"The Flow!!" - It's coming back.

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Photo by Neil Williman

Photo by Neil Williman

It’s been a challenging year. But here I am, once again based in Verbier for the season with my eyes and my hopes set on being 100% and ready to hammer it on FWT 2021.

During the first couple of weeks I was invited to be a part of the Verbier Freeride Week, and thus took up the role of Starter, for the four events the week comprises of.

As is the way with freeride events, there was a fair amount of hiking to reach the start gate and in the case of the second event, a hike back out as well. Good training.

My role as starter allowed me the opportunity to see freeride from a different angle, while reminding me of the emotions and excitement of competing. Not to mention, that I was required to ski the venues at the end of the competition in order to get back out, which acted as a good jump into the deep end to kick off the season.

They were tiring days, although hugely fulfilling and certainly inspiring.

We lucked out for the final event of the week, the JFT stop at Bruson. Overnight we received a hefty dose of new snow!

Luckily, the event ran fast and I was able to get out and enjoy a handful of laps, soul skiing untracked laps for the afternoon. Finally, finding the flow again.

The fresh, near bottomless snow, allowed me to open it up and actually ski normally!

It was an amazing day after two weeks of struggling with hard, bumpy conditions. It was a much-needed reminder of the things I love about skiing.

However, it was only one day. Then I lost it again and my clarity and motivation fell to bits like bricks in mud.

The next week was uninspiring, skiing groomers and chopped up snow with a leg that although improving seems a long way short of where I need it to be.




So, I decided I needed to change tack.

I travelled to Chamonix to meet up with the families of Kiwi jr freeriders due to compete in the FJT 2* event.
Turning my focus toward helping the crew was once again motivating.

I am glad I could be there, it felt great to support the team!

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Chamonix JFT with the KIwi JR crew

Chamonix JFT with the KIwi JR crew

Harry Cookson, taking out 1st u16 ski

Harry Cookson, taking out 1st u16 ski

Next, I hit the road for Austria, to commentate the Freeride Junior World Championships in Kappl, alongside Neil Williman - Kiwi freerider and FWT commentator.

In the days leading up to the event, emotions were mixed, the high of coaching at Cham was replaced by the dissatisfaction and frustration that is born of struggling with my own limitations on snow.

Thankfully, I had agreed to present a competition prep and line scoping session for the competitors of the FJWC event.

I was lucky enough to collab with Emilien Badoux on this presentation, a freeride legend, coach and previous FWT snowboard world champion.

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As with Chamonix, my attention was once again turned away from myself and onto others. Which as I am learning is an excellent respite from a slow recovery.

We were greeted by a full house of coaches, parents and athletes from around the world.

I feel honoured to be in a position where I can pass on my own knowledge and wisdom to others, and the icing on the cake was the feedback and praise we received after!

Finally, comp day came around and it was go time!

A huge snowfall over the previous two days delayed the event by a couple of days and left us with a unicorn style bluebird pow day in return.

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As the event was to be replayed afterwards as a delayed live stream, Neil and I had the whole first half of the day to enjoy the snow, before heading into the booth to spin a solid 3-hour yarn.

It was a truly amazing day. Skiing deep, smooth snow with friends flipped me back into a state of positivity for the present and optimism for the future. 

A much-needed reset.

PHOTO by Neil Williman

PHOTO by Neil Williman

Commentating the event just topped it all off perfectly.

It was my first time commentating a live stream, so I was nervous.
However, having Neil there leading the way was ideal.

We had a bunch of fun with it and produced a result that I am proud of.

There you go!

One month of big ups and big downs.
I have learned lots and I know the next two months are likely to continue on a similar trend.

I reckon I just need to ride it out, instead of trying to swim against the flow.
Kinda like skiing lines, I’d say.

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After a long year of working my hardest, I have come to understand that I still have a lot of work to do before I am ready to return to the @freerideworldtour. As such, I've pulled the pin on FWT 2020, and I will use my injury wild card to return in FWT 2021! Click the link in my bio to read the full interview with FWT, plus some old footy of me on tour (things for me to aspire to again). 📷 @jeremy_bernard_photography . My progress has been massive, but there is a lot of ground to cover if I want to be back at my best with hopes of getting anywhere near the top of a field, let alone re-qualifying for the following year! . This has been a really tough decision to make and I'm certainly not giving up yet! I am committed to another year of grinding my way back to full send, through pain and fear. . I want to be back in the mix more than anything, but I also want to be ready to show my best for a whole season, not just my 70% or even 90%, and especially not for just a couple of stops. I want to turn up with a full tank of "let's bloody hoon this fat sucker" ready to ski to whatever potential I have! . So I am going to continue working hard for it. I'll start slow, skiing for fun, then slowly build myself back up through FWQ events in Europe and NZ, always with an eye to January 2021 and beyond. . I am inspired and excited to see if I can claw my way back. . The support of the tour through this has been great, they have put the wellbeing of all of us injured folk higher than anything, never putting any pressure on us to come back before we feel 100%. . I feel the same support from @head_freeskiing @scottfreeski @snowsportsnz @snowcentrenz @trebleconenz @onmountainnz and @bn3th_nz as wells as from friends, family and even total strangers online! It is all super motivating, so thanks for backing me!!! . #TheQuestForTheBombProofLeg

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Tales from the pain room

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It has been 6 months since my accident in Verbier, in that time I have spent a lot of time reflecting. This has undoubtedly been the hardest experience of my life.
Although things are continuing to improve and I am optimistic and excited for the future. The challenge of injury is always interesting, the sense of purpose profound.

Once again the ball is rolling and I am on a mission to return to Freeride. On a whim, and maybe as a way to understand things for myself I wrote this account of an extremely weird and painful two weeks in the pain room at Sion hospital, Switzerland.

24 hours post break, and I'm pretty sure my roommate is insane.

Grunt - snort - extended conversation with… no one I guess? - Or actually, is he talking to me?

No, surely not, there’s a curtain between us and he's not even stopping for breath, but then again, how would I know if he's talking to me, the only French I understand is the type that gets me a coffee and a pain au chocolate.

Listen harder; maybe he's trying to give me a coffee and a pain au chocolate?
I'd like that.

Come to think of it, it's difficult to tell what’s going on here, I have had a lot of morphine. Actually, too much morphine, I know this because the nurse said "Maybe we gave you too much morphine" to which I responded with a quick chuckle, and then just tried my hardest to hold my head on the top of my neck. I'm pretty sure they removed my neck bones during the surgery. I said right leg damn it...

Coming to terms with the fact that I have ended my season only days before starting my third season on the Freeride World Tour is difficult, more so, as I was skiing better than ever!
Even still, my first day in the hospital is pretty good. The surgery was a success, the morphine is doing its job (too well) and I haven't spilled my pee bottle on the floor yet.

A bed by the window

A bed by the window

I have a bed by the window and the view is pretty good too.

The only thing on my mind is the surgeons’ last words “If you are in extreme pain, and the morphine doesn’t have any effect, things are turning bad and you need to call us”

This is unsettling. Plus, I have now accepted the fact that my roommate is, in fact, mad.
Bing! Excuse me, Nurse? Are there, um, any other rooms I could move too? My roommate makes me uncomfortable..

Ahhh yes, I don't think he is a very good fit for you. Yes, ok, we can move you.

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Score! Another window-side bed, my roommate is sane, and the view is even better!

But now I am back to 8 out of 10 pain, I have compartment syndrome, and I could lose my leg, so that's bad.

Back I go, into the black hole which is general anaesthetic, a place even further removed from time than dreamless sleep, and my short trip to the hospital slowly starts to lengthen.

The return to life from surgery is always weird. I snap back into existence, shivering wildly and manage to spark up a conversation with the nurse in the best French I have ever spoken. I have no idea what I said, because it was in French, and I don’t speak French.

On returning to my room, my wounds are checked, and I come to understand the extent of my current state of openness.
Both sides of my leg have been sliced open, stuffed with gauze, and loosely laced to keep them from opening any further, while I bleed my swelling away.
I can barely move my foot and my toes don’t work, but I have some feeling, this is important.

I set to work, trying my best to respond sincerely to the kind messages of support from friends and strangers. Most of my responses are total nonsense, due to the drugs, for example:

“Thank bunch for the jkmeessahomgb me”

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The following two weeks are pretty dark.
My pain levels sit consistently between 6 and 8 out of 10, something I gauge off the initial 9 out of 10 I experienced during the initial shattering of my leg.

I’m maxing out my pain meds and sleeping pills, and the loneliness of being away from friends and family mixed with the language barrier and total uncertainty of everything from when I’ll be able to poo to when I’ll be able ski is wrecking my mind.

The issue is that I am in an emergency hospital, and if a patient arrives in critical condition I get bumped off the list for surgery.
So I spend the better part of a week on call for surgery, which often means foregoing food and drink for a whole day as I need an empty stomach before going under.
There is something inherently troubling about being left open for days on end.

Anxiety builds.

Filled to the brim with unusual substances, I wake up feeling soft and comfortable. More comfortable than I have ever felt.
In fact, the whole room feels soft, I can’t touch it but I can see, and hear it.
Every edge is smooth; every corner is almost spherical. I shouldn’t know this but I do, my senses are trading inputs. My outputs are confused. The feeling builds, and this indescribable roundness and softness is rapidly encroaching upon me, like a mink bubble wrap nightmare.
I panic, I scream and I frantically shout for help. I’m sure that if it grows much more I’ll be trapped forever.
Finally, the tangy smell of a nurses overworked armpit levels me out, my face buried in her shoulder.

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A week and a half has passed, I’m finally closed, I did my first poo a few days ago, and I have a new roommate. He’s also mad.

During my stay I have been heavy on the call button, so in an effort to cut down on nurse calls, I try to find ways to optimise on each one. The most obvious is the pee bottle. Through a tentative trial period, I conclude that I can fit 3 bladders worth into one bottle, resulting in a 60% reduction in pee bottle empties by the nurses. It’s pure genius.

However, despite my good intentions, I create more work.
With a janky twitch of a wrist, while reaching for more snacks, or during a poorly executed bottle to bedside relocation, my dreams of optimisation are dashed. And somehow, after the third pee related mishap, it’s the same nurse on call each time. She doesn’t speak English, but I recognise a couple of naughty French words.

Elisabeth comes to visit = Happy

Elisabeth comes to visit = Happy

Sebastian comes to visit = happy

Sebastian comes to visit = happy

On the whole, things are getting better, my friend Elisabeth Gerritzen made the podium in Hakuba, and I’m making really good progress in “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild”, and I am pretty sure that my morning poos are dense enough to fuel an interplanetary delivery ship.
Oh, and I can move my foot and toes a little bit now, and someone told me I don’t have necrosis, which is great news.

Although, necrosis sounds more like the kind of dark magic you’d use to control a skeleton army. Which I’d be down with. Maybe next time. For now I will settle with being a cyborg, on account of the titanium rod in my leg.

first walk

first walk

The final five days are a notable improvement on the first week and a half. I still wrestle with anxiousness and sleeplessness, but at least I can get out of bed for 15 mins at a time, a few times each day for some good old fashioned freedom.
The pain of having my leg below my waist is bad, but it’s a small price to pay to ditch the sweaty confines of the hospital bed with it’s bed pans and sponge baths.
Adventures, are initially restricted to within the walls of my ward, but I quickly progress to quick jaunts outside the hospital building – Things are finally picking up!

Right on the two week mark, I am released from hospital. Thanks only to the exceptional  skill of the Sion hospital staff my muscles and nerves are still alive and I get to leave weighing roughly the same as I did on entry, with my leg is still attached and a pin in my shin.

Two more days of brutal independence and I make a break for New Zealand.
At home, things are in my own hands, and with unwavering focus I set on my mission to return to the sport I love.

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Roots down in Verbier, and the application of lessons learned - also being a wizard

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I’ve just recently arrived in Verbier, my base for the season, and I’m real heaps excited to be skiing again!!

I learned a lot over the last year, through some tough lessons on my FWT18 campaign and followed by a super positive season of coaching and training at Treble cone in NZ.
I am excited to see if I can put it into practice this year on FWT19!

Mt Gele, my favourite.

Mt Gele, my favourite.

I always chat about learning stuff, and in its own right, learning things is pretty ordinary, because without learning we’d just be constantly dying because we tried to pat the lions again.
For me it is important to identify what I have learned compared with what I now need to learn to continue improving, it helps me set smart goals and think within reasonable time frames.

So anyway, all that to say that I’ve got the fire in my belly! (anxiety induced acid reflux?) and all I want to do is prove I can roll with the new flash freestyle movement within competitive Freeride!

This movement has been building for quite a while now, and I think FWT 2019 could show some of the most creative freestyling in Freeride comps since Candide was chucking his stuff around.

But again, throwing big tricks in natural terrain is difficult, and strategy also has a place in the comp game. So, how far can you push it given the limitations of cliffs and snow?

Beats me, but with only two weeks to go until FWT Hakuba, Japan, I’m sure we will see soon enough!

Below is a video of me testing out the brand new Patrol AP 30 Electric avalanche airbag system by SCOTT, worth a look if your in the market for a bag!
Below below are a couple random activities from this spring in NZ!

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Have you ever been hiking dressed as a wizard? This was my first time, and certainly not the last. Why? Because it’s fun!!! Why else?

Have you ever been hiking dressed as a wizard? This was my first time, and certainly not the last. Why? Because it’s fun!!! Why else?



The icing on the cake; and a bit about the cake.

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Peace out winter!

Peace out winter!

After an amazing few months, the NZ ski season is done!

From my perspective, this season has been the best one yet (like, ever). We basically had a storm every week, with a bunch of good snow the whole way through. It meant that I could ski hard at Treble Cone whenever I had days off work, while also making a point of getting back to my roots of skiing technical "Ibex" lines, with a whole boatload that I had never even thought of skiing before!

For example this line, which is now a favorite for me:

In competition, I also achieved one of my biggest long chased goals, which was to land a whole bunch of tricks other than backflips in comp runs!
The FWQ 2* event at the Remarkables is where I progressed the most, placing 2nd with a run consisting of 5 tricks and one mistake, 2 of which (frontflip, cork 7) I had never attempted in competition and the other two (360's) that I had attempted once and never landed.
I kinda figured, why not just put everything into one run and see what happens, 5 tricks in one comp seems like a better use of time than 1 trick in 5 comps. 

My run at the 4* also went well, containing two 360's, and a couple of big airs, although it was still only enough to put me in 7th, against a stacked field lead by kiwis Blake Marshall, Craig Murray and Julian Hampton!

Outside of comp skiing, the biggest milestone this winter was working in my new role as head coach at Treble cone for freeride - a job that I have dreamed about since I left school - which went super well! 
It was so cool to be able to train kids in my favourite terrain and to accompany them to all of the Jr freeride events in NZ, both NZJFT and other, and I am super proud of the whole team, including the coaches!

I also had the opportunity to work with the Snow Sports NZ Freeride Junior tour and Freeride World Qualifier teams throughout the season.

TEAM TC WOOOOOT!

TEAM TC WOOOOOT!

The Kiwi freeride family is amazing, and it is something I am unbelievably proud to be part of.
It is comprised of the kids who send it, their parents, coaches, organisers, judges, sponsors, volunteers, shops, mountains!
And the presence and involvement of NZ freeride legends ties it all together!

It is amazing to see how tight we are becoming, regardless of where we train!   

From getting to know freeride coaches from other mountains and seeing that their passion is as strong as mine, to observing the respect and friendships growing between competitors, backed by the generally awesome attitudes of the parents, I can see that Freeride in NZ is on the up!

Comp Coaching

Comp Coaching

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Lastly, the icing on what has been a cake of a season!
After coaching was done at TC, I traveled up to Turoa and passed the NZSIA ski instructor level 3 exam!
After 3 attempts over the last 3 years, I am finally a fully certified NZSIA ski instructor, something I never imagined I would do when I passed level 2, as an 18 year old. 

I am now more motivated than ever to continue along the path as a freeride coach!

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Confidence is a’brimming as I look toward FWT 2019, I have ticked off a bunch of goals, and I have improved a great deal. Still, reflecting on the things learned from FWT 2018, I know that everyone else has as well - the nature of the beast is that the beast keeps growing!
The stakes will be just as high this year as ever before, and I will be doing my absolute best to stay within the fray and push for the top. 

My goal this season is to have as much fun skiing as I can, I'll do my thing, they will do theirs, and someone will win!

Standard Turoa signage.

Standard Turoa signage.

67,830km isn't that far right?

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Without a doubt, I covered more ground this northern hemisphere winter than ever before. 
I worked out that my total accumulated travel (air, road, rail) from Wanaka --> The World --> Wanaka, was about 67,830km!
For reference, the distance around Earth is about 40,000km, from Vancouver to Auckland is about 11,000km, from Auckland to Queenstown is about 1,000km and I am only 1.79cm tall. 

So if you think about it, that is 37,893 Sam Lee replicants lying end to end... 
Which is an entirely pointless way to try and visualise distance, but the idea makes me laugh!

- not to scale.

- not to scale.

In short, I covered a lot of ground in 3 months. 

After a huge winter, it feels good to be home in Wanaka, right back into gym training and preparation for the NZ winter, including organising the Treble Cone Freeride Programme! 
It was amazing to ski in so many different parts of the world, although next year I'll do a few less side missions!

A park in Tokyo

A park in Tokyo

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To finally set foot in Japan was the highlight of my travels, I have always wanted to go there.  

The Pow was legendary, the people welcoming, and the general
Japan-ness of Japan was a totally new and incredible experience!

I was pretty inspired by the place when I first arrived and I made the tune below, ideally listen with headphones or speakers as the bass is usually lost on laptop speakers! -

I went to Japan and was inspired to jam, this tune grew from there.

Following my travel highlight, comes the best day of the season, which was a few days before the FWT stop in Andorra, (also my favourite comp run of the season)
I'm not sure what it was, but the whole FWT family was going 100% that day!

When it comes to my comp season, I felt like it was a bit hit and miss this year.
All too often I was making mistakes and not quite nailing it. 
Although I was on point during my runs in Andorra and Kicking Horse, which I am proud of!

Initially, I couldn't understand how I could be dropping the ball so much in competition, when I had also been skiing better than ever before in the lead up. 

Tree gaps in revelstoke

Tree gaps in revelstoke

Eventually, through some fairly heavy self analysis, I realised a few things.
Firstly, in light of an exceptional 2017 season, I figured I had finally mastered freeride, and therefore set my competition goals and expectations much higher than before.
As it turned out, I was aiming too high, and the pressure of my expectations filled me with the stress of placing high and I lost sight of the excitement of skiing as a way to express myself.

In addition to that, when I was setting my goals, I never considered that while I was improving, so was everyone else. 
I am starting to understand that moving between top 10s and top 5s in a world tour event is a massive step, and that as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes it comes down to luck, good or bad. 
The whole crew pushed the level way up this season, and I have to say that although initially I felt like I under achieved, when I take a step back and broaden my view, I realised that I am doing pretty well to be in the mix at all.

The reason I ski?                             Because its fun of course!                            &nbs…

The reason I ski?                             Because its fun of course!                                                                                                                      Photo - Mark Clinton

A few seasons before qualifying for the FWT, I remember thinking, "I'd be happy with one season on tour, and maybe I will call it after one anyway!" This was at a time when I was pretty sure it would take me at least 5 or 6 more years to qualify, if it were to happen at all!  
That pretty much means anything after my rookie season is bonus points! 

Having the opportunity to live the life I do is something I am mighty grateful for, although occasionally, as was the case this season, I become disillusioned as a result of putting too much pressure on myself, and my expectations and fears start driving the bus. 
Expectations and fears are narrow sighted, and should never be trusted with a bus. 

The disilusionment spider

The disilusionment spider

Every now and then I look back on photos and videos from my earlier years of competing, or I read an old blog, and I remember my passion and love for skiing, which is the only reason I keep nudging this thing along. 
Passion and love are much better bus drivers, because they remind you to look out the side windows and appreciate the journey, instead of blindly pushing on to the final destination. 

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Qualifying for my 3rd FWT season in a row is something I never imagined, and I am super proud to make it to this point!

Thanks again to all of my family, friends and sponsors and everyone who helped me out this season. 

You guys are pretty cool. 
 

 

 

Mellow/Manic

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The title of this blog pretty accurately sums up the trend of competition this season so far.

It started with a pretty mellow hurry up and wait in Japan, followed by a manic two comps back to back in Kicking horse, a sequence which was effectively repeated once we arrived in Europe, with delays causing Andorra to run late and Fieberbrunn happening only 3 days after. 

We knew pretty early on that the competition in Andorra wasn't going to happen until close to the end of the window, so ultimately it ended up being a chance to go skiing and enjoy the company of friends. 
Which was much needed after the pretty hectic few weeks prior. 

Having a few rad days riding hard with no real schedule reminded me why I love skiing and had me super motivated to compete, so when it was finally time to push out the gate I was full of excitement and enthusiasm for the run I was about to ski. 

I skied my line pretty much exactly to plan with some big drops, a flip, an accidental grab (which I don't remember doing), all clean landings and finished 7th!

It is a result that I am really proud of because on this day everyone was apparently inspired by the recent falcon heavy launch (sending hard but also landing real smoooooth).
- by the way, everyone should watch that, the way those boosters land is mesmerising.

I think Andorra is my favourite stop on the tour.
The thing I love most is the abundance of food in hotel Coma, and the ease of acquiring it, although there are plenty of other reasons why Andorra is a good jam. 

I guess more than anything, after blasting around the world for a couple of months on a pretty tight schedule it was nice to come back to somewhere familiar and have some time to think again. 
Andorra was the scene of my first two FWT competitions last year, both of which went really well, so the place already holds a lot of good memories.
Plus, Hotel Coma parties are the best!

Hotel Coma 

Hotel Coma 

Following a pretty mellow entry into Andorra, things became manic once again and we learned that the weather was about to turn to shit in Austria. The only clear day in the foreseeable future was for Friday, the first day of the weather window, and the prediction was that if it didn't run on day one, then it probably wouldn't run at all. 

That left us with 2 days between the competitions in Andorra and Fieberbrunn. 
Elisabeth Gerritzen, Yann Rausis, Marion Hearty and I skipped town straight after the prize giving in Andorra and drove straight to Verbier arriving at 3:30 am on Wednesday.
We skied that day, then left early on Thursday arriving in Fieberbrunn at 3 pm and inspected the venue until about 5:30 pm.
We kicked things off on Friday with a 5:00 am wake up, and finally competed in the most important and high pressure event of the season! CRUNCH TIME. 

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At this point, I was sitting in 9th place on the season ranking, and I knew that I needed to place 10th or higher at Fieberbrunn to be sure of qualifying for Verbier and FWT 2019.

I planned a line that I thought would put me into the top 10, and then decided that I wasn't content with just placing 10th, so I completed the plan with one final long air, which initially I didn't consider to be difficult. 
I skied the whole top section of my run pretty well, but came into my last air a little loose and was bucked backseat on takeoff by an unexpected bump, I wasn't able to regain balance and crashed as a result. 

Basically I cooked it. 
With only 3 skiers to go I was outside of the cut, until Michael Bimboes dropped in and put down the winning run, which pulled me back into 13th, where I stayed!

This means that by two top ten results and some bloody good luck at Fieberbrunn I am now safely qualified for the finals in Verbier and also for FWT 2019, for my third season on tour!

I am unbelievably happy and relieved to have qualified, waiting for confirmation at the bottom of the venue was hell stressful.

I am now in Verbier for the rest of the season and I am super excited for the FWT final which is happening here in a couple of weeks!

Current rankings before Verbier

Current rankings before Verbier

Memorial for Borja in the finish line of FWT Andorra. 

Memorial for Borja in the finish line of FWT Andorra. 

This happened straight after the competition was finished and before the prize giving, Borjas friends skied the face and spread his ashes before skiing into the finish line where we were all gathered, each of us holding a rose. 
Borjas wife then sent him of with a final few words, it was pretty tough to watch, although I still feel that the day was an awesome way to honour the life of a mountain person. 

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View from the top in Andorra

View from the top in Andorra

Fieberbrunn 

Fieberbrunn 

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All Over The Show!!

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Long jumping in Andorra 

Long jumping in Andorra 

Wow.
The start of this year has been nuts!
Somehow, it is March already and this is the first to blog post I have been able to get out!

Usually, writing gives me the opportunity to reflect on the things I have done as I move along, and it helps me to learn and move forward.

This season has been weird though, I have travelled to so many countries and moved around so often that the logistics have been so time consuming it has been far more productive to just focus on social media.

I've been away from NZ for over two months and it feels more like two weeks!

 

Since leaving Wanaka on the 28th of December I have trained in Revelstoke, Canada for a couple of weeks, competed in the Revelstoke FWQ4*, Travelled to Japan for the first FWT stop which was unfortunately postponed, bounced back to Revy for 2 days, competed in FWT Kicking Horse, as well as FWT Japan (re-staged in Kicking Horse the following day), travelled to Whistler to hang with my folks for 2 days, flown to Austria to grab skis and boots, trained in Verbier for 5 days, competed in the Jasna FWQ4* in Slovakia and finally made my way to Andorra.

I am full nomad at the moment, and maybe biting off a bit too much..

In another post, I'll review the first 4 comps of my winter, which is actually as useful to me as it is to anyone. The most interesting bits are that after a happy 10th at the first stop and a pretty messy 14th at the second stop I am sitting right on the bubble in 13th place. It’s a solid spot to be in, although I will still need to work to hold my position to qualify for the final in Verbier!

Currently, I am in the Hotel Coma (best hotel ever) in Ordino, Andorra, hanging out with the crew waiting to compete in the third stop of Freeride World Tour 2018.

We have been here for almost a week now waiting for weather and snow conditions to line up.

Sadly, last Thursday while working to secure the venue, two of the FWT guides were buried in an avalanche, which ended in the death of the local guide Borja Ayed Capillas.

It sucks to lose people in the mountains, especially considering the situation, and it feels strange to have something like this happen on tour.
My thoughts go out to Borjas family and friends.
It's a harsh reminder of the potential dangers of the environment we work and play in.

With all of this in mind, the organisation took a few down days in respect of Borja and also to reassess conditions. It feels odd to just move on, but that's what we do, and honestly, it feels like a fitting tribute to a mountain guide, to send out the best freeriders in the world to light up a face!
Speaking for myself, mind you, that is what I would want, so I hope my opinion is shared.

In the last couple of days, we have had some additional snow and it all seems to be setting up nicely, so we are now aiming to compete tomorrow, Tuesday!

Following on from an awesome first year on the tour in 2017, I have certainly felt the weight of self expectation this year after a fairly up and down start to the comp season. That had a pretty big effect on my head game during the Jasna FWQ, and had me feeling pretty anxious about Andorra. 

But fear not, the stoke is back!
Since arriving here, I have finally had some time to chill and reset and I feel like I am back to normal, which has me excited for the event!

The magic sauce appears to be the consistency of what and when I am eating and sleeping, some super good chats to friends and family as well as the most important thing of all, a few really productive high energy days of ripping around Valnord Arcallis with the crew!

The support I get from all of you and everyone following my movements is super cool! 
So cheers!

Return to Revelstoke

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Summer in Wanaka

Summer in Wanaka

2017 was an absolute hoot, and I am super excited for what 2018 has in store!

Currently, I am in Revelstoke in Canada. After having a super good run of hot weather and sun at home in Wanaka, I drifted into town a couple of days before New Year's Eve and lucked out big time with my arrival lining up perfectly with the first storm in a while! 
My first day on snow was pretty rad!

Jumping over trees with the kiwi lads

Jumping over trees with the kiwi lads

After exploring some of the old lines I frequented back in 2012 I remember why I love riding here!

It's basically a big treasure hunt for hidden pillow zones and steep goat lines, with a few big cliffs in the mix as well. 
The video below gives a good look into how things went on day one!

My plan from now on is to hang here for another week to compete in the Revelstoke FWQ 4* event which is happening this Wednesday and Thursday.
I'm going into this one as a warm-up for the first stop of the Freeride World Tour in Hakuba, Japan running between the 18th and 27th of January!
I have a feeling the locals will be geared up for some big, hammer-time lines, so it should be a pretty exciting event!

The best part is that a storm rolled in again yesterday, and it is currently dumping outside, so conditions should be pretty much on point for the comp!

I'm still pinching myself at the idea of being back on the World Tour for the second year, and to be honest, I am just as nervous as I was last year!

I've been jumping lots since I arrived here, and I feel like I am pretty much back up to speed with skiing, so I guess, whatever happens, it's just another weird road trip around the world doing stunts! 

Time to have some fun!! 
 

Here is an edit from when I first came to Revy in 2012 - I love looking back on this one, and it is still up there in my top 3 seasons to date!

2nd Place, Frontier FWQ 4*

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from left - me - hank Bilous - Matt sweet

from left - me - hank Bilous - Matt sweet

Mid September already.. faaaar out, when did that happen?

A little over a week ago the Frontier FWQ 4* (NZ Open #neverforget) went down at the Remarkables.  

The event rolled through in true NZ freeride fashion, with an unbelievably well timed storm that saw the venue go from ice skating rink to wind loaded powdery love story.

After using the full weather window we competed on the last possible day, with the next snow storm setting in right as the last rider finished his run.

The organisers did an excellent job running the event smoothly in such a tight window and it was well worth the effort.

photo - Neil Kerr

photo - Neil Kerr

I am stoked on the line I skied, I always try to find something different to what I have skied in the past, because it keeps things interesting!

I put together a few features which I have never looked at before, as well as a couple of classics and although I was fairly untidy in the air and a on few landings, it was a good enough show to slot me into 2nd place, just in front of young gun Matt Sweet (fresh off the JR tour) and behind Hank Bilous, who nailed a pretty huge run containing a bunch of spins and burly airs.

The rest of the crew let loose and went full hoon, skiing some never befores, including a standout long jump (Loooooooong jump) by the Frenchman Sebastien Varlet, which I initially didn’t think was a goer, and have since realised is pure insane genius, despite the huge backslap. The man is a mad scientist, and one to watch.

I’m totally rapt on the result! This sets me up really well for the FWQ season, which I will use a backup alongside the the FWT to give myself the best chance of re qualifying for FWT 2019.

photo - Peter Meecham

photo - Peter Meecham

Finish zone - photo - neil Kerr

Finish zone - photo - neil Kerr

Medals - Kiwi style

Medals - Kiwi style

And the best bit of the day was landing 7 kiwis on the podium across all categories, and all in the events first season as part of the NZ Winter Games!
NZ freeride, how the bloody hell are ya!

Official competition wrap up:

 

Men’s Ski

1st – Hank Bilous (NZL)

2nd – Sam Lee (NZL)

3rd – Matthew Sweet (NZL)



Women’s Ski

1st – Laia Castellarnau Plaza (ESP)

2nd – Jessica Hotter (NZL)

3rd – Anna Smoothy (NZL)



Women’s Snowboard

1st – Maria Kuzma (NZL)

2nd – Manuela Mandl (AUT)

3rd – Nuria Castán Barón (ESP)



Men’s Snowboard

1st – Roland Morley-Brown (NZL)

2nd – Christopher Galvin (USA)

3rd – Stephen Denmark (USA)

 

FWT Final at the Verbier Xtreme and Season Wrap up. She's done!

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The final competition of FWT 2017 happened at Verbier last week. It was an honour to compete on the Bec des Rosses and I am super happy to have placed 5th on the day and 6th in the overall FWT17 ranking!

I picked my line because it was the first thing that stuck out to me as something genuinely fun to ride, so I pretty much knew from the start that I was doing it, regardless of how it would score. It looked too fun to miss!

Photo by Dominique Daher

Photo by Dominique Daher

The best part was that It allowed me to ski in the way I enjoy most which is technical, tight, steep and full of features, with a couple of decent airs in the mix. 
Interestingly, I learned afterwards that I am the first person to ski the major part of my line in competition, and possibly ever. 
I asked the judges if I could name it, they said yes, so I suggested "Dogs Balls". Because to me it stands out like dogs balls - it's an expression from back home that suggests something really sticks out or is very obvious.
Who knows if it will stick! 


The whole event was awesome and the podium runs in all categories were sick!
With the Xtreme marking the final event of the FWT, the world champions have been crowned and each one absolutely deserves their world title, those guys and girls are seriously inspiring.
 


I'm gonna put it out there and say that this season has been the best one I have experienced by far. 
It was fun in pretty much every way, new mates, blue bird comps, awesome travels, new tricks, the best parties and some top notch skiing! Even though North America hogged all the snow.. but whatever, I'm from NZ.

Through Freeriding I have met and made friends with some amazing people. All of them super motivated, genuine and a little unusual in their own ways. 
Basically, a bunch of people who think being sensible is a bit boring.

It's been great sharing the stress and excitement of freeride competition with this crew and I am forever grateful to have had this opportunity to try and make a life out of what I think of as basically being a kid all the time. Hopefully I can keep it up!

When I look back on my competition season I feel like I exceeded my own expectations as far as results and personal improvement and I'm absolutely stoked on skiing right now.
I am sad to leave Europe this year, but I am excited for FWT18! 

Until then, I'll be spending my time coaching kids in the winter at Cardrona and packing in bulk activities and adventures in the southern alps!

Thanks to all you cool cats who helped out - my family, my friends and my sponsors and especially Charlotte, Tom, Adele and Kim for letting me sleep on your floor heaps. 

First FWT Podium! 3rd place Haines, Alaska

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View of the competition venue from the inspection ridge/judging tent.Photo -  Dominique Daher

View of the competition venue from the inspection ridge/judging tent.
Photo -  Dominique Daher

Alaska, the dreamland of Freeriders. Full on mythical, with like, minotaurs and stuff. You wouldn't believe it. 
Having the opportunity to compete in Haines was amazing, and I am bloody rapt to have skied well enough to finish in 3rd place! 
By far the best result I have ever had.

The PodiumPhoto - Jeremy Bernard Photography

The Podium
Photo - Jeremy Bernard Photography

Initially, the idea of landing a podium in my rookie season seemed unlikely, and honestly, when I left Europe my plan for Alaska was to push for the top 10.
However, once I saw the venue and started to think more about my line I realised I really had nothing to gain by skiing safe, I was already qualified for Verbier and FWT 2018, so why not just send it and try for the podium!

Skiing in Alaska was everything I hoped it would be, the competition venue was epic, and the surrounding mountains even more so. Now that I have had a taste, I will be back. 

I am still coming to terms with the idea that this all actually happened because the whole concept of competing in Haines is so wild!

Yesterday was my first day back in Verbier and it was spent power lapping the park in the slush and practicing my stunts!
There are now only a couple of days left until the grand finale of the FWT, the Verbier Extreme to be held on the Bec des Rosses. Probably the most intimidating competition venue I can imagine. 

Although I plan to go out and give it my all, the motivation for this comp is definitely focussed more on the personal achievement of nailing a run on such a nuts face, rather than aiming for any specific result. 
If I can ski fluid and in control with a few good senders and make it to the bottom feeling like I have had fun then I will be happy!

Photo -  Dominique Daher

Photo -  Dominique Daher

Our Accommodation at the Captains Choice in HainesPhoto -  Dominique Daher

Our Accommodation at the Captains Choice in Haines
Photo -  Dominique Daher

Also in other news, The last FWQ 4* of the European season happened in Obergurgl while we were in Haines, and I am so stoked to see Kiwi young gun Craig Murray cleaning it up and winning the comp! And with a badass line at that. 

This means that Craig has qualified for FWT 2018!
The dude is talented, and it is going to be great having a second New Zealander on tour. 
Congrats bro. 

1st Place Montafon FWQ 3*

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After a really fun week in Verbier sending a few big cliffs and riding in some new areas, I travelled up to Austria to compete in the Open Faces FWQ 3* at Silvretta Montafon.

After having a fair amount of downtime post-Andorra, my goal for the comp was to try and find a pretty simple line with some big airs in it to keep my head in the game for the next FWT stop in Fieberbrunn.
The day before I left Verbier, I managed to find some great stuff to jump off while filming with Charlotte Percle for our FWT Rookies project. That was an excellent warm up for the comp and I was able to ski pretty much the exact kind of line that I had imagined.

I stuck to the plan of simple and picked three main cliffs with a small booter in the middle. 
I was mostly focussed on nailing the last two airs, as they were the biggest and most technical, so I skied pretty casually between features.
Although I moved a bit slower than I really wanted, I am super happy with the drops and I am feeling great for FWT stop 3!

The last cliff of my line at montafon

The last cliff of my line at montafon

Below is the replay of my run, it was posted in slowmo so if you want to see it in regular speed you will need to click the settings icon (the little gear in the bottom right of the video) and change the speed to 2.

Drew is in the black, I'm on the left. This was taken after the Castle Mountain FWQ 3* in Canada in 2013. We are on snowblades. 

Drew is in the black, I'm on the left. This was taken after the Castle Mountain FWQ 3* in Canada in 2013. We are on snowblades. 


On a side note, while I was in Verbier I had an unexpected link up in Verbier with Drew Peterson, a friend I last saw in the U.S in 2013 when we were competing together on the American FWQ circuit. 

He had just finished filming in Kyrgyzstan and figured he'd drop by Switzerland for his first time riding in the Alps. 
While he was in town we skied a few areas that were new to me on the backside of Mt Fort, under guidance of locals Yann Rausis and Adrien Hildebrandt. We also had the opportunity to climb and ski the famous Bec des Rosses (The comp face for the FWT grand final) with Kiwi freeriders, Sam Smoothy and Craig Murray.


The Bec is truly an amazing face and until skiing it I never realised how bloody steep the top section is! 
It is safe to say the mountains in this part of the world are amazing!

Upper Dogleg couloir

Upper Dogleg couloir

Drew slapping a sweet turn in upper dogleg 

Drew slapping a sweet turn in upper dogleg 

Craig, Drew and Hugo

Craig, Drew and Hugo

Win some, lose some. Went searching for #snow with @sam_ibex_lee and @egerritzen today! #feudubois #verbier #powderday #not

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Charlotte Percle nailing the film game in Verbier!

FWT Andorra - 8th Place Stop One - 4th Place Stop Two

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I first travelled to Andorra 3 years ago in 2014 to compete in an FWQ 4*. Going back has been on the to-do list ever since, and to do it as part of the FWT has been a dream. 

Since the postponement at Chamonix, I have been itching to get things rolling, so it was refreshing to turn up and compete straight away in the Andorra stage where I finished in 8th, and to follow it with 4th place at the Chamonix stop re-staged in Andorra a few days later was perfect!

The goal for this season was to finish in the top 10 a couple of times and see if I could qualify for the second half of the tour in Alaska and Verbier. 
The first stop was pretty damn nerve wracking, I am stoked with the way I skied although I knew that I could have spiced things up a little more, so when it came to the second stop I figured I could afford to put a little more on the line, hence the backflip at the top of the venue!
Funnily enough, the flip was the only thing I was really certain of, settling on the rest of my line took a bit more work. 

So far after two comps I am sitting in 7th place in the rankings, tied with Reine Barkered!
This puts me in a really good position and as far as I can tell, qualifying for Alaska looks damn near sure. 
That means I can have more fun at Feiberbrunn!

If you asked me 5 years ago if I thought I'd be on tour with a couple of top ten results by age 25, I would have said not likely.
I figured if everything went well I could make the FWT by the time I was 27 or 28, saying that it's an old man's game. 
And I was prepared to work at it until then, so to have it all happen so soon is wild!

The FWT family is super cool, and I am stoked that I can experience the madness first hand.
I often imagined myself being part of the circus when I was little, and on some level I feel like this is pretty damn close!

Next I will head to the FWQ 3* at Montafon this weekend, It is on the way to Fieberbrunn making it a great opportunity to practice and maybe try some new stuff before FWT stop 3!

HEAD Freerider @sam_ibex_lee working those edges #headwhatsyourlimit #DIYskituning

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FWT Ranking after stop 2

FWT Ranking after stop 2

First Month Recap & 2nd Place Les Arcs FWQ 4*

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It’s been almost one month since I landed in Europe, and things have been moving so fast it feels like I'm strapped to the front of a train.

The plan is in motion and I am still so grateful to have the opportunity to give the FWT a nudge. 
I have always had goals and a solid idea for the direction I want to move, but right now I feel like my head is clearer and the steps necessary to improve are more obvious.
It is awesome to be skiing with so much purpose!

 

This year I am once again basing myself in Verbier, and I am stoked to be a Verbier rider throwing out the good word for one of the coolest freeride resorts around.  

My winter actually started in Montafon, Austria, another super fun resort which I will definitely be spending more time at in the future. 
It is full of rad cliffs, wind lips and other junk that can be lapped quickly from the lifts. This has since made me realise that hot lapping zones over and over is my favourite way to ride.

I was also pretty lucky to time my first day on skis with the first snow storm in a while.
By the end of the week, the pow was mega, which allowed me to spend some time in the air, jumping big cliffs and practicing tricks.

Next I hot stepped down to Verbier, for a week of riding choppy snow and dodging sharks. That switched my mind back onto ski technique and had me feeling like I was back up to speed with my skiing, after floating around in deep Austrian pow.

Feeling pretty top notch on the twigs, I met up with Yann, Carl and Elisabeth (the other FWT rookies from Europe) and we headed to Chamonix for the first stop of the FWT.

Unfortunately the lack of snow in all of the potential Cham venues meant the event had to be postponed, it will now run in Andorra a few days before the official FWT stop at Valnord Arcallis.

Even though we didn’t compete, we kept busy with an ISTA snow safety day, a bit of skiing and an impromptu day of ski touring to scope a potential venue.

The next move saw a group of us travel over to Les Arcs a couple of days early in preparation for the FWQ 4*.

The planets aligned once again and we had a small dump of fresh snow on Monday and Tuesday, which set up the venue well for the comp on Thursday.
Even with the new snow, the venue was still full of barely covered rocks, just sitting there waiting to snag you right in the livelihood.

I skied one of the most fun runs of my life with a bunch of big drops and the first backflip I have sent in a comp. I placed 2nd with a score of 88 and that included hip checking the snow after landing on rocks, which would have cost me a fair amount of points.

It feels pretty awesome to nail a podium this early in the season, and although it feels weird, I am stoked to be able to score so highly even with a mistake.

After a bit of pow riding in Verbier I am now on my way to Andorra with the other Euro Rookie skiers for FWT stops 1 and 2!

Getting my nails did at the @head_ski HQ. #tothekore

A photo posted by Sam Lee (@sam_ibex_lee) on

Depart/Arrive

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I'm gone! 
Or.. I've arrived... depending on which way you look at it. 
After a mega cool spring/summer in NZ packed with training hard, playing in the wilderness, and huck loads of flips, I am back in the European Alps getting ready for the first day of what I expect to be the rowdiest winter of my life to date.
Maaaate. 

So far the plan is to hit eight to nine competitions in three months, ranging from Freeride World Tour stops to Freeride World Qualifier four star events. That pretty much works out at one a week from the end of Jan until April. 
Maaaaaaaaaate. 

Basically, I figured that if I am already jumping into the deep end (FWT) why not just swim in the ocean!  
Oddly, I am still afraid of swimming in deep water, ever since seeing Starwars Ep1 as a kid "There is always a bigger fish" - Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Good thing I'm a skier.

This is a rough itinerary of the places I will be, with about a week in each place:

Montafon - Verbier - Chamonix - Les Arcs - Val Nord Arcallis - Verbier - Sogndal - Jasna - Fieberbrunn - Verbier - Haines (If I am in the top 12 in FWT after Feiberbrunn) Verbier - Unknown - NZ

Also, I've added a couple of new supporters to the family.
Seeing as it is fairly central to all my travels, Verbier is going to be where I do most of my training between comps.
 

Chucking up frost dragon breath at Verbier in 2016Photo: Tero Repo

Chucking up frost dragon breath at Verbier in 2016
Photo: Tero Repo


The next is MyPakage NZ , who have hooked me up with what could be the finest undies I have ever worn- https://mypakage.nz/
See Instagram post for more on budgies:

First Place at the North Face Frontier FWQ 4* New Zealand

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My first time spraying champagne was exactly as fun as I imagined it would be!PHOTO - THE NORTH FACE FRONTIER

My first time spraying champagne was exactly as fun as I imagined it would be!
PHOTO - THE NORTH FACE FRONTIER

RIP the NZ Open... 
Welcome, the Frontier!

This year the NZ Open became the Frontier, and with it a shiny new FWQ FOUR STAR rating!
That's a really big deal for a little country at the bottom of world, and it presents an amazing opportunity for Kiwi skiers to get the ball rolling in their efforts to qualify for the Freeride World Tour. 
It's pretty hard trying to roll that ball uphill, into the wind, with no shoes from the bottom of the world to the top, so we'll take all the help we can get!

I think it is a cool move forward and FRONTIER is a pretty badass name. Although if I'm honest, I'm still a little sad to see the NZ Freeski Open lose its name. No I'm not crying, my sentimental glands are just flaring up...

The NZ Open is the event that stoked me out on freeride and helped me set my goals as a younger skier. It's history is rich with the names of the maddest mad dogs in NZ skiing and I have wanted to stand on top of the podium since my first time competing as a 17 year old.

Photo: Neil Kerr

Photo: Neil Kerr

This year it finally worked out! I nailed a fast and pretty aggressive line and to my surprise came away with 1st place!
I wasn't expecting the top spot because half way down my run I changed to plan B, I had planned to do a long, weird jump clearing a shelf but I lost my nerve when I was approaching it. So I was feeling a bit disappointed with my lack of balls when I came through the finish line. 
The snow conditions in the Alta Chutes at the Remarkables were a bit of everything, from skied out chalk, to old powder; it was classic NZ skiing. 

Photo: Neil Kerr

Photo: Neil Kerr

As usual people were shooting for the moon and the whole crew was stoked!
A few new lines were skied In ways I haven't seen before, namely Michael Strauss line which was super creative, even though his last air didn't work out to plan. Charles Murray also impressed with a maaaassive gap. 

I am stoked to have been able to share the podium with Konstantin Ottner (2nd), who skied like a boss sending a huge backflip and Andrew Wylie (3rd) whose ski race roots showed clearly in a high speed, edges gripped line with a big last air!

The womens ski podium was all talent as well. Fellow FWT 2017 rookie Elisabeth Gerritzen skied aggressive and clean to take out the top spot, Head rider and Cardrona ski school work mate Laia Castellarnau picked up second place with her usual solid skiing and Jess Hotter took out third while rocking full stoke and an old school pink sweater.

Check out the official comp edit for a insight into how the day went https://www.facebook.com/TheNorthFaceFrontier/videos/1185368164838469/

Cheers for the day team!

Photo - The north face frontier 

Photo - The north face frontier 

Home is where the (pow) heart is

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Treble Cone Looking out on lake Wanaka. Photo by Hugo Peckhamhttps://www.facebook.com/hugopeckhamphotography/?fref=ts

Treble Cone Looking out on lake Wanaka. Photo by Hugo Peckham
https://www.facebook.com/hugopeckhamphotography/?fref=ts

New Zealand aye?
I hear that in New Zealand there is no snow on the mountains, and that people ski on sheep.
I hear that in New Zealand the price of a pie at a ski field is more than an arm and a leg, so people just take arms and legs for lunch. 
I hear that in New Zealand, the queue for the lift starts at the bottom of the mountain road, so "You'd better not bloody pass me on the drive up or I'll fight you in the car park" -- Jerry.

Ice...

Ice...

I love it here, and each season I realise it more. 
After a few years of exploring ski towns in Europe and America I still feel like the Southern Alps are my home.

The season so far has been amazing, and busy as ants!
For me it started with unusually early snow and a pre season 12 hour ski touring adventure up to the top of the St Bathans range with Scott Palmer, a trip we tried last year but couldn't complete due to poor snow conditions. 
Having that under the belt made the next few weeks of rain and melting snow pack bearable.

In the basin at the foot of the St Bathans range. Photo: Scott palmer

In the basin at the foot of the St Bathans range. 
Photo: Scott palmer

This year I have been ski instructing 2 days a week at Cardrona as well as coaching High Performace Centre (HPC) freeride kids for the other 3 days a week. It is a great job and something I have been working toward for the last few years. 
It is really cool to be involved in the development of the next group of kiwi freeriders, these kids are rich with talent and their enthusiasm for playing in the mountains is contagious!

In terms of my own personal development regarding teaching I'm back on the Level 3 training buzz, and will sit my exam later in the season. 

I was studying so hard on the van ride down after work that I fell asleep... 

I was studying so hard on the van ride down after work that I fell asleep... 

Although I have been working more up the mountain with less time for ride breaks, my days off have been super productive on the side of freeride training, even with the slow start to the season, and especially since the snow really started to fall. 

I have been working hard on my backflips whenever I get the chance, and I've been getting way better at throwing them off cliffs, which is all prep for my goal of sneaking one into a competition!
 

My Second time backflipping off the Treble Cone Summit rocks, POV below.Photo : Oscar Mandin

My Second time backflipping off the Treble Cone Summit rocks, POV below.
Photo : Oscar Mandin

Coming up in the next few weeks are the two comps I'll do in NZ, the North Face Frontier FWQ 4* and the Mount Olympus Freeride Open FWQ 2* presented by my outerwear sponsor Marmot. 

I am stoked to head to Olympus to compete again, since the Chill Series disappeared a few years ago I haven't made it up to Canterbury. Competing at the club fields is a key part of NZ Freeride and thanks to Dion Newport and all that have helped him we have an FWQ event there again as well as a New Zealand junior freeride tour. 
 

A video posted by Sam Lee (@sam_ibex_lee) on

Powder days at Treble Cone are an amazing thing. Usually it takes about half the day for the Saddle basin to open, and seeing as the saddle is where the magic happens, frothers and powder hounds will line up for at least 30 mins in the hopes of scoring first chair. 

When the rope drops, chaos ensues as the Saddle Opening Chinese Downhill gets under way. Anyone who has been there knows how mad it can be, and I for one love the madness!
This is me scoring 2nd chair on a mad dog pow day mid July.

For those who missed the joke, The intro scene and voice over/song is from a classic American ski movie called Hot Dog. 
It's funny as, and a must see for anyone interested in snow sports,

IMG_1881.JPG
Scott and I hanging out half way up St Bathans range. 

Scott and I hanging out half way up St Bathans range. 

Home as.

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Bushwhacking near Fox Glacier on the west coast of NZPhoto: Julius Brash

Bushwhacking near Fox Glacier on the west coast of NZ
Photo: Julius Brash

Ive been back in NZ for two weeks now and it is so good to be home. Skiing in Europe is awesome and I love the adventure of it, but it is full on travelling from comp to comp almost week for week. So it's refreshing to get back home and into some other stuff, like bush missions!

Here is my season edit:


My season had an awesome and unexpected ending with me qualifying into the Freeride World Tour for 2017. That also means ticking off the biggest goal I have had as a freerider. Picking a new highest goal to work towards is interesting. Currently I am just stoked to have the chance to compete, and I guess a pretty good goal is to try and cement myself on the tour for the future. 
What ever happens it will still be a badass road trip!

Here is the official news item from Freeride World Tour -  http://freerideworldtour.com/news/2016-season-wrap

Photo: Julia Hedman 

Photo: Julia Hedman 

I am back into a full on fitness training programme now with 3 strength sessions a week in the gym plus two aerobic session. I am aiming to do some more touring during NZ winter, as well as more hiking in the off season. Basically I want to be as strong as possible by the end of the year so I can stomp lots of big cliffs in the Northern Hemi!

Day mission bush lunch on the west coast - Brie, Bacon, Tomato on English MuffinPhoto: Julius Brash

Day mission bush lunch on the west coast - Brie, Bacon, Tomato on English Muffin
Photo: Julius Brash

Julius and I went for a steep sketchy bush climb up the side of a waterfall just above the Franz Joseph glacier track. It was a laugh, and probably quite dangerous. The only other folks who had been there before us were bush pigs and possums.

Julius and I went for a steep sketchy bush climb up the side of a waterfall just above the Franz Joseph glacier track. It was a laugh, and probably quite dangerous. The only other folks who had been there before us were bush pigs and possums.

NZ winter is drawing in now, and I am getting excited for another busy one. I'll be working at Cardrona again as a ski instructor, and I have a bunch of missions I want to do. 
The most exciting thing is that the NZ Open Big Mountain has had a bit of re branding and is now an FWQ 4 star event!
That means big points up for grabs at the bottom of the world, and If we are lucky we might get to play with some new terrain!  IF we are lucky. 

Check out the SSNZ news item here - https://www.snowsports.co.nz/latest-news/welcome-to-a-new-frontier/

I am extremely grateful to all my sponsors and to everyone else who has helped me chase this goose so far, she's a hard one to catch, but I'm gaining! So thanks team!

Flying over Greenland on the way home. The white stuff is sea ice.

Flying over Greenland on the way home. The white stuff is sea ice.

By the waterfall on the Franz Joseph side mission, looking at the glacier. 

By the waterfall on the Franz Joseph side mission, looking at the glacier. 

First Win in a European Event - Axamer Lizum FWQ 3*

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I finally managed to win a comp in Europe!

Standing on the top of a Euro podium has been on my to do list for aaaages, and it finally happened at the Axamer Lizum 3* last weekend!

As an extra "20% more in every pack" kind of bonus, I got to share the podium with Kiwi freeride big dog, Neil Williman, who came in and grabbed 3rd place in his first comp of the season! Neil competed on the FWT for a number of years and is one of the guys who has inspired me over the last few years.

The face at Axamer is pretty interesting. 
It is steep and technical for a short time up the top with only a limited number of entries before it opens out a bunch into the mid section with cliff like features decreasing by the bottom.
It was also pretty boney in places with a bunch of previously exposed sharp rocks being covered by a small dump of snow the night before the comp.
 

My top cliff was one of the first things I spotted when I saw the face. It caught my attention as the most interesting top feature I could see, I was into it in a big way.
It had a pretty technical entrance to air into a sort of walled in section of snow that no one else skied. I landed it smoothly and the rest of my run was made up of quick skiing on a ridge with 3 more airs. I found it quite hard to pick an awesome bottom section, and after my run I didn't think I had done enough because my bottom air was quite a bit smaller than a lot of others.
The judges were stoked on my top cliff because it was unique and creative which meant it scored really well, and in combination with a few more features and clean skiing to the finish it was enough to pick up the win.

Here is the video of my run:


Follow this link to see the full replay:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k3uLNbJNo3dOLfgobWg

This result puts me back into 3rd place in the Europe-Oceania rankings. 
So now everything is going to be riding on the next and final comp of the season, the Obergurgl 4*. 
This year only 3 ski men will qualify for FWT from each region, 6 in total between the 2 regions. 
To be sure that I stay in the top 3 I will need to place 2nd or higher, but there is still a chance that I could get in with a 3rd or even 4th place, depending on how the others in the top 8 or 9 end up on the day. 
So my goal now is to go for it and get on the podium!

air bottomx.jpg


Cortina 3*

The evening after Axamer Lizum I travelled to Italy to do another 3* the next day in Cortina, along with a bunch of other competitors.
I turned up expecting a big day after seeing 130 riders confirmed on the start list on line. 
What I found instead was that the organisers had allowed a further 50 local wild cards into the event. 
That brought the total riders to 180. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY!! 
#@$&!!!!
The comp started at about 10:00am and must have finished after 5:00pm.
Everyone had to be heli lifted to the top before about 1pm, and by the time I dropped in as bib 154, it was something like 4:15pm. 
Long story short, by the time it was my turn to drop I had no energy and was screwing up doing pretty basic turns. I pretty much threw in the towel and skied out without jumping anything of note, purely because I felt like to try and put a good run down would be a dangerous move. I finished 83rd ski male...
For me it was a waste of time.
All I learned from the experience is that 180 people on a variable snow venue makes me want to say a lot of very bad words, loudly. 

Chandolin was a blow out, Had a fun time though.

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I think the title sums this one up pretty well. 

Chandolin is a really cool place, it has some of the longest T-bars and Pomas I have ridden and some of the most playful terrain I have skied since I have been in Europe. 
It is totally stacked with good looking cliffs, wind lips, and more quick and dirty technical lines than you could shake a Scot Shmidt at. 

The venue is right smack in the middle of said dirty tech. 
So its sort of right up my alley, as I am a big fan of getting into tight spots. 

The format was a run on each of two days, both runs count.

I picked a technical double in some steep exposure. 
I skied into the zone OK but did everything in slow motion.
I landed the line but pulled a massive power slide in the run out which must have been judged as a as a loss of control, even though I stayed on my feet. I think if I had done a better job with planing my runout I could have come away better than the 20th place after day 1.

It pretty much meant I had no chance of a top five heading into day two. 

moon plane.jpg

In the end I decided to use the second day as a training comp to try something new. 
I picked some more obvious big airs down the main chute with a plan to 360 the first and backflip the last. 

I spun the first cliff, and although the rotation was pretty close to right I landed funny and lost my uphill ski and crashed, ending my run with a no score. 

All up I placed 40th. This comp definitely taught me a few things about my approach and I am all the time learning from my runs. Even though I am disappointed with how things went I am glad I had the opportunity to try something new, that is the first time I have spun in a comp and all things considered it went OK. I will be training more spins out of competition as I think I am starting to ski in a way that can really benefit from a bit of freestyle!