After seeing 55 of the 108 male competitors crash out during the first run of the Race Arena Rocky Gully, Wylie said he knew it was a matter of getting to the bottom and he would be in the top 50%.
With a modest time of 50.20sec in his first run, the 22-year-old predicted correctly and was one of five Kiwis to make the second round.
"I knew that if I finished the run, I would get through.
"Keep it simple and make it down," was his tactic for what were tough conditions on the mountain.
Despite having the home advantage, nothing could have prepared Wylie for yesterday's gusting winds and icy terrain.
Competitors were crashing out of the course left right and centre - many ranked miles above Wylie himself.
"It was really tough out there, compared to the conditions we've been training in."
Fellow Kiwi Jamie Prebble, of Christchurch, agreed the conditions were challenging and nothing like he had expected.
"It was a very tough race.
When you see World Cup skiers struggling, you just know it's hard."
Prebble did not make it through to the second round, though New Zealand was well-represented with Adam Barwood, Tim Cafe, Wilbur Coote, and Matthew Nicholson all joining Wylie in the second run .
Wylie excelled in that group with an overall time of 1min 42.31sec, which put him 0.36sec in front of Cafe, New Zealand's top slalom skier.
Wylie said with the late start to the season this year and his knee injury of last year only just on the mend, he is happy to be progressing slowly.
Both his medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments had been damaged, meaning he has sat out the last two summers, rather than heading overseas for extra training.
Skiing certainly runs in the Wylie family. Both his mother and father working as ski instructors, at the Remarkables and Coronet Peak respectively.
The young skier's biggest achievement to date has been for running at the 2008 World Cup in Switzerland, an event he hopes to compete in himself in the next two years.
Wylie's demanding training schedule means being on the mountain by 7.30am and in the gym afterwards.
He hopes to ski fulltime someday, but for now he is working four to five days a week at Outside Sports, in Queenstown.
olivia.caldwell@alliedpress.co.nz
