One-hit battles to decide tiebreaker heats in the pipe, a rider-voted clip contest to decide seeeding, a 720 spin cap in the semifinals, and… oh yeah, TEAMS! With all the new changes going down in New Zealand for The Snow League’s World Challenge, we wanted to get a rider’s perspective. So we caught up with Brooke D’Hondt as she packed up for a quick Southern Hemi trip to Chile. Hailing from Calgary, D’Hondt will be representing Team North America down in Cardrona, but she has been making some serious waves with Team Canada since 2022 at the Winter Olympics, riding away with 10th place at the age of 16 and the most talked-about method in Beijing. She broke the record for highest air by a woman on a hip in 2024, going over 23ft. up during The Nines event. Last season, she balanced the Olympics in Italy with the first-ever Snow League season, and even scored some powder laps in Whistler in the spring. Brooke’s best result was a seventh-place finish in Aspen, putting her in the top 10 overall in the world rankings, and we can’t wait to see what she puts down this year.

Coming off such a big year, is this season a little more relaxed without the Olympic circuit?
For sure. Especially for myself, I’m trying to do fewer pipe contests this year. I think I’ll just be doing Snow League stops, hopefully doing some filming, and I’m going to do the RnD event too. I’m excited to have a bit of a different pace going into next year.

Why Snow League over the rest of them?
I think there’s just the most opportunity in Snow League. The exposure we get as athletes is pretty cool, and Snow League’s been working with some cool brands — so it’s actually an opportunity to make some money, versus spending money just to go to a World Cup.

What was season one like for Snow League compared to other events?
It’s great. It kind of reminds me of the Burton US Open — all the athletes are well taken care of, and it’s a pretty big production. But I also think the format pushes the riders a lot. You see some pretty cool head-to-heads and heavy runs pretty early on in the contest, which isn’t normal.

What do you think about the changes to the contest format?
I am excited for it. Something different.

How about the one-hit battle compared to a full run to decide a heat?
I haven’t been in any one-hit battles, but it’s pretty insane to watch, especially the guys doing the one hits — it gets pretty heavy.

Were you in a good amount of tiebreakers last season?
I was in two tiebreakers.

Are you excited to do that, or would you rather have a full run?
I kind of like the one hit. It’s cool to drop in and just have a bit of a big air — you can get as much speed as possible and go for broke on your one hit.

Would you always go for the first hit high up on the pipe, or find your favorite section and go hit that?
Probably go find my favorite hit. Maybe do a couple straighter run-throughs and feel out what hit and what lip’s feeling the best, or maybe do a little deck drop-in.

So it is a rider-voted clip contest for seeding — are you voting for yourself, or for the best clip?
I haven’t even thought about this. I feel like hopefully our team has the best clip and we’re voting for ourselves — but definitely, if someone’s got an epic clip, I’ll be giving them a vote, for sure.

Have you ever competed in a team format before?
No — I never really grew up doing team sports, so it’ll be fun to have a crew and be a little strategic with the team.

Do you know your crew well?
Yeah, I’m pretty good friends with all of them. Amy’s from Calgary, so we kind of grew up riding together. I’m stoked on my team for sure.

With the 720 cap, do you think that’s going to make everyone focus on style?
It’s hard to have your own style on a 14 or whatever, so I think bringing it back to sevens will be really cool — and it’ll showcase everyone’s proper halfpipe style and amplitude.

Any other parts of the New Zealand trip you’re excited about?
I’m really excited for the freeride day — I think that’ll be a cool opportunity for all of us pipe riders to get out of the pipe and build a feature. Hunter Hess rides a lot of other features, so it’ll be fun to work with him on something. And I’m excited about the potential for a heli day if our team holds it down — the winning team wins a heli day the next day.

So the thing you’re most excited about isn’t the halfpipe — it’s riding before and after?
(Laughing) I guess so! But no, I’m definitely stoked to get in the halfpipe. It’ll be a fun way to start the season. I feel like none of us have really been in the pipe much this summer, so it’ll be a good way to kick off getting back in there.