The inaugural Winter Games officially opens in the resort tomorrow, with the Remarkables hosting slopestyle events on Saturday and Sunday.
More than 50 top riders from around the world will drop into the course, preceded by a special demonstration from French world champion "snowscoot" rider Nico Pillin.
The new sport is a combination of BMX riding and snowboarding.
A strong field of homegrown talent in the men's slopestyle includes Uni Snow Games champion Chris Hutchings, Stef Zeestraten, James Hamilton, Tom Grooten and Queenstown's Nick Hyne, who won the Burton New Zealand Open slopestyle title in 2005.
The New Zealanders will face stiff competition from overseas entrants, including TTR World Tour riders Stale Sandbech and Kim-Rune Hansen, from Norway, as well as United States starts Nick Walters, Jordan Rehrer and Dylan Bidez.
In the women's event, Wanaka-based trio Abby Lockhart, Charlotte Trundle and Kendall Brown will be up against Danyale Patterson and Indigo Monk, both of the United States, Czech TTR rider Sarka Pancochova, Britain's Claire Frost and Norway's Helene Olafsen, currently ranked ninth overall in FIS snowboard events.
Winter Games slopestyle and big air manager Chris Schuster said the course would pose a "real challenge".
"We have a box feature in between two of the jumps to interrupt the normal flow of features seen in many competitions.
Riders will need to plan their runs and stay smooth to maintain speed and impress the judges.
"Winter Games is one of the earliest events of the season and a fantastic opportunity for riders to put themselves in the frame for other big internationals coming up," he said.
