The Winter Blues (August 28th, 2006)

It's been a little quiet around here lately. Nearly everyone has been bitten by some virus or another in the last few weeks. Those who haven't been sick yet have been hiding from everyone else. I came down with something last week and just as I thought I was getting over it got struck down again (much worse) this weekend. The joys of communal living with poor ventilation mixed with questionable personal hygiene. But I'm not here to complain. There have been some highlights in the last week, hopefully going through them again will help me forget how much my body hates me right now.

Last Friday was a great day. I had a free day on the mountain, my first in nearly two weeks. I decided to spend an hour on the bunny slope, working on some freestyle moves. I discovered that freestyle can actually be hard work and was quickly sweating. I didn't want to go back down to take some layers off, so I just started stripping at the top of the bunny slope. First my jacket, then my long underwear top, leaving me with just a t-shirt on. But that wasn't enough, I ended up taking off my snow pants AND sweat pants, leaving me with long underwear tights, a t-shirt, and my snowboard boots on. Needless to say I got quite a few questioning looks, especially from concerned parents. I even had a curious ski patroller come over and check to make sure everything was okay. But the end result was worth it, my freestyle is looking a lot better.

When I got home Friday night I decided to go to the gym. I can tell it's a top notch gym because I've stumbled across several ski teams training there. Friday was a real treat because the Finnish women's ski team was there. There were 6 of them and a couple of trainers in one corner, working hard, chatting unintelligibly, wearing Finnish flags on all of their gear. Surrounding the team was a group of a dozen gym guys, working out way harder than they normally do, using mirrors to glance over at the team whenever possible. Obviously I was a part of this group. Surrounding our group was a another dozen female gym regulars, staring disgustedly at the men and chatting to each other in hushed whispers. It was quite a scene all around.

And speaking of ski teams, the US team was available at Coronet Peak today, signing posters, helmets, etc (sadly Bode wasn't there, but Ted Ligety, winner of the Olympic Gold for men's combine, was). I wandered over during lunch, tempted to get some autographs. However, the line consisted solely of 6 to 10 year old kids in ski school, staring at team with glazed over eyes, afraid to say anything. I couldn't bring myself to stand in line with 50 ski schoolers, so I was forced to watched from a distance, pretending that I didn't actually care that much. :)

Only in New Zealand (August 22nd, 2006)





I enjoy watching the morning news during breakfast; I feel like I'm getting a little slice of New Zealand life. Usually it's not thing too exciting, but this morning was a treat. The lead story was about a farmer who "discovered" two sheep who hadn't been sheered in over six years. I'm not sure where he discovered them, I guess he has a large farm and they stumbled out of the fog one morning.

These sheep looked massive, though. Their wool was literally dragging on the ground (but no that picture above isn't from the story). Everyone involved in the news report seemed to be very impressed as well. They asked the farmer what he planned to do with the wool. He was open to suggestions, but was thinking of donating it to a charitable cause.

Although I was laughing at the story I admit I found the whole thing kind of interesting. But only in New Zealand could that be a leading story. Of course, I can't say the US is much better. When I checked CNN.com three days ago the lead story was that a suspect in the JonBenet killing had confessed in Thailand. I thought that was interesting, but didn't think it warranted lead-story status. Two days ago CNN.com leads with "JonBenet suspect in transit from Thailand." And yesterday, "JonBenet suspect arrives in Los Angeles; transported to local jail." Alright now, three days in a row? Tracing a suspect's travel itinerary? I think I'd rather hear about overloaded sheep.

Speaking of important issues, let's get back to me. :) I start a two day first aid course tomorrow (with an extra focus on mountain safety issues). I've got a lot of snowboarding stuff to practice this week and I mentioned to my snowboard instructor that I might skip the first aid course and work on my riding instead. "Nothing you do on the slopes in the next two days will help you save a life" was his only response. It's hard to argue with that logic.

Avalanches and Snow (August 20th, 2006)

Last Thursday and Friday I joined an avalanche training class. I was hoping it would be fun and exciting; sadly it was pretty slow and boring. I definitely learned some new stuff though. We practiced using transceivers to find buried people and learned how to build snow pits to analyze any potential instability in the snow. The only real problem was that all the information could have easily be packed into a single day, instead of the two day treatment we received. In fact, even though were basically completely snowed in most of the second day we had already covered everything we needed to know.

This brings me to point #2. We had our first real winter storm starting last Friday (and still going on and off). We were getting at least and inch or two of snow an hour at the Remarkables on Friday. Unfortunately were also getting 50 mph wind blasts and about 5 feet of visibility. We tried a couple of runs but literally couldn't see the boards on our feet, making snowboarding more or less impossible. The snow was great for snow balls, though. As we waited (45 minutes) for the bus to leave, we had a full-scale snowball fight around the bus. We hit each other, cars, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be within range. It was a good afternoon.

Today the skies cleared and we were treated to a foot and a half of fresh powder. It was easily the best snow day of the year (including the heli-ski trip). Our instructors took advantage of the opportunity and we spent most of the morning carving fresh tracks in the "back bowls." Sometimes I forget we're supposed to be learning things our here. :) Only 5 more training days before our stage one exam, though! Everyone is starting to get a little nervous already.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together (August 20th, 2006)

I've been hesitant to slam my lodge-mates too much here, in the off chance that one of them may somehow stumble across this site. But occasionally I need to vent. :) There are two English girls in our lodge that everyone has described as "pure" or "sweet" but what I think they really mean is "air headed." Last night one of them was staring at an inflatable gym ball and asked Andy (the owner) how he was going to carry it on the plane with him. He responded, "Well I'm going to let the air out and fold it up." She was amazed and noted that the inventors must have been really smart guys. The other one was extremely upset while we watched Kindergarten Cop (yeah, I actually watched half of it too) because the father of the main boy was so mean. "How can such a nice kid have such a jerk for a father!" she yelled. She almost had to leave because she couldn't take it.

However, sometimes air headedness can be a good thing. Tonight we were celebrating Andy's 24th birthday. Two good things happened. First, we made fajitas! I have been absolutely craving Mexican food since arriving in New Zealand. There's just one Mexican place in Queenstown and for the life of me I can't figure out what hours they're actually opened. I've been there twice during prime dinner hours; they've been closed both times.

Anyway, on to the second good thing that happened. One of the girls bought some balloons for the party, but wanting to save 30 cents she bought water balloons. She didn't realize that you can't actually blow water balloons up with air. Not wanting to waste them, she filled up 40 or so water balloons with water and spread them over the tables. Obviously this isn't a great idea, especially after dinner when everyone has had a couple of birthday drinks.

Things degenerated quickly after the cake and ice cream was cleaned up. One balloon sprung a leak, and Andy used it to spray anyone near him. That, of course, inevitably led to a full scale water balloon fight, in our common room. 8 people lobbing balloons around can cause a mess in a hurry. We only lasted about 5 minutes, but the entire place is wet right now. I can't wait to see what the housekeeper says when she strolls through tomorrow...

(And those curious about the title, it's Hannibal's signature quote from The A-Team. Surprisingly, we've watched both seasons 1 and season 2 of the A-Team, which is something I never thought I'd say I've done.)

Up Up and Away! (August 16th, 2006)







We did it! Unfortunately, I'm not really even sure how to describe the day. Looking through the pictures I just see a bunch of mountains. They're pretty, but they're nothing too special and they certainly don't capture the overwhelming awe I felt as we soared over and around untouched peaks of snow. Standing on your board, looking down over miles of untouched powder is a hard feeling to capture on camera.

(If you want to look through the pictures I'd recommend starting here and work your way back to the first photo. I've titled all of them and even added a few descriptions.)

The day started off perfectly. We were split into groups of five (the helicopter can only hold 5 at a time) and put on a bus for an hour and a half ride over to the staging area. However the two snowboard instructors (Chris and Ben) asked me to join their group. Aside from getting to ride with the instructors, I also got to take the helicopter directly from the Queenstown airport. So instead of starting the day with an hour and a half in a bus I was treated to a 15 minute chopper ride!

I knew flying in a helicopter would be fun, but I had no idea it would be this much fun. Climbing slowly over a peak only to see the mountain drop hundreds of feet straight down below you is a breathtaking experience. And the places the pilot could land the thing were borderline insane. One false step getting out would quickly ruin your day.

The snow was great. It didn't break my all-time top ten best snow days, but it was far and away better than anything we've seen this year. And the thought that you're carving trails that have never been carved before makes everything feel special.

The instructors also brought along a video camera to capture the trip. I haven't seen it yet, but there are at least two personal highlights. First, there was a huge lip on the first run that we all jumped off. I was second to hit it and landed a good sized 180 right in front of the camera. Secondly, on the run into lunch we were individually taped coming through a large bowl. I had a nice run going and had picked up some speed as I approached the bottom. I must have hit some small undulation because before I knew it the nose of my board dove under the powder and I flipped straight over the front, sending powder all over the place. Two flips later I was back on my feet wearing a big grin and a white beard.

I think that pretty much covers the major points. Everyone in our block is walking around with a permanent smile on their faces. We don't have too much time to savor the experience, though; we're starting two days of avalanche training tomorrow. It probably would have made sense to get the avalanche training in before the heli-skiing trip, but the conditions were too good to pass up. By all accounts today's conditions were some of the best all season: recent snowfall, lots of sunshine and low wind. It's something I won't be forgetting soon.

My Commute (August 15th, 2006)







I don't really have much to say here, I think the pictures pretty much sums it up. The 30 minute bus drive up to Coronet Peak is a great time to catch a few extra Z's (or Zeds, as they all say around here) before a full day on the mountain. One of my lodge mates was kind enough to catch me in this action shot.

Not much else to report, so how about a couple of short Queenstown stories. First off, the US Ski team is here training for the summer. There was even a Bode Miller sighting this morning who was (believe it or not) enjoying a morning beer before his training....

I'm really starting to miss Whole Foods and even Safeway. I could really go for a Whole Foods salad bar right about now. And the fruit selection down here is pathetic. I guess we're spoiled in the states but I don't think I should need to pay US $7.00 for a small bag of sickly looking grapes. But by far the saddest experience was on my first day, when I wandered the store looking for the world's best food combination, cottage cheese and apple sauce. I started looking for cottage cheese and to my surprise they actually sell it in pretty large containers. It's a little expensive, but it's a price I'd gladly pay for a little taste of home.

I happily headed over towards the canned fruits section, but couldn't find the apple sauce anywhere. I asked an attended and (much to my pleasure) they promised me that they do in fact have apple sauce and pointed me back to the same section. I made a second lap through the canned fruits, nothing. Finally I brought a second attendant over and they pointed out, in the top right corner, canned apple sauce in tuna fish sized cans! Selling for US $3! I'd need two of those for a single meal, which would make cottage cheese and apple sauce run about US $7 dollars a night...

And finally, speaking of childhood habits, when I was in elementary and junior high school my dad used to pack a lunch for me. However, to help save the Earth he forced me to reuse the same paper bag and plastic sandwich bags for an entire week! I absolutely hated bringing the same paper bag home with used, dirty plastic bags in it.

Fifteen years later, here I am carefully resealing my three plastic bags during lunch and stuffing them back into my jacket so I can use them again the next day. I'm not sure if I'm doing it out of habit, because I want to reduce waste, or because I just want to save a couple of dollars. But I'm sticking to it, so mission accomplished dad...

We're going heli-skiing tomorrow, everyone is starting to get giddy. Pictures and stories to come.

Certified! (August 12th, 2006)

At around 3:30pm, August 11th, I became officially certified to teach snowboarding. I didn't pass with flying colors, but I made it through (unfortunately not everyone in our group did). This is exam is easier than our next one (the Stage One exam), but it's a similar format so at least we now know what to expect in September.

I celebrated the occasion by taking today off. It's the first time I haven't been on the mountain in nearly two weeks. It's a short-lived break though, we start training again on Sunday (for three days) followed by a two day avalanche course. There are rumors that we might be doing our heli-ski trip next too. They're definitely keeping our schedule full.

Of course I also celebrated by going out last night. Winny's (one of the bars) extended happy hour prices to everyone that passed the exam; there were a good 100 skiers and boarders packed in there. You aren't expected to tip bartenders in New Zealand so at $2.50NZ a beer (about $1.60 US) you can have a good night out at an extremely reasonable rate.

No one from our course was up on the mountain today, we've had a fun time hanging out in the lodge together. A bunch of us our about to head down to the local cinema. Movies don't make it down here all that quickly so we have no idea what's playing, but I'm really going for the popcorn. :)

Proud to be an American (August 10th, 2006)

When I first came down here I was half expecting and half hoping to pick up a little kiwi accent, or at least a few choice words. But being in a course with people from all over the world I've realized how much fun the language differences are. And as the only American in my course it's my patriotic duty to promote the true english accent and word usage. I've been sticking to American words as much as possible, including an occasional "howdy."

I've been given the most grief over the use of jelly as in "peanut butter and jelly." Apparently I should be saying "peanut butter and jam", since jelly means jello to everyone else. I tried explaining that jelly and jam are actually slightly different spreads, but quickly realized that I don't really know the difference myself. When I made my first sandwich one of the english women looked at it in amazement and said "wow I only thought you people did that in TV shows!" She was very excited to see a real American sandwich. But I've been better off than the irish smoker who calls cigarettes "fags." Telling a group of twenty-somethings that you're "looking for a fag" isn't going to go over well anywhere (except in Ireland, I suppose).

Moon Rising (August 8th, 2006)






It's been somewhat overcast the last two days, but on my way down to the gym today things suddenly cleared up revealing a nearly full moon hanging over the Remarkables. I hot-footed it back to to my room to pick up my camera and spent the next hour wandering around town, looking for a perfect vantage point. I discovered a few new corners in Queenstown, including a surprisingly old and somewhat creepy cemetery. It's situated on top of a hill overlooking Queenstown though, so that's where I set up shop (and it also explains the foreground scenery in a couple of the pictures).

As I'm sure I mentioned a couple of times, things are different down here. The moon has been camped out over the Remarkables for the last week, day and night. I'm looking out my window right now and it's beautiful at night too; it lights up the entire countryside. I tried taking a couple of pictures at night, but I don't don't have the camera manual on me and I can't figure out how to play with the aperture time setting.

It's been challenging finding good photo opportunities. The first couple of days here I was a photographic madman, it's just so stunning with the snow-covered peaks surrounding town. Reviewing them on my laptop I got bored looking at endless pictures of snowcapped mountains. Sure each picture is gorgeous, but they're all pretty much the same. I deleted most of the pictures and vowed to only shoot unique situations, which is why I was so excited to see the moon out today.

I'm also only taking my camera up to the slopes with me if I'm not training. Of course, this means that every day I have my camera nothing exciting happens, but when I don't have it we're treated to all sorts of crazy cloud formations and sun rises. Hopefully be able to capture it all in six weeks.

Skiing vs Snowboarding (August 8th, 2006)

Everyone in my lodge is training for the same exams, but we've got a mixture of skiers and snowboarders. It's been strange to see how the stereotypes of skiing and snowboarding transfer into the approach for teaching. I'd say the (positive) stereotype for snowboarding is that it's more laid back, relaxed, and encourages having fun. Skiing, on the other hand, is a more serious and technical snowsport. It's still fun (or should be), but there's a lot of important information that needs to be transfered to the students.

We're 1/4th through our CSI exams and there's a startling contrast between the skiers and boarders. The skiers are still sitting around the common table, discussing the proper progression of exercises to get a student from "gliding wedges" to "wedges with small direction changes." It all sounds terribly boring and exceedingly technical. They've been around the table for the better part of three hours.

My night has been decidedly more relaxed. I went to the gym for a couple of hours, compared songs on my iPod with another boarder, and settled down for a beer and the movie Fletch (with Chevy Chase). I'm about to spend 15 minutes reviewing some stuff we'll be talking about tomorrow and then try to find a warm spot on my bed. Meanwhile the skiers are still out there, last I heard they were discussing the proper ratio between turn size and distance or something. They know people want to have fun during their lessons, right? The snowboard training manual we've been using has a quote on the first page that pretty much sums it up for me: "Teach people how to snowboard, not snowboarding to people." It sounds like the skiers are teaching skiing with no regard to the people who are learning.

I guess I shouldn't really say anything until the exams are over though, maybe that's why the ski instructor pass rate is higher than the snowboarders.

Snow! (August 7th, 2006)







I know that picture doesn't look like much, but today was fog-soaked, snow-filled day on the slopes. That big thing in back left is the main chair lift, visibility maxed out at about 50 feet (it was closer to 15 feet for most of the day). But it was smiles all around because this is the first time we've had real snow in over three weeks (the snow machines don't count). There were 5cm by 9:00am this morning and it kept coming down all day long.

It looks like we're getting a repeat performance tomorrow, which is both good and bad news. It's good, of course, because we can need all the snow we can get. However, tomorrow is the first day of our first exam (the CSI: Certificate of Snowsports Instruction), good weather would be nice.

As I mentioned before our trainers have spent a lot of time breaking down our snowboarding style, trying getting us to ride "correctly." Obviously there's no correct way to ride, but some ways are more efficient than others. Since we're supposed to be teaching the new efficient style, I suppose we should ride that way as well.

We've been videotaped twice now, on the first and last day of training. It's amazing how much our style has changed in four days and we're starting to look like we know what were doing on the mounatin. Watching my second taping yesterday I certainly looked better, but now that I know what I'm supposed to be doing I can see so many faults and bad habits I still have. We've still got five weeks to get into perfect shape, I hope the changes I've made so far will get me through the next four days.

Halfway to our first exam (August 3rd, 2006)

We just finished our second day of training, we've only got two more days of training before we start our first set of exams. As our trainers so affectionately put it, we'll be the least prepared group of potential instructors taking the exam. All other classes will have had between two to four weeks of training. It shouldn't be too bad though because although the exam takes four full days, it covers fairly basic stuff. Obviously we have to know the material well, but we won't be stretching our technical skills.

The training has been great so far. We started off the first day by videotaping all of our current riding styles. We then went inside and our two trainers dissected our stance and board setup. We made quite a few changes to my gear: widened my feet by a good inch, opened my back foot out (the preferred stance is a "duck stance", both feet pointing out), and added more angle to my calf support. The changes (especially widening the feet) immediately helped me get lower and into a more stable base stance.

I would have loved to have gone out and tried riding around a bit with my new stance, but after making the changes we immediately headed to the bunny slope, where we've spent the last two days. We've been learning how to teach the absolute beginners, i.e. someone who is holding a board in their hands for the first time. There's a pretty good progression of moves to go through to get them from board in hand to ready to tackle their first run. As an instructor we need to be able to demo all parts of the progression flawlessly and while the moves aren't hard, we've been getting grilled on getting all aspects of the demos. They need to be technically flawless. It's amazing how much time you can spend on the bunny slope (with just one foot strapped in, even). I had forgot how many out of control riders there on on the bunny slope, it can be a scary place. But it reminds you what it feels like to be a first time rider; keeping the students feeling safe is the #1 priority.

Anyway, I suppose most of our work so far hasn't been that exciting, but I've been having a lot of fun. And the stuff we're working on can definitely be applied to my riding (and it has been), which will make me a stronger technical rider. Tonight we watched the video from original rides and it made everyone cringe. Fortunately we're going to keep taping ourselves each week so we should see some progression next week. We've come a long way in two days, I can't wait to see where we'll end up after six weeks!

No More Messing Around (August 1st, 2006)

I just got back from our "welcome" meeting with the ski and snowboard instructors. "Welcome" is in quotes because it wasn't so much a welcoming as it was an ominous forewarning. This course is tough, there's no doubt about that. We'll be spending the next four days on the slopes, riding for six to seven hours each day. We've also got an hour a night of evening instruction. After that we have two days off before our first exam. They've said that the first exam is fairly straight forward, but it's four days long! I'm not sure I know enough snowboarding to be tested for four days.

Assuming we survive the first two week march we've then got three weeks of training to prepare for the real test, the Stage One snowboard exam. This is the real exam, the one that 70% of all applicants fail on their first try. I'd like to think that I won't be part of that 70%, but I've got to get through the next two weeks first. :)

There are rumors of new snow on Thursday. I'm going to go out tomorrow night and slaughter 30 sheep, perhaps the snow-gods will find that satisfactory. There really are quite a few sheep, though. I've got two merino wool tops now and they are very soft and very warm. And nothing screams local like wearing New Zealand wool.

Praying to the Snow Gods (July 31st, 2006)

I've been on the slopes four out of my first five days now. On each lift up I've talked to people from New Zealand, Australia, and all over Europe. We happily talk about how much fun we're having and how great the weather is. But it's time to be frank: the conditions are awful.

My first day here was great. The snow was soft, the sun was shining, and I was happy. Each day since then as gotten noticeably worse. Day 2 was on the Remarkables, which I've already mentioned didn't live up to its name. My third day on the mountain was marked by morning winds around 40 mph with gusts to 60 and afternoon rain. Last night it rained we had a downpour, but unfortunately it was all rain on the mountain. When I arrived the base snow level was hovering around 90cm (less than 3 feet) which I thought was low but no one seemed to be complaining. It's now down to about 50cm and that seems generous.

And really, all that's left can't really be called snow, cause it's actually ice. The most heavily boarded areas soften up by the afternoon, but corresponds to about one run per chair. That means each chair has exactly one useable run, the rest of the mountain is unskiable cause it's completely frozen ice. As I mentioned earlier, there are 3 chairs on the mountain: one beginner, one intermediate and one advanced. So that leaves me with two runs to enjoy. All, day, long. Oh, and the advanced run is usually closed in the morning cause it's too windy.

So it's not all vacation down here. This is definitely some of the most challenging terrain I've had to deal with. And the thought of being tested on this stuff is actually kind of frightening. But if I can pull it off here I feel like I should be able to do it anywhere.