02 September 2003

The first ever super pipe in Falls Creek is pumping. Riders from all over Australia are heading there to get a piece of the awesome action in the biggest pipe Australia has seen.

Oddy Graham, one of Australia's best snowboarders, is stoked: "Its so good to have a real pipe in Australia and the Falls Creek Super Pipe takes the cake"

The Swiss-based Federation Internationale De Ski (FIS) states in its Snowboard Competition Rules a Halfpipe (a channel constructed in snow) must have a minimum inclination of 15 degrees (maximum 19 degrees), be at least 100 metres long, measure 14 metres wide (from lip to lip), have wall heights between three to four and a half metres and a transition between three to five metres.

Walls are six metres high
It also recommends an Oversized Pipe (we refer to them as Super pipes) be 120-150 metres long (the Falls Creek Superpipe measures 130-plus metres), measure 15 -19 metres wide (Falls Creek's pipe has a coping to coping width of 18 metres), its inclination be 15-18 degrees (its 16.5 degrees in the Falls Creek Superpipe) and the wall height measure between 4.2 to 5 metres tall. The Falls Creek super-pipe walls are 6 metres.

"Good size walls with a decent pitch and long so you can get a good 5 to 6 big hits. The first big superpipe in Oz and it's in a good spot where it can catch all the cold temps so it stays solid and fast. The park has a really good flow to it perfect for learning new tricks and working on style and grabs," said Ben Murphy snowboarding freerider.

Next month's 2003 Skiing Australia (SAL) sanctioned Fructis Freeride Snowboard Nationals, designed for Australia's best boarders, will be the first serious opportunity for Falls Creek to try out the pipe in competition.

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