Olympics: Melville to shape halfpipe for Games

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John Melville has been hand-picked to help build the halfpipe at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February. He stands beside the Global Cutter he invented at Cardrona Alpine Resort's half pipe. Photo by Matthew Haggart.

Melville's terrain park grooming skills - he invented and patented his own custom-made halfpipe shaper called the Global Cutter - has attracted plaudits from some of the world's best snowboarding and freeskiing athletes.

Melville's halfpipe shaper is used to build and maintain Cardrona Alpine Resort's 22ft (6.7m) Olympic standard halfpipe.

Cardrona has played host to international snowboarding teams since the official closing of the skifield, two weeks ago.

Some of the world's top snowboarders, including defending Winter Olympic halfpipe gold medallist Shaun White, of the United States, have travelled to Wanaka to take part in the training camps.

With the Winter Olympics just five months away the camp has also attracted Winter X-Games medallist Torah Bright and her Australian team-mates, plus national teams and representatives from New Zealand, Japan, Poland, Canada and Spain, Cardrona spokeswoman Nadia Ellis said.

Much of the credit for attracting the international teams down under had to go to Melville, Cardrona's park and pipe manager, she said.

Melville could not be contacted for comment by the Otago Daily Times this past week.

He has been hand-picked by FIS Winter Olympics officials to join renowned pipe shaper Steve Petrie, from Arena Snowparks in Vancouver, to build the 2010 Olympic halfpipe.

White, who won back-to-back halfpipe titles at the Burton Open and FIS World Cup event at Cardrona in August, said he was grateful for the chance to return and train at the facility.

"It's awesome to be able to rely on a mountain to have great terrain during the summer time when there's no snow in the US," he said.

The international training camps continue at Cardrona, until October 24, and will step up this week when the Japanese national snowboarding team brings in a 900kg inflatable stunt bag to place at the foot of the pipe to help with their practice.