Not Another Summer..

Ski films, waxing benches, gym routines and internet videos.. these are my coping mechanisms. Mechanisms to keep myself (and those around me) sane through another 8 months without... another 8 months I just couldn't take. It wasn't enough... I needed something new.

Capturing the essence of Winter

Thus began my planning for my northern hemisphere escape. What better way to forget about the absence of winter, than by planning another one? Most people think the idea of leaving a New Zealand summer for another winter is absurd. Winters for them are months to be suffered through.. but for those of us who live for just one more breath of mountain air, there is nothing else.

Before I make my off-mountain life sound boring and lack-lustre, in the past few years I've managed to buy my first home, get engaged and clock over 5 years working in the IT industry. Some would say at 25, I'm having my 'quarter life crisis', but I see it as another step in understanding just what makes me get up in the morning.

Other things that get me out of bed in the morning

What started off as a simple winter holiday plan, soon developed into back-to-back winters. With some understanding from my fiance a simple enquiry to The Working Holiday Club injected some much needed reality into my plans. The team soon had me more excited about how achievable this dream was, and before I knew it the next few months were filled with interview preparation, document application, trips to Auckland and job offers.

Soon the focus switched from planning my ultimate 'summer', to the winter at hand. My winter schedule is fairly predictable. Every weekend, public holiday and leave day I can muster is spent on the mountains of NZ. This season had the added excitement of joining the Mt Ruapehu mountain hosting team... showing people around the outer reaches of the Turoa ski area.

As I have been told that I can talk longer about a ski day than it actually was, I won't regale you with every moment of the season thus far. Thankfully I have this year invested in a camera to capture my exploits and am trying my hand at editing. Here are a couple of the season thus far;

My goal for these 18 months is to spend no less than 100 days skiing. With a total of 25 days clocked this season thus far, and only a few days left of the NZ season.. Whistler has a lot to live up to!