Update from Down Under

New Zealand is awesome. I have not been down here for quite a while, 6 years, and have forgotten how nice it is to ski in full winter conditions and then drive down the mountain and enjoy non-snow activities. Even though it is winter down the snowline only goes to the bottom of the ski area, not even the parking lot. Off the mountain in Queenstown I have been able to enjoy the afternoon sun in shorts. I am traveling down here with Dave Chodounsky, a fellow slalom skier and college rival from Dartmouth. He has been down here multiple times, and reminded me about really important things like to throw some golf clubs in the ski bag for afternoon activities. I ended up bringing my 5,7,9, PW, and putter, and Dave brought a 6,8,SW, 3 wood, and putter, making one complete set between the two of us. The golf courses are ridiculously cheap down here; yesterday’s bill was $15 NZ ($11 USD) for as many holes as we could play by the airport. There won’t be any major tournaments hosted there anytime soon but it’s a good way to enjoy the afternoon outside and take in the unbelievable scenery.

I have skied pretty much every day since I got to New Zealand almost three weeks ago. The snow has been very good at both Cornet Peak and Treble Cone and I have been reluctant to rest for fear that I will miss an opportunity to capitalize on the good weather. This is doubly important because of the size of our shoebox rental car. Dave and I are currently rocking a powder blue Daihatsu Sirion hatchback. Our gs skis fit rather snugly end to end in the car; I recently cut my hand while parking the car on the tip of a pair of gs skis because it was so close to the steering wheel. The car is also noticeably slower when we load it up, which is kind of nice since it’s almost impossible for us to get a speeding ticket (even though the speedometer goes to 220kmh, pretty funny). But the car gets unreal gas mileage and comes with a free pass to Treble Cone for every day we have the rental. Oh, and in case it needs mentioning it’s great on the wallet. At $23 NZ a day for a car and a lift ticket I am willing to leave my automobile pride in the US even if it means get made fun of by the Cornet Peak parking attendant on a daily basis.

There have been a lot of races so far, and I am looking forward to 4 more before I head home. Cancelled races from Australia were rescheduled for the beginning of my trip, meaning that I had to jump straight into the gate after virtually no training. The gs race was literally my first runs in gs gates, and since I didn’t have my own skis yet I was racing on a brand new pair of Jon Olsson’s skis. The result was terrible, but it made me focus a lot more on what I needed to fix and I think that it has made a net positive impact on my skiing. The decision to race was a little intimidating at first considering the field included Bode, Ted Ligety, Felix Neurether, and plenty of other top skiers were in the field, but it was helpful to see first hand what I need to step up to this year and also that they could be reined in. Through the next couple of races I was progressively faster as I had more time on snow, and was able to put together some encouraging runs in both gs and slalom against a lot of the boys on the US, Canadian, Norweigan, and Slovenian World Cup teams.

Skiing wise, every day I get on snow I am learning more about my new equipment and what I can do with it. It was a bit crazy at the beginning of the trip getting all my equipment here but all of that has sorted itself out now and I am putting mileage on my new setup. A big thanks to Warner Nickerson and Jon for helping out, they were really helpful in getting me squared away with anything I didn’t have when I got down here. Talking with Dave has been helpful as well, as he is a Nordica athlete, and I am learning which ramp angles work best and different binding positions and such. All of it is rather tedious work but extremely important, and it’s always exciting when you figure out something that works better than the last setup.

I guess it is worth saying I am 100% healthy and super pumped to be out skiing again. Thanks for everyone’s support during the offseason, I feel like I am in a great place right now and I am more motivated than ever to make this season a success. Tomorrow is the New Zealand National Championships GS race, I'm ready to rock!