Local hero Byron Wells comes in 2nd.

Heavy snowfall at New Zealand's Cardrona Alpine Resort this weekend didn't stop some of the world's best halfpipe skiers from competing in the finals of the Volkl NZ Freeski Open halfpipe competition on Saturday. American Taylor Seaton threw a huge alley-oop 900 to beat out Wanaka local Bryon Wells in the men's final, with Canadian Noah Nowman coming in third.

"Taylor and Byron showed the most amplitude of all the riders," said head judge Rafael Regazzoni. "In the end the difference for Taylor was that he was able to combine more tricks in his run and was slightly better technically. Byron went huge, but he missed out on his final hit and that cost him. And Noah threw a big double flare but was unable to land it cleanly."

In the women's halfpipe final, Canada's Megan Gunning's final run score of 94.25 separated her from the rest of the field. NZ local Janina Kuzma was second, and American Jamie Crane-Mauzy was third.

Camilla Stoddart
The men and women crowd the podium."Megan threw down a huge cork 1080, a trick that not many women can pull off," said Regazzoni. "She was impressive. It was a fantastic halfpipe but the conditions made it difficult for everyone."

The Bolle Young Gun Awards went to Canada's Gunning (1st); Nick Goepper of the US (2nd) and Jonas Hunziker of Switzerland (3rd).

Byron Wells' brother, reigning World Champion Jossi Wells, did not compete due to injury.

The Volkl NZ Freeski Open continues on 16 August with the North Face Big Mountain Competition at Treble Cone.