Just thinking about what Perisher snowboarder Nate Johnstone can do in real life with a plank of wood bolted to his feet is enough to leave most of us mere mortals with bruises.

The 19-year-old Olympic halfpipe medal hopeful's favourite trick - a front side double cork 10 - catapults him through spin after spin of obtuse angles before gravity realises its error and brings him earthbound to hard packed snow.

For snowboarders launching tricks off an almost seven-metre high ice wall during halfpipe competition, confidence is crucial; the slightest error can result in untold injuries and not just to the ego.

Case in point is US Olympic hopeful Kevin Pearce who will miss the 2010 Games and may never compete again after sustaining a traumatic brain injury while practicing for a World Cup event in Colorado on New Year's Eve.

The life threatening injury wasn't the result of an experiment gone bad, Pearce was wearing a helmet and had landed the same twisting double back flip manoeuvre before.

But that's the risk Olympic medal hopefuls like Johnstone face in a sport where harnessing your fear is all part of the game.

On February 17, just over a week after his 20th birthday, the teenager is aiming to become Australia's first ever halfpipe Olympic medallist when he tackles the 22-foot super pipe at Cypress Mountain at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

To make that one perfect day he must overcome fear, performance anxiety on the grandest scale and some of the stiffest competition seen at an Olympics.

"I just try to block everything out, fear of injury, all of it," he says.

"I pretty much just have to think it's not a problem and there is no injury factor to what you're doing but that can be hard sometimes because the tricks we are doing have a high injury rate.

"There is always that thought in your head that if you don't land a certain trick it can be make or break."

Johnstone's arrival onto the Federation Internationale De Ski World Cup tour in 2008 was solid. He claimed a podium in just his second cup event and he finished the year in 27th.

In 2009 he shone brighter than anyone could have imagined finishing the season in second place overall, the best halfpipe result by an Australian in the history of the World Cup tour, beating the previous best of fourth posted by Olympian Andrew Burton in 2007.

He did all of this with Olympic selection looming over his head and still missing two events, but unlike so many athletes on the tour, it wasn't through injury.

"Myself and (Australian team mate) Holly (Crawford) were sitting pretty good on the tour ranking list so we decided to take some time off competing to train and work on some new tricks," he says.

"My goal in 2009 was to just get out on the tour and try to do my best and see what comes of it.

"If I qualified for the Olympics I did and if not, it wasn't a big deal, I just tried to have fun and the results came along with it.

"All I can put it down to is hard work and training and riding with the best snowboarders in the world. Riding with them brings out the best in you and pushes you to ride at their level."

The reality check for Johnstone is the Olympic field itself.

With most of the top riders opting to compete for significant money on the pro tour instead of the World Cup circuit, the Games represent one of the few occasions all the halfpipe riders get together for the one event.

And that brings a whole new class of rider to the table in Vancouver - headed by the sport's superstar, 2006 gold medallist Shaun White. Behind him is a logjam of other Americans - of which only three can qualify for the Games - and the likes of Japanese pocket rocket Ryoh Aono.

It leaves Johnstone with a tough task to get on the podium, a spot in the final perhaps a more realistic goal.

But the athlete who makes a living from keeping his feet in the air manages to stay grounded anyway thanks to advice from the man he eclipsed - Burton.

"Andrew (Burton) has given us some good advice on how to deal with the pressure around Olympic time," he says.

"We just have to treat it like just another competition, just like any day out there riding the `pipe and try not let the whole Olympic vibe take over and get in your head.

AAP