Obsidian Mountain Shred Challenge 2020 Results

Carlos Garcia Knight, member of Mountain Shred winning team, Team Wells at Coronet Peak. Image credit: / Winter Games NZ / Camilla Rutherford

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Team Wells takes the win in the Winter Games NZ Obsidian Mountain Shred Challenge

Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Treble Cone were the hosts for the fourth Obsidian challenge, the Mountain Shred. Each of our three teams visited a different ski resort where they built and sessioned various lines around the mountain. The embedded videographers filmed the action and created a three-minute edit from which they were judged 80% by the sports panel on the athletes tricks and execution and 20% by the media panel on the cinematography of the edit. Team Wells with Two Bearded Men came out on top with 100 points, followed by Team Smoothy with videographers Diaries Downunder in second (80pts) and Team Kuzma and Jase Hancox Film in third (60pts).

Team Wells and their embedded videographers Two Bearded Men drew Coronet Peak as their venue for the Mountain Shred. The sports panel commented that the edit included a strong use of venue and a variety of Coronet Peak's terrain was covered. The athletes displayed strong linking of features with solid linked tricks and the tricks which had a high difficulty and big amplitude. There was strong performance across all the categories (Freeski Men, Snowboard Men and the Women). The media panel also commended on their use of follow and lead camera angles. View their edit below or here.

Team Smoothy, accompanied by videographers Diaries Downunder drew Treble Cone as their Mountain Shred venue. With Team Captain Sam Smoothy an ambassador for Treble Cone and team member Jess Hotter working as a ski patroller there, they certainly knew the mountain well. The sports panel mentioned how they liked the use of the features at the summit. The media panel thought the videographers used incredible angles and their edit stood out because of the use of different shot sizes, light and lenses. View their edit below or here.

Team Kuzma and Jase Hancox Film visited the Remarkables and had Blake Marshall on their team who works at the resort. The sports panel liked the long high-speed lines that the athletes were skiing and the media panel liked the high-speed footage from the FPV drone, which was unique for a ski featurette and gave it a computer game feel, which was original. View their edit here.

The fifth and final challenge contributing to the overall winner of the Edgar Challenge Trophy for Winter Games NZ Obsidian is the overall Obsidian Edit where each videography team will put together a 7 - 8 minutes edit of their teams time and experience at Obsidian. This final edit will be judged 90% on its cinematography, editing, soundtrack, story and overall vibe and 10% on the sport within the edit. It will be all to play for with the teams all neck and neck as we go into the fifth challenge.

These edits will be judged in the coming days and the results will be announced at our prizegiving on Friday the 28th of August. The prizegiving has, unfortunately, had to be changed to a closed event due to COVID-19 Level 2 procedures but the watch out for the results and Obsidian overall edits on Friday evening via our social media platforms.

Obsidian Overall Results - after Mountain Shred Results (26 August 2020)

1 – Team Smoothy - 440

2 – Team Wells - 440

3 – Team Kuzma - 400

Mountain Shred Results

1 - Team Wells | Coronet Peak

2 - Team Smoothy | Treble Cone

3 - Team Kuzma | The Remarkables

Outdoor Film Premiere Event cancelled.

Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 Level 2 restrictions, the outdoor film event due to be held on Friday 28th August has been cancelled. It is not viable to hold the film event while adhering to the current restrictions on mass gathering numbers.

Winter Games NZ will be holding a private Prizegiving on Friday the 28th of August and will be announcing the overall Obsidian winner and recipient of the Sir Eion Edgar Obsidian Trophy via our social channels and website.

The overall Obsidian edits will be available for viewing on Winter Games NZ YouTube Channel, Facebook and website in the coming days after the prizegiving. So watch this space!