The inaugural Treble Cone Backcountry Invitational was held on Wednesday 3 September and with the mountain dressed in a fresh coat of snow, Treble Cone provided a breathtaking backdrop as some of the world’s best freeride and freestyle skiers took on the course.
The Backcountry Invitational is all about creativity and pushing the progression of the sport. Held on Crags into Shooter, a local favourite at Treble Cone, it was a freeride competition with a twist. The All Good Productions team and Cardrona Terrain Parks crew spent three days building huge take-offs, installing rails and shaping the terrain to create an incredible playground that allowed the athletes to show off their skills. The three run format allowed plenty of room for innovation, with the athletes picking their best run to be judged by the athletes themselves.
The star-studded invite only roster included Wānaka’s 21-year-old Luca Harrington who is the 2025 X Games Ski Slopestyle gold medalist and reigning Freeski Big Air World Champion. Harrington said; “It’s really cool to see the freestyle park and pipe style combined with freeride, it’s pretty cool to get a bit of a combination, Treble Cone is putting it on – this is the best place for it, I’m excited for the day!”
Despite not having skied the course (visual inspection only on the day), the athletes did not hold back as they dropped into their first of three runs. With a flat rail alongside a booter at the top, natural gullies and cliff drops as well as a huge 30m jump built in the middle of the course, the spectators lining the course were treated to quite the show.
It was a Kiwi sweep for the men’s podium, with Winter Olympian and former Freeride World Tour podium athlete Finn Bilous (Wānaka, 25) taking the win, followed by Harrington in second place and 2026 Freeride World Tour rookie Fynn Powell rounding out the podium in third.
Bilous said; “My day was awesome, we had the first Backcountry Invitational up at Treble Cone today, it was a unique format of an event merging slopestyle and freeride skiing into one line – it’s been a bit of a dream of mine to put a comp run through there [Crags to Shooter] so it was super cool to get after it with all the crew.”
“The competition is quite unique given there are handmade jumps within a natural environment and you still had a visual inspection like there is for a lot of freeride comps, so there were a lot of unknowns going into the first run. My favourite part is seeing people take different lines throughout the same venue, courses and events like this that cater to a wide range of different skiing styles are quite unique and something I would like to see more of in the future.” Bilous further explained.
18-year-old Lulu Laird of Australia took the win in the women’s competition, with Harriet Lucas (Great Britain, 27) finishing in second place. NZ freeride legend Jess Hotter (Ohakune, 32) rounded out the podium in third.
This was Laird’s first experience competing in this style of event. She said; “I have never been part of something that is athlete voted and it completely changed competitions for me in the future because I am quite competitive and now it is more of a community event which is really cool. I think it is really awesome to have three runs so you can get the nerves out on the first run and then just send it on the second and third.”
Although the competition is athlete judged, experienced Olympic judge Tori Beattie held the role of head judge to oversee any decision making and break any ties that may occur. Beattie was blown away by the level of skiing today, saying; “The athletes put everything on the line in order to give us all an incredible show. There was such a wide breadth of skills brought to the table today and the athletes pushed themselves to try new tricks in an environment that encouraged giving it a go – it was awesome to see.”
Undoubtedly a huge success, the team at All Good Productions look forward to working with the Backcountry Invitational and Treble Cone in years to come.
