Queenstown was the perfect place to hold this first New Zealand event - and not only because of its reputation for partying. In Queenstown there's a crew of locals who have made a habit out of driving up the hill to gather a little snow for their own private rails in the backyard. Amongst them is 23-year-old Hana Sullivan (originally of Motueka) who ended up placing 7th equal at the end of the finals - not bad at all out of a total of 65 competitors.

She described the rail outside her home as a dodgy little drop-in for when there's nothing much else happening. "It's pretty easy, it's just practice," she said after the comp. "If the jumps aren't on you can jib a rail but powder always comes first."

It was testament to Red Bull and the size of the beast that so many guys (and a few girls) rocked up for the Slide, since the hills had been dusted with fresh the night before and the skies were blue and still all day. The dozen or so lucky bastards who are ranked among the top in New Zealand only needed to show up for the finals at 6pm, so they got the powder and a monster rail slide to play on in the same day.

With $10,000 on the table it was hard to stop the country's best from lining up for a turn on the towering drop-in platform. The scaffolding structure was put up overnight, as was the snow that lined the steep drop-in ramp and quarter pipe at the end of the structure.

She was a big mamma - the size and shape of which hadn't been seen in NZ competition before, so the punters turned up from 10 in the morning to give it a crack before qualifying rounds began at midday.

Unlike traditional competitions, the Red Bull Slide did not separate skiers from snowboarders and instead rewarded style, technical skill and length of ride regardless of the code. There was a panel of six judges with three skiers and three boarders. These guys sat on the balcony of a bar overlooking the puppy, and from a total field of 65 skiers and boarders they chose 10 finalists. Of these, three were skiers and the remainder were snowboarders.

The crowd erupted as both skiers and boarders gained confidence and began landing bigger and bolder tricks, to the backdrop of hip hop from DJ Ali and a perfect sky in this resort town with its well-deserved reputation for adventure and partying.

There were frontside 270s from both skiers and boarders, with Tim Jackways, Mike Pedder, Mark Anderson and Roland Morley Brown consistently making the crowd raor.

By 9pm only these four remained and it was a head-to-head battle for a share of $10,000 cash. Hamish Acland and Jacob McLeary were the highest ranked skiers and were stoked that they'd got that far. "It's simple, everyone is learning tonight, they're being educated which is cool. It's no surprise that the boarders made it the final cos skiers have only been doing rails for a couple of years - but it's just good to show what tricks can be done."

With $5,000 as first prize and $3,000 for second, finalists Tim Jackways and Roland Morely Brown had one last split second ride on the Red Bull Slide to determine who won the biggest money. With a masterful trick that got the crowd roaring, the winner's title went to Tim Jackways who promptly announced: "I know what the first $1000 is going to be spent on - the bar!"

Is there beauty in a rail? There to answer the question was kiwi boarder Dylan Butt, one of the best in the business. "Totally," he said. "if someone can spin on and spin off and can do a smooth styley trick it's pretty rad. It's just a whole 'nother aspect."