Pro Racers to Park Riders: A Week of Bluebirds for Everyone

By Zoë Fitzpatrick

It’s been a week for the Gods here in Thredbo this week…along with everyone else! With weather so perfect you couldn’t have planned it and top notch conditions, everyone from the Swedish Pro Ski team to the high-flying park rats at Antons terrain park got their weekly dose of Thredbo Stoke.

Super groomers on point for the ANC Cup Races

If you love celebrity-spotting, then this week Thredbo was the place to be to see some of the hottest skiers in town – and by town, we mean some of the best in the WORLD. As host of the first of the Australia New Zealand Continental Cup Series, there were racers from 18 nations fighting it out for Olympic positions. Conditions couldn’t have been better, with good snow over the last few weeks, the groomers were in great shape: firm and fast and ready to race.

There were 4 days of races, with Giant Slalom and Slalom divisions and plenty of Winter Olympians and World Cup starters spotted in the village. We had a local Thredbo Race Club – Madi Hoffman – claiming a 3^rd place in the junior Womens GS division, with the Austrians taking out the Gold Mens GS, and Sweden winning both the Womens GS and Slalom. An awesome few days of adrenaline and great for the juniors to race alongside the seasoned World Cup Pros.

Maybe they’re called bluebirds because of all the sweet air time…

We were spoilt this week: Tuesday, Friday and Saturday were some of the most perfect bluebird days we’ve seen yet this season, with unreal snow conditions too, topped up by some magical snow flurries that came IN THE SUN on Thursday. Skies were a picturesque, clear, untouched blue, winds were non-existent and the air was crisp and perfect for a slide in the Antons terrain park. There’s been lots of hard work on the parks every night, with the Antons park looking especially on point with 5 jumps and a huge 12 jib options… advanced shredders were spoilt for choice. As you can see from the pics – they clearly made the most of it. Rad.

Après Antics: The Preatures + Corona Sunsets = A perfect end to a Saturday

There’s nothing quite like putting up those ski legs by an open fire cracking open a cold one after a long day of skiing…let alone doing all that poolside, with live music. Thredbo knows how to end the week on a high. This week on the après scene we hosted some more of the hottest artists on the Australian music circuit, with James Mack from the Groove Academy delivering some of those hands-in-the-air house tunes, before duo Polish Club added some heat with some sped up pop and “the loudest goddamn soul” vocals. DJ-RADGE was next on the deck before we wrapped it up on a high with huge band The Preatures giving everyone a preview of their impending national tour (and all for free!). Their powerful vocals were enough to get rid of any winter chills and I guarantee the entire crowd added their names to The Preatures’ ever-growing list of fans, including Harry Styles and Pink.

Relive this week’s hype through the sick footage, and if you’re feeling the I’m-not-in-Thredbo-low already, check out the rest of the events we’ve got packed in until the end of the season.