A new world-class "landing bag" will be installed on the slopes of Cardrona skifield this season, as snowsports athletes start working towards securing a podium finish at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
The airbag allows athletes to land and ski off it after performing a trick, providing a safe learning and practice environment.
It will be located next to the big air jump at Cardrona, which will allow athletes an easier transition to snow once they perfect a trick.
Olympians Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Carlos Garcia Knight, Finn Bilous and Jackson Wells all used the bag in preparation for this year's Olympic Games.
Snow Sports New Zealand performance director Ashley Light said the landing bag had had an impact on Olympic success.
"We have seen the impact of the landing bag on the results at the recent Olympics. With the world-class facility now with a permanent home, the ongoing development of snowsport athletes can continue unabated."
Head park and pipe coach Tom Willmott pointed to the recent X Games gold medal win by 13-year-old Japanese snowboarder Kokomo Murase as evidence that training on landing bags could speed up progress with tricks.
Murase became the first female to land a double cork 1260 in competition.
"Junior athletes internationally have been benefiting from training on these facilities," Willmott said.
"The landing bag is a crucial tool for New Zealand athletes wanting to fast-track skill progression."
Bruce Wells, father of New Zealand's most famous skiing family, described the airbag as an "absolute, complete game-changer".
"We've finally got some consequence-free training available to us where you can do the whole trick. We've had airbags for a long time, but you haven't landed it - you've still got to find your feet and ski away. Now you can land and ride away on the airbag.
"There's no ceiling for tricks now."
He believed the landing bag would have a large effect on extending athletes' careers.
"I think you'll find guys will stay in the sport longer. Snow Sports and High Performance Sport New Zealand invest a lot of money in these people, and if they're looking at a retiring age of 25, 26, maybe 27 and you're getting another cycle of them at the top end, it's reasonably better value for money.
"It'll keep Jossi [28] in the sport. He had a few runs on one at Mammoth [a skifield in California] last year. He learnt one trick basically straight away, just bang, a completely new trick that normally would have taken three years to develop.
"This is going to be unbelievable to watch over the next few years."
