Cat Ski!!

On Friday I got the opportunity to cat skiing in down in Kingston, and take some photos with Cam Mcdermid and Neil Kerr from NZ skier mag.
We turned up in Kingston bright and early, grabbed chicken pie and a flat white, booted up and jumped in the helli.
It was the first time I have flown in a helicopter, so as you can imagine I was absolutely frothing.
Our pilot was awesome too and gave us the full helli experience, low flying, cork screws, banks, etc.
He dropped us at the top of the cat ski bowl and from then on it was all up to the sleds and snow cat.
The snow was great, slightly sun baked but still epic.
We spent most of the day finding and shooting lines, and a few good pow runs too, hopefully we got some good shots!
Queens town cat skiing is an awesome set up. I really like the way they run things.

Next thing on the agenda is the K2 Chill Series Big Mt.
Gonna be SICK!

TC POW

We have had a couple of good snow falls since the start of the season, but as I have been pretty busy with work over the last few weeks, being school holidays, I haven't had much time to actually ski TC.
I managed to get up last Monday on my day off for a shred. It ended up being one of the best POW days ever. I will admit there was a lot of hiking and hunting involved, but it was well worth it. We skied some of the lightest and deepest snow I think I have skied in NZ. I was submersed a couple of times. It was a genuinely awesome day caning it with friends.
Here is the link to my helmet cam edit from the day.
http://vimeo.com/26907580

oh my gosh

SNOW!!!! yusssss...

!SNOW!

and decent coverage too.

OPEN AT LAST!!

Today was opening day at Snow Park, to be honest when I heard that they were opening today I wasnt expecting much. But when we rounded the last corner this morning, and the hill came into view, I was definitely impressed with what I saw.
Considering we have not had a good natural snow fall this whole month, I think they have done well.
Who would have thought we could be skiing right now, while the hills are still brown, thank god for snow guns I guess!
I was absolutely stoked to finally be back on my sticks again, this last month has been unbearable, as I'm sure all the powder hounds and park rats in town will agree.
To me, having no snow at the start of the ski season is like having your parents forget your 10th birthday, and not realising until a week later.
A few weeks back I sprained my ankle really badly on the trampoline, so I have been worried that I might not be able to ride at peak shred, it seems to be fine in a ski boot, but I wont really know until I get into some real mountain riding.
I always love the first days of the ski season, its great because you spend the whole time running into all the people you know from past years.
So even though it was just boxes, rollers and man made snow, it was awesome, and well worth the money.
Definitely going back tomorrow.
Now, BED.

2010 vid altered

This is the link to last seasons vid, it was blocked on you tube because of the music, so changed the music and put up on vimeo instead.

http://vimeo.com/22279080

Kirkwood FWT

Had the Kirkwood qualifier the other day, didn't manage to qualify though. I skied a more conservative line than I usually tend to pick, with the intention of finishing. 

I'm a little bummed cos I didn't ski it as clean as I had wanted . I ended up 15th and they took through the top 14. gutted.

But all in all a good learning experience, I finally finished a FWT qualifying run on my feet which is good as I have been DQ in 2 out of the three american comps I have done. so now I have a feeling of what needs to be done for next time!