Fun with no snow

Comment Share Posted on Wednesday July 6th at 9:39 a.m. Tweet

With opening days delayed all around the country, Snowpark did a great job of securing just enough snowmaking coverage to get their box run going.

Driving up to Snowpark for my first riding day of the season was surreal. It felt like I was actually heading up to shuttle the Snowpark road on mountain bikes. But we had boards not bikes.

The snow line in NZ is always pretty high but right now it seems there is no snow line. Well, maybe at Mt Cook. Snowpark was a big white patch in the middle of a brown hillside. Slow start to the season? Yeah, just a iittle.

Lack of snow aside though, Snowpark have done an awesome job with their snowmaking (it does help that it's such a condensed area, unlike other resorts) and have managed to open two runs, their box run and a beginner run.

French Photographer Fabrice Wittner was with us for the day checking out the landscape and getting a few angles on his Nikon D700.

The box run had 15+ features already, including a small jump and a newly painted wall-ride. And we had lots of fun! Everyone managed to shake the usual first day cobwebs pretty quick (Jesse Druxerman spinning out of every jib on his second run). There was a steady flow of riders making the most of what was there, and lots of beginners getting their first taste too.

Fun with no snow (the natural form that is)... yep, always possible! But that's all about to change according to Snowforecast.com anyway.

A few words about my new French photographer friend...

Fabrice has been shooting in the snow and MTB industry for 6 years. He oozes passion for photography and is extremely creative behind the lens. Like most photogs that shoot action sports, it's all about the adventure for Fabrice; travelling and visiting new spots. He's been in NZ for 9 months now, cruising around and shooting, and now waiting for the snow like everybody else here in Wanaka. Check out his blog here.