August in New Zealand

If I’d stuck to my original plans, I’d be finishing work this week and leaving in two. But my flight has already been moved to December. It’s only $50 to change it each time, and there’s no way I can leave just yet. Another three weeks of epic adventures has passed me by, and I don’t regret one minute of volunteering 14-hour days from 5am, nor smelling as bad as I did after living out a van and not showering for 5 days!

The Winter Games came to Queenstown and so in my mind I couldn’t say no to getting involved in one of the biggest events the Southern Hemisphere has seen. But when signing up I thought I’d be taking tickets, or watching crowds.  I didn't expect to get quite so in depth, but I loved it.

The Winter Games started with the slopetyle contest, and with a 6am start at The Remarkables, I was mentally debating my decision. But after watching the sun rise over an empty mountain and running first tracks in fresh powder, I was back to life. My "slopestyle crew" job involved waiting for scores to be read out by the judge via a radio, then writing them up on big whiteboards for the riders to see their placement. Easier said than done, with scores being sporadically read out in German, frozen whiteboards, and pens which didn’t like the cold. It was so rewarding to see riders so happy when they made it through the qualifiers, and to see them supporting their buddies all along the way.

My ipod even became the soundtrack to the slopes, and I was keeping a close eye on it to make sure something really stupid didn’t come on shuffle play. The tracks seemed to go down well with the riders, and with the calls of “Fresh Mode Drum and Bass playing through that sound system” from the MC, I must’ve been doing something right. It was just quite strange to hear my tracks being blasted across the mountain in such a big event!

By the afternoons we were relocated to the course, and settled ourselves by the second kicker for premium view. Apart from being the first one assist a couple of girls who knocked themselves out, which was quite a daunting experience, we had an immense view of the course and contently watched in awe.

Wednesday at Cardrona for the World Cup Halfpipe was equally as exciting, despite the strong winds delaying the competition by about 4 hours. We’d been told the night before that we would be pipe slippers, and the line “It’s kinda daunting because you’ve the pro riders, hundreds of people, and Sky TV watching you slip the Olympic-sized pipe” meant I didn’t sleep much. But when it came to it, I couldn’t stop grinning, I didn’t fall and it was immense fun. Plus we got to watch Shaun White’s double backflips on his victory lap with our very own eyes, and entertained ourselves by building ice helmets and ice penguins when we were waiting for the comp to start. Crystal skies, epic riding and doing something I’ve never done before meant it was an awesome day.

The week entailed plenty of hours hiking up the icy mountains at 5am with heavy banners and flags, setting up courses before riders got there, and taking them down when everyone left. We were soaked through, cold, wet and tired, but it was worth every minute because it was our chance to help make one of the biggest events to come to New Zealand such a success in its first year.

They held an afterparty for the riders and volunteers, in which we were blessed with plenty of alcohol, despite having been up for a ridiculous number of hours already. But what made it most warming was speaking to the riders, who remarked on the community atmosphere here in New Zealand and how everyone overcame the weather and other issues to make it such a success. I even accidentally walked into the Prime Minister with one shoe in my hand. If I’d done that in the UK then I’d have been arrested. Here everyone laughed, and even local rider Nick Hyne gave him a bear hug when he won bronze in the snowboard big air!

Just three days later, after attempting to catch up on the lack of sleep after the Winter Games, the next adventures were to begin on our five-day road trip. I was sharing two vans with four guys as we went on a 1000km roadtrip across the South Island to catch some snow. Day 1 and the first carnage began... To be continued!