CHILLFACTOR - Dawn Shoot With Russ Henshaw

11th of September 2012

Russ Henshaw throwing down in the new daylight Image:: Andy Lloyd/Perisher

Chillfactor | Reggae Elliss

Along with snowboarders Torah Bright and Nate Johnstone, Russ Henshaw, Australia's number one international skier, is one of Perisher's ambassador athletes.

Russ is able to use his valuable experience to give the park builders feedback on all new features Image:: Andy Lloyd/Perisher

Besides financial backing, the resort works with Russ in providing him with the best training facilities it can - ie a great park - the result being the perisher Front Valley park is regarded as one of the best in the country. This isn't surprising as Russ has had a lot of input into the park's design and features, and it has paid off, Russ recently won the New Zealand open, his first return to competition since the last northern hemisphere season.

While the slopestyle park is perfect, Russ also needed big air training, easier said than done, when ideally he's be needing at least a 70-foot jump to work on his airs. Obviously this isn't the sort of jump you can have in a resort so Russ and the crew came up with a mellower jump at the bottom of the park.

Russ has a solid bag of tricks that make him an international level competitor Image:: Andy Lloyd/Perisher

"The bottom jump is about 60 or 65ft to the knuckle which is big, but still a safe size," said Russ. "It has a raised knuckle as well to help minimise the danger of coming up short." Conditions for the the park and jump have been excellent and Russ has had some early morning sessions like this one recently captured by photographer Andy Lloyd.

Slopestyle involves more then just hitting jumps, rails add to the technicality of the park Image:: Andy Lloyd/Perisher

With skiers like Jordan Houghton, Charlie Timmins and Boen Ferguson preparing to hit the world cup tour in an effort to join Russ and Anna Segal at the 2014 Olympics, slopestyle skiing will hit centre stage in Australia if they are successful and terrain parks will play a big role in the future of snow sports.

"The park this season has been unreal," said Russ. "Perisher has been putting a lot of time into building fun new features and maintaining it to a world class level. Not to mention the fast laps you get to do because of the V- eight!"

Perisher has unrivalled access to their highest level terrain park, the V-8 means you can lap all day. Image:: Andy Lloyd/Perisher