Early Season Shenanigans - Neil Williman

Comment Share Posted on Sunday August 15th at 6:27 p.m. Tweet

Videos from pre-season Wanaka in crappy conditions and pictures from Temple Basin in great conditions

As always some of the photos are slideshows so click em through, and check the captionarific descriptionics for details.

But first... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for me at Steinlager Pure Futures. I need the support to somehow get back to Europe to compete again!

Just go to http://www.purefutures.co.nz/neil-williman.aspx (you need to register with your details but they don't send you any junk mail I promise, and you can get free beer vouchers!) It only takes a second.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!

So... Back from France (check older blogs for details of that epic trip), with the memories of some great experiences but no plan. Hibernation on a friends couch in Christchurch for the first couple of weeks, stealing internet for engineering graduate work search. Pete gets back and has some very Oswald yarns at the airport- he missed his plane from Paris by 2 minutes, and a day. But he met some cool girl who worked at a campground and hooked up free accom and food for changing sheets while hungover the next day. Come to think of it what was she doing hanging around in departures?

Pete is moving to Wanaka and his spare seat is a weekend escape from constant rain in Christchurch. An eventful one, the 3 days serve up hiking Snowfarm to build a jump and hit some drops, getting a groomer ride up Cardrona to film with NZSkierTV, partying a little and getting offered a house and a job. After 4 years at uni convincing myself I was going to stay in Christchurch and get a real job afterwards it took 4 days of being back in Wanaka to move back, to where I lived for 3 years before uni. It's not hard to relocate when the extent of your possessions are contained in a 30kg bag that you just got off a plane with. Well it weighs a little more than that now I suppose, I'm not wearing full ski kit for this travel.

Wanaka now, then. I already miss the clubbies though. And I need to get some engineering work experience in an office so that I graduate. So if anyone knows of where I can get that in Wanaka/Queenstown now, or Christchurch later in the year let me know.

First vid- the filming we did at Cardrona, by getting a ride up on a groomer a couple of days before it opened. I was there with Gnomes and Surfanic teamate Simon Reeves as well as Smith teamates Pete Oswald and Luke Potts. The snow was pretty terrible so we coudn't really get anything done, but we still tried. Luke and Si have some pretty hilarious falls in the punchy snow. Pete has been back in NZ for 48 hours and is trying to ski ice with blunt, soft powder skis. We've dug a pit to see if it's going to slide but haven't really got to check the surface that much. Pete assumes it's good and airs into a chute first thing, tries to make a turn and loses his edge. He slides towards the next drop, bounces off a rock in the takeoff with his back and somehow lands back on his feet at the bottom. Luckily the shovel in his bag takes the impact for him. Pete Oswald, this is your life. A big thanks to Neil Kerr from NZSkier for filming and editing and Tommy Pyatt for the photos above.

Second vid- We hiked Snowfarm, the cross country ski area, to build a jump and try to find some drops. I love how keen people are to ski in NZ, maybe just because our season is so much shorter than Europe or North America. Great fun. Big thanks to Henry McDougall for the footage and making an edit of it (plus footage of them sneaking hits at Snowpark before that opened too). Si has first section (orange jacket blue pants) and I have third I think (brown jacket green pants), team Surfanic and Gnomes. Not the gnarliest footage either but I hope you can see how fun it was.

So to cap this off I thought I'd throw in some photos from the early season trip we did to Temple Basin last year, where snow conditions were a lot more epic than the early season this year. I like these photos, a huge thanks to Camilla Stoddart for them! Check her out at
http://whiteroompictures.com/

I definitely miss the clubbies already. Here's the vid of the trip from last year's NZSkierTV. A huge thanks to Jason Hancox from Basket Productions for the filming and editing, top job. The clubbies at their best, get up there on the chill pass!

Also I thought I would give you the what's up on what is happening with my favourite brands this season.
Surfanic have stepped it up this year with a line of 20,000mm waterproof, machine washable outerwear. They come in a bunch of sweet cuts and colours and are still a good couple of hundred dollars cheaper than other brands. Check out their 10-11 catalogue and find where your nearest dealer is.

Armada booming in NZ too, with the launch of the new website www.armadanz.com, with product reviews, local shopping details, international and local team news and more. Check it out! A lot of their skis are sold out or almost sold out already so you can't wait for end of season deals on these ones, especially if you want to get your hands on revolutionary skis like the JJ's or Alpha's.

Smith is keeping us greenies happy with a new line of goggles, sunnies and helmets called 'Evolve' which are made from recycled product. You can buy them, as well as Surfanic and Armada at... Gnomes!

Gnomes has doubled the size of their shop this year, got themselves a new logo, hardwood floor, carpet and bootfitting lab and are generally just killing it. Check out the new flagship store in Darfield on your way to any resort in Canterbury, or shop from the comfort of your own home at gnomes.co.nz. Without a doubt the best freeski store in Canterbury they are also a great place to pick up rentals or get a quality tune.

The club fields under the Chill Pass are having a great season so far, with the best snow conditions in the country by far. Get there if you haven't already! Check out their happenings and buy passes at http://www.chillout.co.nz/. They have freeride competitions (aka Big Mountain or Extreme Skiing) galore this year, with the Chill Series coming up 25-29th August, and the Temple Basin Big Mountain in early September (you can register for both on the chill website). Also Gnomes Freeride Weekend is coming up at Temple Basin on the 21-22 Aug, an inter-university freeride competition with an on-hill party to back it up! Make sure to check it out whether you're a student or not, search it on facebook for details.

Yoki beanies are straight outta Sweden and took NZ by storm last year and this year they've got hoodies! Tall ones even, with optional funky facemask things that made you look like a knight, choice ay. Check out their gears at yoki.se, they're available at Snowpark.

Anyway I'm off to NZOpen Big Mountain finals in a couple of days, let you know how that goes in the next update. Also a helmet camera edit is in the works, oooh ay!