The legendary snowboarder recently announced the second season of his global halfpipe circuit, The Snow League, which will open with a bold, first-of-its-kind event in the Southern Hemisphere: the World Challenge edition.
The competition will run from 18 September to 20 September at the renowned Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand. Unlike the tour’s standard stops, which are contested individually, this curtain-raiser will use a regional team exhibition format, a shift designed to reshape the familiar rhythm of winter-sports competition.
A handpicked group of international athletes will be split into four squads of four: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and The Challengers, a team made up of emerging talents from different nationalities. Each delegation will be mixed, featuring one man and one woman in snowboarding, alongside one man and one woman in freeski.
“Bringing The Snow League to New Zealand for such a unique team tournament is a huge step for our sport,” said founder White. “Cardrona has one of the best halfpipes on the planet, and the Southern Hemisphere gives us the perfect stage to kick off season two with completely renewed energy.”
New Zealand’s Minister for Tourism, Louise Upston, welcomed the agreement, which is backed by government event-attraction funding. “It’s a real privilege to welcome the World Challenge. This event won’t just be a treat for local fans, it will also showcase our spectacular winter conditions to millions of viewers around the world,” she stated.
While results from the New Zealand stop will not count towards the league’s overall individual standings, the World Challenge is positioned as an ideal prologue to the Northern Hemisphere tour. The 2027 regular season will feature three key stops at historic and Olympic venues: Aspen Snowmass (7 January to 9 January), Park City Mountain (21 January to 23 January), and the grand finale in LAAX, Switzerland (11 March to 13 March).
Among the major structural changes for year two, the league will expand its freeski field from 16 to 24 athletes, matching the snowboard quota and ensuring freeski is represented at every stage of the championship. Competition weekends will also shift to an extended three-day format, split into qualifiers, quarter-finals and straight finals, under the league’s popular elimination system.
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