Popular snow park builder Tom Campbell 'lived a life that some people would dream to live'

Thursday, 8 June 2017

Cardrona Alpine Resort staff spell the initials TC for their late colleague Tom Campbell.

An acclaimed snow park creator was headed to Wanaka for the start of the ski season when his car plunged off a bridge.

Tom Campbell, 27, who worked at the Cardrona Alpine Resort for six years, died at the scene of Wednesday's crash, on the West Coast's Maimai Creek Bridge.

Tom Campbell has been remembered as talented, young and gorgeous.

Campbell built the skifield's industry-acclaimed 26-metre jump at for the Jossi Wells Invitational freeski competition in 2016.

The winner, James Wood of Great Britain, described it as 'the best jump in the world; the best jump I've ever hit'.

The car went off the bridge and landed in a creek.

Campbell followed his father, Fred, a head groomer at Turoa Ski Area for many years, into the industry.

Tom Campbell was killed after crashing at Maimai Creek Bridge, in South Westland, on Wednesday.

His mother, Kath Campbell, said he was 'the most amazing son', who loved his job and was good at it.

'In 27 years he lived a life that some people would dream to live. We love him and we are so proud of him.

Tom Campbell was a snow groomer and super pipe builder at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

'He was just the best ever, he was easy, cruisy and fantastic.'

He was Cardrona's head terrain park builder, his LinkedIn profile said.

Cardrona skifield being groomed under lights at night.

'He wanted to be the best in the world at building [snow] parks,' Kath Campbell said.

She said her son recently visited Finland, before spending a month with his family in Ohakune, in the central North Island.

Tom Campbell hitting a jump on his skis.

The former Ruapehu College pupil was on his way to Wanaka, in preparation for Cardrona's opening on Saturday, when he crashed about 5pm.

Olympic freestyle skier Jossi Wells paid tribute to Campbell on Facebook, saying his presence would be 'dearly missed by us all'.

'The single most genuine person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing,' he said in the post.

Cardrona general manager Bridget Legnavsky said the crew was deeply saddened when they learned about Campbell's crash.

'We are such a family up here, we use the word whanau a lot. He was one of our brothers.'

Campbell was loved by snowboarders and skiers because he would ride the park and seek feedback about his grooming and super pipe, she said.

'He was a talented, young, gorgeous man with huge energy. He was such a good role model. The kids loved him … [he was] a real people person.'

The police serious crash unit was at the Mai Mai Creek bridge on Thursday to determine the cause of the crash.

A group of tourists travelling behind Campbell watched his car go off the bridge. They stopped and scrambled down the bank, but Campbell was unresponsive and died shortly after.

Another motorist drove 10 or 15 minutes to a house to raise the alarm, because there was no cellphone reception, Senior Constable Paul Gurney said.

Fox Glacier chief fire officer John Sullivan said it was the third crash on the bridge in about 15 months.

The last crash, about six months ago, involved a car hitting the wooden rails. The rails were yet to be repaired, with orange barrier netting put up in the interim.

'It's quite a notorious little spot … It's a bad spot because [motorists] come down a hill onto this one lane bridge and you're looking straight into the setting sun.'