Snowboarding with the Champions in New Zealand

2009-08-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Olympic Champions Shaun White and Kelly Clark competed in (and won) last weeks Burton New Zealand Open Snowboarding Championships Halfpipe competition held at Cardrona Alpine Resort. The NZ Open featured halfpipe and slopestyle snowboarding competitions in a glorious setting with fantastic snow and stunning scenery. The Burton Global Open Series consists of 5 international competitions held each year in Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Asia, Canada and the US. Competitors accumulate points across the events, with the final champions being named at the US Open. This year's event was particularly exciting as it is leading up to the Winter Olympics and many of the biggest names in snowboarding were there. Even the practice sessions were a thrill to watch.

I came to this event particularly interested in watching the women’s competition. When I started boarding 16 years ago there was a huge difference in skill level between the men and women and I was keen to see how much the gap had been bridged. What I saw at Cardrona assured me that the women were indeed catching up with the men, and the sight of fearless young girls flying through the air in both the slopestyle and halfpipe competitions was truly impressive. Nonetheless, the snowboarding scene seems to remain largely a boy’s game, as evidenced by the lack of female riders in Burton’s “The B” movie. Where are the girls?? Even on the Go211 website (www.Go211.com), where official footage of the NZ Open is available for viewing, I was frustrated by the fact that I could not find any footage of Olympic gold medallist Kelly Clark’s winning halfpipe runs.

Aside from watching snowboarding champions in action, I thoroughly enjoyed two weeks of sampling the snow and slopes at some of the finest mountains in New Zealand's South Island. There are far too many ski resorts to visit them all, so we focussed primarily on the resorts where the most snow had fallen. This led us to Ohau- a small resort in the middle of the South Island. Ohau had 15 cm of fresh powder on top of a 2.2 m base, and with the sun shining, a magnificent view overlooking New Zealand’s highest mountains and turquoise blue glacial lakes and absolutely no lift lines- the conditions couldn't have been better. To complete the perfect day of snowboarding we returned to the Ohau Lodge at the base of the mountain to soak in an outdoor hot tub looking over the lake, sip mulled wine and dance to live music at the bar. Heavenly!

Although the stunningly beautiful Queenstown is where most of the action is (shopping, nightlife, and extreme adventure sports), I preferred the smaller and more personal resort town of Wanaka. Wanaka is a half hour drive from both Cardrona and Treble Cone ski resorts. Cardrona offered a variety of terrain for every level of expertise and when the snow was fresh and the sun was shining it was a great place to ski or snowboard. Treble Cone, however turned out to be my personal favorite, with the most challenging and exciting terrain I had yet encountered in New Zealand.

Both Queenstown and Wanaka offer a range of restaurants and accommodation to suit any budget. For great value for money we couldn't go past the Wanaka Motel right in the center of town, where the staff were friendly and helpful and our private balcony overlooked Lake Wanaka. For entertainment in Wanaka, we enjoyed the local cinema, where guests are seated in couches and reclining chairs and drinks and meals are delivered to your seats during the movie.

Although the New Zealand ski resorts are much smaller than European or North American resorts, the amazing scenery, lack of crowds and sheer variety of commercial and club ski fields makes this a well-worth while trip to make. Plus you can ski or snowboard in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere summer! Woooooohooooooo!!!!

Live from Cooktown, Far North Queensland,Australia

2009-07-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Cooktown, Far North Queensland. I sit on top of Grassy Hill overlooking the Endeavour River and the spectacular untouched coastline north to Cape Bedford. It was here, on top of Grassy Hill, that Captain Cook stood searching for a way out of the maze of reef so he could continue north after 6 weeks stuck fixing his ship (the Endeavour) from a run in with a reef just south of present day Cooktown. So Cooktown was actually the first place in Australia where white Europeans had an extended holiday. It was here that Europeans encountered their first kangaroos (or "gang-gah-roo" from the local native tongue), had extended interactions with aboriginal Australians and Joseph Banks had ample time to observe and collect botanical specimens.

But it is winter in the southern hemisphere, and Cooktown is a windy outpost of civilisation, too windy to go diving on the near-by Great Barrier Reef, but not cold enough to believe it is actually winter, and so my thoughts drift across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand, where a real winter beckons. The snow is falling and so far the ski season is off to a fantastic start. I have one week to finish working in Cooktown, wax the snowboard, dig-up every warm item of clothing that I can find here in the tropics, and then make my way 4 hours south to Cairns and hop on the plane to Christchurch. From Christchurch I will hire a vehicle and go wherever the snow is falling on New Zealand's south island. So far it looks like the small ski resorts of Mt.Lyford and Ohau are the places to ski. I will also check out the snowboarding, scenery and nightlife around Queenstown and the beautiful lakeside town of Wanaka. From Wanaka I will report back on the Burton Snowboarding Competition, where Olympic snowboarding hopefuls will show off their skills. Stay Tuned!

Christina Howley Tells It

Snowboarding with the Champions in New Zealand

Live from Cooktown, Far North Queensland,Australia