Zoe and Ali squeeze in interviews for Rush TV and on the mountain they managed to capture some footage of the different groups including some of the girls skiing down huge moguls on the face of the bluff.  This footage will be available on ABC.

Zoe getting down with Rush TV

To cap off an awesome weekend we presented many of the girls with prizes generously provided from our sponsors including Armada skis, Dragon goggles, Shafted ski poles and Roxy which all the girls were super stoked to receive such great incentives. 

Prize giving!

The Chicks weekend at Thredbo could have been any better! We can’t wait for next time, and hope you guys remember the awesome feeling of progression. Keep ripping, and see you guys back on the hill soon, wherever that may be!