Snow-covered snowboard action at Winter Whip torches the slopes of Afriski Mountain Resort

The Winter Whip Snowboard and Ski Festival, Southern Africa’s premier snow sports event, returned to a snow-covered Afriski Mountain Resort for its seventh year.

The 2022 Winter Whip Snowboard and Ski Festival presented by LW Mag in association with Andiamo Spritz, GoPro, Red Bull and DC Shoes was met by a snow-covered Afriski Mountain Resort in Lesotho. Snowboarders and Skiers participated in snowfall conditions during the highlight Slopestyle competition, which took place during the four-day event from July 28 to 31 July.

Throughout the event’s seven-year history this was the first time it snowed throughout the weekend. The decision was made to run the competition as quickly as possible by narrowing it down to a two-run format instead of the usual three-run format. The resort’s Kapoko Park course included five platforms that featured a host of rails, boxes, and kickers offering a fun course that allowed for competitors to progress through their runs.

Judges took style, technicality, and use of course into account when awarding points. Consistency was key in the weather conditions and riders that were able to put down solid runs while making use of all the features in the park scored the podium places.

In the premier Pro Men’s division, Andrew le Roux made his return to competing at Winter Whip and took a convincing victory. His runs consisting of a Switch Nose Boardslide, Switch Front 270 on the Flat to Down, Boardslide over the Rainbow and Hardway Front 360 saw Le Roux score the highest points of the competition. Wesley Schallen secured second place while Japan’s Shotaro Koyama earned bronze.

Mawa Jekot was also back to competition in the Ladies division and, although dealing with flu, managed to secure the overall win. Despite an early fall, Bronwyn Rassmann earned a silver medal while Paige Verpoort, in her first-ever Slopestyle contest rounded off the podium in third.

The biggest field of the day was in the Open Men’s division which saw a closely fought battle for the podium. In the end it was Nick Brodie and his 720 on the Butter Box, Tailgrab and Method that took the win over England’s Meka Ejindu and defending title holder Dean Cowley who finished in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The Ski division was again dominated by Linze Veentsra whose switch backflip in his second run also secured him the best trick of the competition.

In the Junior Ski division, it was Sekholo Ramonotsi who took the win from Thabang Mabari in second and Tumade Ramabanta in third. Sekholo Ramonotsi also competed in the Junior Snowboard division taking the win there too. The weekend was topped off by the good vibes on the slope thanks to the Red Bull DJs, the afternoon après-ski Andiamo Spritz Party on the Snow, and the official After Party that took place in the Gondola Café.

Event organiser, Ryan van der Spuy commented, “It was so good to be back at Afriski and what an amazing experience with the amount of snowfall we had. We’re stoked to have been able to run the Slopestyle competition in the conditions we were dealt and it worked out in a fun-filled four days. Thank you to our event partners for making this possible; Andiamo Spritz, Red Bull, GoPro and DC Shoes, and a massive shout-out to everyone that made it out to the resort. See you next year.”