Winter has arrived in Queenstown…. As a result the subi has started growing white hair……. That is a ‘frostball’ not a ‘snowball’. Bugger the shade and its permafrost…. I wanted to get some sunshine and I asked some mates if they were keen for a mission… This is Mush and Humi overlooking Lake Wakatipu towards Pigeon Island and the Richardson Range capped in snow in the … Continue reading Walkabout with the Landlords
A couple of days ago I wanted to head down to the Routeburn and get some GPS points for a winter mission I have been planning. However, the ‘loosers’ from the ‘Biggest Looser’ TV show were on the track the day before and they fucked up some of the bridges…. With the Routeburn off limits, I thought I’d have another crack at getting up to the … Continue reading Glacier Hunting
There are 8 weeks until opening day, so I wanna knock off 8 missions. I’ll ski opening day, then I don’t want to ski until August when the snow is actually good – hahahahaha. First mission was the Brissy to Gladstone (new pics might be arriving tomorrow). Second mission was ‘Queens Drive’. It is an old goat track across the front of the Remarkables. Red … Continue reading 8 Weeks… 8 Missions
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to crew on ‘Akimbo’, a 30 foot trimaran, in the Brissy to Gladstone Yacht Race (308 nautical miles). The last time I was on a proper boat was 8yrs ago and my sailing experience was never up to this level…. But I reckon the only people who say ‘No’ (in my experience) are bank managers and girls…. I’m … Continue reading Brissy to Gladstone
I haven’t published a ‘Doris’s of the Winter’ blog post in years…. Too many, post and potential, Doris’s read this blog….. So I’m going with an ‘End of the Winter’ post of all the folks who have made this bad snow winter into a great one…. All winter I’ve posted pics of others crashing and I happened to crash twice (both were equipment failures of course) and … Continue reading Doris’s of the Winter
I had heard of some ice racing and today I finally got it organised. How it works…. take your 4WD down to the local frozen lake, don’t go near the ice fishermen and race mano-el-mano. Eric took his Pathfinder and I took Black Betty and we had a couple of races against each other to start things off….. Start in three, two….. Then we went … Continue reading Ice Racing
After a fantastic couple of weeks with with the crazy Canberrians (Fi and Josh) I had an entire day to myself (and Little Spoon of course). We spent our day off with Jarisse and the abused horses of Colorado…. After the day off with the horses, Becca, Wilson and Reece arrived. Two winemakes and a marine…. The four day weekend resulted in the largest consumption of alcohol per person, … Continue reading Winemakers, Marines and Computer Nerds
Fi and Josh flew out yesterday and I don’t think I’ve ever seen some non-slope-eyed folks take soooo many photos. They were a hoot. In the old days I was the one off to bed early at Whistler and Perisher while Fi partied, this time the roles were reversed a little. During their 10 days Fi and Josh skied A-Basin, Keystone, Breck and Steamboat, played some ice hockey, spent at … Continue reading Fi and Josh Toshioki
The pre ’11pm bed time’ thing continues at the Chateau Grindlay now that Fi and Josh are here. The troops are rising early and today was my first non-skiing day in 3 weeks (I awoke at 6am to check the Steamboat report and made the call not to go). The troops went back to bed but sacked up and made first chair, again. Thing is, I’m … Continue reading Schleepy Time
January was a big one, I had 27 of 31 days on the snow which has to be a PB. Feb kicked off yesterday with a change over of guests, Chris and Lisa flew out and Fi and Josh flew in. Instead of being a day off we had a couple of hrs at Keystone in the afternoon. After half a bottle of Jamison’s and … Continue reading Fi and Josh
Today (Saturday) was as busy as it has been all season (there are 5,000 military folks in town for the weekend – you’d never guess we had 2 wars in progress). The last 3yrs I have volunteered as a sit-ski pilot but this year I’m on the list as a volunteer ‘Predator Drone Pilot’. Congrats to Al and Jarisse on your ski race results…. You might have cleaned them up … Continue reading Weekend Skiing
Chris and Lisa are in town and it is time to payback all that Karma from my Aussie trip. ‘Post Schnapps’ up in the back country. Another pic from that day. You can watch all the shenanigans in the movie I compliled – click here to download the video. Gordon is here as well. Unfortunately, Gordy is not well after breaking his wrist today. Pre-broken wrist, this … Continue reading Chris and Lisa and Gordon
