Euroadtrip! Part 2

Comment Share Posted on Saturday July 10th at 10:33 p.m. Tweet

More radventures, and you can help me win $10,000 by reading this!

FIRSTLY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:

Please vote for me on V pimp my life and Steinlager Pure Futures! So I can go back to Europe to do these competitions even better. For V Pimp My Life go to:

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As always these photos are slideshows and remember to check the captions.

The short version:

Recently, on NWTV... We had just got back to our base in Chamonix after a competition roadie from France to Switzerland, it was unsuccessful and injurific for me but better for Pete and great for Smoothy. I had to work lots which gave me time to recover, Pete worked and trained too and Sam headed on to another comp where he met disaster (details below). By the time I had recovered and remembered that I loved skiing and always would Dion Newport and Marc Walker were on our doorstep. Marc had driven his 1980 Nissan Micra from England, which was a miracle, so we thought we'd see how far we could push it and drive it to Switzerland and Slovakia for our next competition roadie. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Europe that is a long way. Also the car had no warrant or rego, the drivers seat on the wrong side and couldn't idle. Read on to see how the trip went.

The longer version, with yarns that were hilarious at the time and hopefully still are:

So Dion flew in from Ireland to come judge these comps and Marc somehow drove the 1980 Nissan Micra to Chamonix from England. We promptly dubbed it Maximus (thanks Pete) and spray painted NZ theme all over it, which is retrospect may have been a poor decision due to its lack of warrant and registration. Hello border control. We had some practice driving it around in Cham to get used to driving it in snow, the steering wheel being on the wrong side, small bald tyres and a less than 1 litre motor, and got really good at dropping the clutch into first at intersections to jump start it (it couldn't idle so it would stall every time you slowed down to stop). Practice done we were ready for our trip to Nendaz (Switzerland) and Jasna (Slovakia), with 3000km of driving including traversing Austria and Liechtenstein. Unfortunately we had just received bad news from Austria- Smoothy had just crashed in the competition he was in there, and broken his leg pretty badly. He came to stay for a couple of days before he flew home to NZ to start university in Dunedin (dark cloud- silver lining) and hope that the points from his previous results would qualify him for the world tour 2011. And they did! Watch out for him and Janina taking on the rest of the best in the world starting in Sochi, Russia in January next year.

Anyway cramming the skis and gear into the car was somewhat of a technical task as we had no roof racks, and skis that touched both the front and rear windscreens. This team consisted of 3 cars, four kiwis (Pete, Neil and Marc and team leader, ‘Mr. Responsible' Dion Newport), two Brits (Ed Waite and Ally Watson), and a token Australian (Hanna Fisher). Dion had vetoing power of our decisions, which turned out to be needed later in the trip. Ed, Ally and Hanna already had experience of the tour, but not in the disorganized, enthusiastic and rowdy style of team kiwi.

The first stop of roady number two was in Nendaz (Switzerland), only 1.5 hours drive from Chamonix over a pass and down into the beautiful Valais region, another high standard competition worth double points. The competition format was interesting- chose two of the three available venues, both runs count, a fresh format none of us had seen before. Pete was the first to drop, skiing a sick line on the gnarliest venue, but tragically crashing on an unseen dip in the flats just short of the finish line. Marc tried his best to talk his way into a last minute entry but the strict Swiss were having none of it. Ally went big and stuck it, but started a small avalanche that knocked him over, luckily only bruising his spirits. Ed didn't have any luck either, crashing out his first run. I managed to stay on my feet this time, though I had to change venues at the last minute due to the fresh format funking with the timing of the competition, so I was stoked to qualify fourth to go through and compete in the finals the following day alongside pre-qualified NZ teammate Janina Kuzma.

The early start the next day was difficult for Pete and Marc due to consolation partying. Having got me to the resort in Maximus they spent another 3 hours sleeping in the car park, engine and heater running full bore. The finals venue had perfect conditions- steep with fresh snow and sunshine, where an arduous ridge climb led Janina and I to the start. Helicopters buzzed overhead, filming each rider. I started well with a 360 off the first hit, but after a sketchy landing from my second air I ended up at the top of the wrong chute, which had no more features in it, meaning I finished a disappointing 20th.

Janina was the standout of the day stomping her line to finish second two years running and winning a 12,000 Swiss Franc watch for the Sick Bird Award, unlucky to miss out on first and the wildcard to the World Tour Final in Verbier. We manage to run up next to her when she gets called to the podium though and wave the sweet go team kiwi banner that we made in Cham, foresight ay. And guess what she did with the watch? She gave it to her Mum. What a girl ay.

The afterparty lasts far into the night and Pete forgets where the key is and how to work his cellphone, so sleeps outside for an hour or more in temperatures well below zero. My jacket gets stolen at the bar, the second time my favourite Surfanic jacket has gone missing in this way! But last time I got it back by writing about it on my blog, this time I'm doubting it. Here is a photo in rememberance!

Next stop; Slovakia. The team kiwi in Maximus begin the 1400km drive by boldly leading the convoy in the completely wrong direction, resulting in instant demotion from route finding. Austria and Liechtenstein bought us a snowstorm, good pizza and a quaint motel. Central Europe in winter makes us think of vampires and werewolves lurking in dark castles surrounded by snow and bare deciduous trees. We swap cars, exchange yarns and battle to keep together in a convoy as Maximus struggles to keep up with Dion's flash rental. We're really in road trip mode now, eating purely from gas stations, getting lost because our GPS stops at the Slovakian border, singing along to songs we've never heard in languages we don't speak and laughing at funny place names like chur, wankdorf, fucking, cunter and bitsch (all real places check them out on google maps). We have a scare though as police pull up behind our very illegal car at a petrol station, we try to quickly sneak Maximus away but he won't start! After a few nervous minutes we get him going and try our best to look inconspicuous as we re-enter the motorway, luckily unfollowed. We obviously forgot that pretty quickly though as on the next leg Pete got the Maximus up to 160kmh! It was downhill with a tailwind but remember this thing has a less than one litre motor and shaky steering, scary times.

We arrived in Slovakia the next evening just in time for the riders meeting, where an enthusiastic vodka-fuelled local greeted us. The entertainment continued with the broken English that the information was presented in (‘You find the mountain very easy, it is very big') and the explanation for the widespread intoxication- 1-euro beers. Overall Slovakia was what we expected Eastern Europe to be like; poor and cheap with interesting people with dry humour. Although the comfortable ski resort was the only place we stayed, we could still sense the desire to escape from the poverty of the country, and the odd feeling of the post socialist Czechoslovakia hangover. This was a stark contrast to France, where there is national pride to the point of Frenchmen expecting preferential treatment for being French. Something it had in common with other European countries though was the helpful tradition of skiing on-piste only, which was great as the first day of competition was cancelled due to a snowstorm. This was helpful since we almost let the 1 euro beers get the best of us the night before. 

As we enjoyed shredding Slovakian powder in the trees the next day, with our crew only, I reflected that we would never have been there if it wasn't for the competition circut. These travelling experieces that we were having were amazing, people and places that I'll always remember, stuff that makes it easy to be philosophical if a competition doesn't go your way.

The day after was our only forecast weather window, and so as soon as the clouds cleared the girls were sent to the top of the face with minimal scoping time. This may have been the downfall of our Australian companion Hanna (who came 2nd at the competition the previous year) who aired a cliff on the wrong angle, hitting a rock mid-air and spiral fracturing her femur. This resulted in a disorganized Slovakian helicopter evacuation, hospital visits, insurance dramas and eventually home to Australia. We wish her a speedy recovery and better luck on the world tour next year. Marc and I both narrowly avoid injury as we rag doll our main features at the bottom of the venue, and Ally and Ed get lost and miss their lines in the flat light. Pete skis a solid line quickly and finishes 7th though- his best result of the season, though he feels he can do a lot better. Crazy Slovakian locals throw themselves off huge cliffs with no chance of landing, and a snowboarder falls down 40m of exposure; it's lucky that another helicopter isn't needed.

The afterparty rolls on and during the evening some helpful Frenchmen decide it's good idea to push the Team Kiwi Car down a two-meter flight of stairs to the door of the bar. Maximus miraculously arrives in one piece though, so the party is carried on outside on the car! The super social cycle of the bus trip style competition circuit continues to Slovakia and friendships from all over Europe strengthen, though almost everyone is far from their homes. After parties can make an event, it's not all about the competition- only three people can stand on the podium. That day slaying pow in the trees, the trip there and the people I got to meet make up for the result I didn't get.

Organizing to leave the next morning involves digging the car out and failing at searching for items that have been lost on the way- My jacket and sunglasses (suspected stolen at a bar in Switzerland) and Pete's sunglasses, ski pants, expensive thermals, camera case, spare battery, hoodie, socks, undies, iPod and dignity. To compensate these losses we acquire a Slovakian girl named Mimi, who is in the kiwi car with her bags packed and ready to leave when our team manager Dion veto's the idea. The seat stays empty because I had already left to catch a late night flight back to Cham for work- I arrived a day and a half late, 2 hours before the boss gets back, who would've fired me and taken my last month of pay if he'd known I was late. He had rung me to tell me that the day after I left on the trip, so I turned off my phone for the rest of the journey and pretended I had left it in Chamonix. 

Pete and Marc make a non-stop 17-hour drive to Verbier (Switzerland) to watch the final of the world tour, arriving at 9am, just in time. Yet after only a few riders had dropped the weather closed in and the competition was postponed. Janina offers the boys a couch for their last night on the road, and they wrap it up by weaseling their way into the VIP area of the afterparty and sipping on an angry mans expensive champagne. He comes to yell at them in French and Pete accidently drops his full glass on the floor where it shatters over the guys foot. Also I think Pete and the Norwegian girl he was with managed to almost get in a fight by throwing cake at people in the crowd. 

After token visits back to Cham the crew begins to disperse, Dion's judging is done for the season and he heads back to Ireland, Marc and Sam fly back to NZ and Hanna is already back in Aussie due to her injury. The 09-10 competition season is over, and our overall FWQ rankings are: Smoothy 4th (qualifies for the Freeride World Tour 2011!), Neil 37th, Pete 41st, Ally 75th and Ed 92nd. You can check out the full rankings at http://www.freerideworldtour.com/en/rankings/index.php?section=fwq&profil=menSki 

None of us are happy with our results except Sam, more motivation to do better the next competition season. Luckily for us the first competitions counting towards the 10-11 season are while we are still in Europe- in Norway in April and Sweden in May. Pete and I settle back into our routines in Chamonix to save up and train for our next adventures- up there to Scandinavia! Before that happens I manage a weekend trip to Amsterdam too with friends from Australia, Sweden, NZ, Germany, Holland and England. Our local buddy hooks up a boat for us to float around on checking out the red light district via the canal system while relaxing in the sun. What a weekend, I'm bummed that Pete misses it because he has to work to save for Norway.

March is good in Chamonix and we go shooting on a glacier on a powder day with local pro photographer Gus Hurst, check out the shots below. Gus also regales us with tales of speed flying (a cross between parachuting and skiing) in Cham, drunken debauchery and selling a house to avoid drink driving. What a man!

We also get some shots with Swedish buddy and upcoming photographer Filip Alfvag (haha, elf-vag) and French ski-girl extrodinaire Olivia Benoit, check them out below too. So Scandinavia... the final frontier for us. We'd met enough Norwegians and Swedish in Cham to know it was going to be good. But how good? We definitely didn't know that volcanoes, twenty year storms, stage appearances, four star hotels, rental cars and swimming were going to have a part to play. And driving from the beaches of Croatia to the article circle of Sweden in a Volvo that we fixed with a coke can. Tune in next week for the Eurotrip part 3, the finale.