Cardrona locals Fin Melville Ives and Mischa Thomas played pivotal roles in Team Challengers’ victory at the inaugural Snow League World Challenge held on September 18, 2026, at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand. Along with Japan’s Ryusei Yamada and Sara Shimizu, they secured the overall win after the finals were canceled due to weather, making the semifinal standings the final determinant. Melville Ives notably made a strong comeback, winning his men’s freeski semifinal matchup after recovering from a broken collarbone sustained at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics earlier in February. Thomas delivered a creative run in her semifinal, featuring a switch alley-oop flat 540, to defeat Team North America’s Amy Fraser.

The Snow League World Challenge featured a unique spin cap of 720 degrees in semifinals to encourage riders to focus on style and creativity over the number of spins, which both Melville Ives and Thomas appreciated. For Thomas, the event held special meaning as it was her first professional competition on her home halfpipe after transitioning from slopestyle to halfpipe skiing. She also took part in a community mini pipe session the day before, handing out prizes to up-and-coming local halfpipe athletes. The competition’s home venue and supportive crowd made the victory more memorable for the New Zealand skiers.

Fin Melville Ives’s deep connection to Cardrona runs through his family, as he and his twin brother Cam started skiing at the resort from the age of three, with their parents both serving as instructors there. Their uncle also previously maintained the resort’s halfpipe, truly embedding the Melville Ives family into the area’s snow sports heritage. Despite the weather-curtailed competition, Melville Ives highlighted how training in New Zealand’s variable conditions builds resilience, benefiting athletes during contest time.

As part of the prizes, the four winners each received a stuffed yellow-eyed penguin and the Snow League contributed NZD $5,000 to support the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust, which works to protect these endangered native birds. The victorious team also earned the special privilege to name GPS trackers used in the trust’s penguin monitoring efforts. With the successful completion of the first World Challenge, Snow League now prepares for its second season starting in January at Aspen’s Buttermilk mountain, while Melville Ives and Thomas bask in the pride of their home-soil achievement.