Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2021 i Ski and Snow

Skiing in New Zealand is a relatively small sport at the professional and semi-professional level, and it does not take long to know pretty much everyone. Four or five years ago we started working with Finn. He is one of the real characters of New Zealand skiing and a really great guy to work with. But more than that he is a huge talent. In 2016, at the age of 16, Finn won two medals for NZ at the Youth Olympic Winter Games in Oslo. Finn won the Breakthrough Season category at the 2016 Snow Sports NZ Annual Awards and was a finalist for the Emerging Talent award at the 2017 Hallberg Awards. Finn was then named to the NZ team to compete at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in…

Why The Alpine Centre? Rental • All our skis and boards are tuned after every rental so the customer always has gear that slides and turns like it should.• We replace some of our rental gear every year to ensure we have the most have up to date technology and functioning equipment, for instance this year we have about 100 new skis and boards, 120 new rental pants, 50 new Jackets, 80 Helmets, 80 pairs new snowboard and ski boots, plus goggles, snowboard bindings and ski poles.• All snowboard boots have Boa Fit Lace systems, we use Burton rental bindings and have a range of boards from K2, Never Summer, Rossignol, Burton, and Arbour• We do cater for everyone from beginners - Intermediate to Advanced Skiers, and tiny tots to…

The first major snows are starting to fall across the Southern Hemisphere, and snow lovers are gearing up for the imminent resort openings. Of course, the usual pre-season rituals are being performed; watching videos, keeping tabs on the weather, getting an edge and wax… and searching for that amazing new piece of gear that will kick this season off right. Of all the exciting new technology available this season, now available to Kiwi and Aussie snowsports enthusiasts is a way to convert their snow helmet into an audio and communications marvel. THE ALECK 006™ - UNIVERSAL WIRELESS HELMET AUDIO & COMMUNICATION Aleck 006 is the wireless audio system that brings premium sound and push-to-talk communication capability to any ski or snowboard helmet. With simple, glove-friendly controls for music and instant…

If Nico Porteous was a rugby player or if he hit a golf ball, he would be on the front and centre of the sporting pages throughout New Zealand. But Nico is a halfpipe skier, not a main stream sport, so despite being one of the best in the world, little is known about Nico outside of the world of skiing. Nico is an Olympic bronze medallist, an X Games gold medallist in freeski halfpipe and current freeski halfpipe World Champion. He made history at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, becoming NZ’s youngest Olympic medallist when he was just 16 years old. He is New Zealand’s first freeskier to earn an Olympic medal and the first male New Zealand athlete to medal at the Olympic Winter Games. He made…

What is Obsidian? We hear you ask! Well it was the biggest snow sports event of 2020, with the finest kiwi talent competing in five epic challenges. The challenges were a mix of showing off their sporting steeze, as well as their film making talents! But how did we get here? The Winter Games NZ was founded in 2009 and since then there has been 8 editions of this snow sports jewel in the Southern Hemisphere’s crown. The event normally hosts the World Cup events in Park and Pipe and is the first event of the FIS calendar. But when Covid hit and international travel dried up, New Zealand was in a unique position to still host a world class event with homegrown talent. The Winter Games NZ team realised…

MT HUTT With a new 8 seater planned for this year, you will now have greater access to the wide open terrain of Mt Hutt. With three chairlifts and two surface lifts covering the 365 hectares, there’s loads of accessible terrain for all levels and plenty of off-piste lines for advanced skiiers. Mt Hutt has been voted NZ’s best ski resort six years running at the World Ski Awards. There are multiple terrain parks for different ability levels. Part of the Superpass which gives you access to ski at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables or Mt Hutt ski areas. Locale: One of the closest ski fields to Christchurch airport, only an hour and a half drive away and only half an hour from Methven. Season: June 11th – October 17th Ticket…

In May 2020 I presented an ambitious idea to a crowd of about 300 enthusiastic Queenstown based ski tourers. That idea was to plant 20,000 trees by climbing 20,000 vertical metres in the pursuit of skiing. By the end of the 2020 New Zealand winter Ski for Trees, and the projects’ generous donators, had funded the planting of over 100,000 native trees towards permanent reforestation in Madagascar where they are desperately needed - 5 times the initial goal, creating over 1000 fair wage employment days which has helped to save lives and break the poverty cycle that drives the deforestation. So to achieve this I just setup a donation page, went skiing, and triumphantly posted on social media about saving the world whilst righteously dodging my responsibilities as a new…

Part of British Columbia’s Monashee Mountain range SilverStar is a mountain resort unlike any other. Up here the snow is natural and abundant, and the terrain is vast and varied. It’s the perfect playground for those who love winter sports or those that just love winter. With activities both on and off the slopes, our welcoming ski-in/ski-out village is the perfect place for the ultimate mountain escape. And while we may be a big mountain with a tonne of fun things to do, it’s our welcoming, friendly nature that keeps guests smiling. It’s real… And it’s magnificent! 100% all-natural snow that comes down in light, fluffy flakes to the tune of 7 metres or 23 feet of annual snowfall. All this makes for incredible skiing and riding. Combined with a…

Let’s rewind to early 2020, when flying internationally was a regular part of my skiing life. I boarded a flight to the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, to meet with the Indonesian Government, Minister of Tourism, to propose a project to get funding for a film project that was in the works to ski the last remaining tropical glacier in West Papua. I then flew back to Canada for a couple of weeks to shoot some ski photos before boarding a plane back home to NZ to complete my Snow and Ice Training Course (Part of the NZMGA ski guide pathway). After ten days, I once again boarded a plane back to my base in Canada to finish the Northern Hemisphere winter. During this time, I must say I was pretty…

SKIING IN NEW ZEALAND If covid has taught us anything good, it has taught us to realise how lucky we are. Not just in how we have been able to handle the virus with limited lockdowns, but it made us more introspective. Instead of looking offshore we looked at what was at home, and I have not met anyone who has not seen the real value in that. As winter draws in, and we begin to explore our own backyard, we can appreciate that its not only the major resorts that offer great skiing but there is also an abundance of club fields (open to the public) just waiting to be explored. Whilst the majority of these ski club fields are quite small, they all offer unique experiences. The next…

MT RUAPEHU Combined, both Whakapapa and Tūroa comprise the largest ski area in New Zealand, totalling approx. 1500ha. Given the fields’ natural occurrence on a volcano – and an active one at that – and that it is formed by solidified lava, the terrain is like no other and lends itself perfectly to natural bowls, wind lips and half pipes, with a vast number of cliffs and drop offs. This makes skiing and boarding across both Whakapapa and Tūroa ski fields some of the most exhilarating the Southern Hemisphere has to offer. Mt Ruapehu itself rises from the Central Plateau alongside neighbouring peaks of Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt Tongariro. It is topped by three peaks, with a volcanic crater nestled amongst them. The crater, filled with water, remains active, releasing…

Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves because we could not get to our summer skiing destination, we filled the void of a lack of ski travel this year with going to the Warren Miller movie. New Zealand has great skiing, but you forget how good it gets offshore. In this year’s Warren Miller movie we got to travel to Switzerland with big-mountain skiers Lexi duPont (as seen on the cover) and Amie Engerbreston. They explored Iceland with Aspen locals Victor Major and Baker Boyd and even flew to Antarctica to examine the impact of climate change, plus there was a lot of skiing in between. Warren Miller has been making movies to inspire us for as long as I can remember. Warren passed away in 2018 but his…

The year-round, mountain community of Sun Peaks is situated in the interior region of British Columbia and is known for its vast terrain, legendary light, dry powder, mild temperatures and intimate ski-through village. Getting there is easy. Fly into Kamloops Airport (YKA) after connecting from Vancouver International Airport (YVR), and enjoy a quick 45-minute transfer to mountain. Once you arrive in Sun Peaks you’ll be greeted by the European inspired, pedestrian only village. There’s no shortage of beautiful places to stay with 9 hotels and lodges in the village and 100’s of larger units just a short walk or ski away. The 20+ restaurants are busy serving up fresh coffee and eclectic culinary spreads while you’ll find local art and souvenirs and must-have gear in the 20+ shops. Most of…