During this time I've lost a few things, including a pair of gloves, a jumper, my go-pro (still possibly not lost) and many socks. However being the kick-ass country that NZ is, I have plundered heaps more.
driving up the mountains with tori and lyndon
The trip kicked off with The World Heli Challenge 2011, which started in a paddock.
getting ready to take off on Day 1
sean balmer: camera fight!
Day 1: we headed up to the sunny side of Mt Albert for the freestyle day. Mission-get stylin'. Result- I tried! I love comps like this that encourage tricks, it makes you want to practice and that is something I need to do a lot more of. I was stoked to spin my first 360 with my fat skis and carve-up the buttery turns. I think the best part of the day was running 3rd last and watching the world go by from the top of the peak.
inspecting the Freestyle Day venue
ridge party!
hanging out with Vanessa and Torie on top of the world
looking down to Lake Wanaka from the top of the face
meet my little lucky string man
Day 2: Get EXTREME! Yep, that was the plan for the next day. Usually the Heli Challenge runs over 2 weeks but as the weather was not looking good for the week ahead, we banged the comps out in two days.
after the first day you can understand the bluriness on the second morning
that didn't stop anyone from partying on the party-barge
woooooo- helicopters!
chillin' platform on Mt Albert
Once we took off, we flew over the first day venue and landed in the next face along, this area was used for the 2009 WHC and continued to impress.
Extreme Day Face!
The snow up high was AWESOME, I dropped in for my first run on the skiers right and hit smooth lovely powder. I chose a drop, to turns then to a straight-line. I had been advised that I could turn down the chute, so I bombed into it to find it was tiny. One turn and then I pointed my skis straight and tried to avoid the rocks either side! As I came out I tried hard to start turning my skis, the snow was way more wind affected than above and as I went for a turn I flipped into the air and displayed some low-t0-ground aerial maneuvers. nuts.
No worries. 2ND run- GO! We raced up in the heli the minute the last rider came down. Back up to a 360 view of the Southern Lakes. As it was late in the day, the hike to skier's right was closed so everyone dropped in the main chute. I decided on my line about 2 minutes before I dropped, I found a nice cliff at the top and a small but fun one at the bottom. BANG BANG BANG. stomp..ahhhhh too much speed. Then in the lowest parts of the outrun at the bottom of the face I hit some bumps and did some more flips. damn it!
C'est La Vie, I challenged myself, skied hard and learnt an important lesson: turn.
After the Heli Challenge I slept for 3 days, I got involved in some DVD watching and then finally got back in the mountains to shred Treble Cone. No major storms hit but as the sun began to shine, spring conditions were on!
I was lucky enough to hook-up with Tony Harrington, Neil Williman and Dave Saxton for some skiing and horizon-gazing at The Remarkables 2 weeks ago to find this:
after the first day you can understand the bluriness on the second morning
that didn't stop anyone from partying on the party-barge
woooooo- helicopters!
The helis landed on the barge where we were all packed up and ready to go. It was a crazy feeling- Tori Beattie best explained it as it felt like we were going to war.
chillin' platform on Mt Albert
Extreme Day Face!
The snow up high was AWESOME, I dropped in for my first run on the skiers right and hit smooth lovely powder. I chose a drop, to turns then to a straight-line. I had been advised that I could turn down the chute, so I bombed into it to find it was tiny. One turn and then I pointed my skis straight and tried to avoid the rocks either side! As I came out I tried hard to start turning my skis, the snow was way more wind affected than above and as I went for a turn I flipped into the air and displayed some low-t0-ground aerial maneuvers. nuts.
No worries. 2ND run- GO! We raced up in the heli the minute the last rider came down. Back up to a 360 view of the Southern Lakes. As it was late in the day, the hike to skier's right was closed so everyone dropped in the main chute. I decided on my line about 2 minutes before I dropped, I found a nice cliff at the top and a small but fun one at the bottom. BANG BANG BANG. stomp..ahhhhh too much speed. Then in the lowest parts of the outrun at the bottom of the face I hit some bumps and did some more flips. damn it!
C'est La Vie, I challenged myself, skied hard and learnt an important lesson: turn.
After the Heli Challenge I slept for 3 days, I got involved in some DVD watching and then finally got back in the mountains to shred Treble Cone. No major storms hit but as the sun began to shine, spring conditions were on!
I was lucky enough to hook-up with Tony Harrington, Neil Williman and Dave Saxton for some skiing and horizon-gazing at The Remarkables 2 weeks ago to find this:
Yep, one of the sickest lake views in the world.
The Remarkables: the Europe of NZ
Tony shooting Dave, I love the weird and wonderful places that photographers find themselves in
Before heading North to The Chill Series, I had a few days of spring madness at TC. That includes goggle tans, corn, re-freezes and complete lack of tourists and lift-lines. HOOORAH.
Tussock, mud and snow-riddled road leading up to TC
Tori and I had some fun times dominating the spring conditions
yummy. learning how to pout is a very important lesson for all ski-bloggers
Best view to ski down to after many laps of corn snow.
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