John Melville has signed a preliminary contract to build the Games' halfpipe - on which Olympic skiers and snowboarders will launch themselves into their aerial manoeuvres.
Mr Melville told the Otago Daily Times this week he expected to begin work at Sochi in January and create - from 20,000cu m of snow - a halfpipe 200m long with walls 6.8m high.
Mr Melville began learning his craft at the Cardrona skifield more than 10 years ago and it has become a full-time business for him.
During the northern winter, he built halfpipes in Austria, Korea and Switzerland and also the test halfpipe for the Sochi games.
Mr Melville has developed his own ''global cutter'' attachment for snow cats to groom halfpipes but he also relies on an array of other equipment, as well as a staff of three.
He said halfpipes were ''extremely expensive'' to build because of the amount of snow that had to be made and the weeks of work involved.
''It is important the preparation is done correctly. Preparation is key and that often takes a long time.''
Asked about the dangers faced by athletes on halfpipes, Mr Melville said for the amount of risk they took, ''it seems to have a fairly low record of injury compared to other comparable areas''.
''But the potential is very much there.
''Safety is always the highest priority for us and we are always looking carefully at that.''
Mr Melville was part of the team that built the halfpipe at the Vancouver Winter Olympics but the Sochi one will be wider, longer and slightly steeper.
One of the challenges was that halfpipes had to be accessible for spectators and were therefore often at lower altitudes than was ideal for snow conditions.
The Winter Olympics are the first for Russia and Mr Melville says a huge amount of effort is being put into them.
While back in Wanaka, Mr Melville is preparing to build a slopestyle course at the Snow Park for the Winter Games.
A decision on whether the Snow Park will be available for the Winter Games is expected to be announced at the end of the week.
