Stormy weather makes way for sun as North Face Frontier 2* draws a crowd at The Remarkables

Two New Zealanders took away top honours at the North Face Frontier 2* event at Shadow Basin today. More than 100 international athletes signed up for the event with a weather window opening up at The Remarkables revealing 50cm of snow and conditions described as everything from exciting and technical to sketchy and stiff.

In the Men’s Ski event, it was 2026 FIS Freeride Junior World Champ Hamish Henderson (19, Broken River) who scored 95 points to take the lead from Finbar Doig of Ireland. Fellow kiwi Sam Hewitt (18, Mt Olympus) took third place on the podium against a field of 45 other competitors.

Three more kiwis made the top 10 in Men’s Ski with Harry Cookson (23, Mt Olympus) skiing into 5thplace, Luke McConnell (21, Whakapapa) one place behind in 6th and Ethan McLean (20, Treble Cone) in 10th.

In the Women’s Ski event, Ruby Hewitt (20, Mt Olympus) scored 78.33 to take the silver in a 26-strong field. Georgia Chambers (20, Treble Cone) achieved a top 10 performance coming 8th while Mari Henderson (22, Broken River) came 10th.

In the Men’s Snowboard event, another kiwi rider Keani Wilson (19, Remarkables) scored an almost perfect 98.00 to take gold, besting strong rivals Duke Manaki from the USA and Temma Tamai (Japan). The field of more than 20 riders featured top athletes from around the world.

In Women’s Snowboard, Brooke Hansen (19, Cardrona, Treble Cone) took away 5th place.

Congratulations to all the athletes competing today.