the powder room

28th August 2006, 14.09
In my living room, drinking lapsang souchong and listening to cheesy music

So there we have, I’ve passed. Wow. Can’t quite believe it, but it’s there on paper, in black and white. It takes the pressure off slightly, cos at least I’ve got the NZ qualification. We’ve got today off, then 2 more weeks of training, then 2 weeks of the BASI Instructor exam, but I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

Not sure how I feel, but it’s a bit of an anti-climax and I’m a little bewildered. The overwhelming sensation is that of complete mental, emotional and physical exhaustion.

My main feedback was on my riding. Basically, I need to soften up a bit and develop more progressive vertical movement, particularly in my edged turns. I really don’t think I deserved to pass – and I actually said that to Greg in our feedback session. He thinks that I’m smart enough to know what I need to do and that I just need more mileage. I’m grateful for his faith and thankful that I’ve passed, but I feel like a fraud and know that I’m not an instructor-level rider. But then again, I guess you don’t need to be the best rider to be a good instructor. I feel my mind is a little clouded and everything is grey around the edges, and for once, that’s nothing to do with a hangover!

27th August 2006, 19.26
On my bed, in a state of shock!

I’m sitting here with a piece of paper that says “Standard Achieved” and I can’t quite believe it. I passed – somehow. I don’t think I deserved to, my riding was not up to scratch, but Greg (our examiner) felt it was and felt that all I needed was more mileage.

I should be ecstatic, but I’m not – I feel like it was a little unfair. I don’t think I deserved to pass, yet others didn’t pass and definitely deserved to. I feel like luck had a bit too much of a role to play in this.

Anyway, I’m off out to celebrate with some champagne and pizza – I’ll write a proper entry tomorrow!

27th August 2006, 17.12
Home, empty bottle of champagne in hand

We’re done! Stage 1 is over, done and dusted. Now we just have to wait until 6pm when we get our results.

Had my MA exam last night and think that went well, was a straightforward fault and I gave a structured response. Greg didn’t ask too many questions, so I’m fairly relaxed about that. The teaching part of the exam went well, I had to teach switch riding (going backwards) for my session. It went OK, didn’t fully correct a problem, but I went back and got them to work on it again, so clawed my way back to the right path. Basically, I taught them how to traverse, then to do little back-up turns and finally a complete C-turn. Again, not too much of a grilling after that. The only bit I’m really worried about is my riding – I know I didn’t ride well this week and I don’t feel I was at Stage 1 standard, but we’ll see what happens.

Was such a huge relief to finish the exam and I really wanted to go for a celebratory blast around the mountain, mainly to get away from everyone and the exam autopsy that was going on – grr, hate that! But we couldn’t quite escape for our first few runs and ended up back at the restaurant for lunch, still mulling things over.

I decided that what we needed was a hike to escape the world and contemplate things – so Claire, Pete and I scooted off to the summit. We plodded up nice and slowly, found ourselves a little cave to sit in and look out over the Matukituki valley. It was just what we needed and we just sat and enjoyed the silence. Whatever happens, I’m glad to have shared the experience with Pete and Claire – anytime it gets too much for me, I just have to think of the summit and riding around with mates – somehow life always feels better.

We’ve given it our all, whatever happens now is out of our hands. But we have to remember that to have gotten this far and to have had 9 weeks of hard riding, 5 days of intense examination is an achievement in itself. Whatever happens, we can stand tall and be proud of being where we are.

24th August 2006, 22.00
At the table, fretting about tomorrow

So 2 days into the Stage 1 exam – seems to have gone OK so far, day 1 was a bit sketchy for me, I was really stiff in my riding, but today seemed to be better. Definitely a different feel to the CSI exam, much more focussed and I feel that I’m being watched on every run. Had our movement analysis session tonight, which went well but was slightly frustrating as we have to learn to present in a slightly different way from what we’ve been used to.

That’s part of a bigger challenge – we’ve got Greg as our examiner and as always we need to work with his particular style, so have to adapt our explanations and approaches so that they match what he’s looking for. I guess it’s good to be flexible, but it’s difficult to change your style! But still, Greg’s a good guy, quite relaxed in general, but has a tendency to want a specific answer in his mind sometimes, which can make things a little trickier.

Anyways, tomorrow is the Level 4 progression and more rider improvement – lots of switch apparently, which is a cause for concern for me – it’s definitely a weaker element of my riding. I know I can do it, but just need to get my head straight!

21st August 2006, 18.16
Watching ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’

Last day before training and the morning conditions were rubbish, light was terrible and it was snowing heavily. Neil pushed us hard in the powder. But as we sat eating lunch, the clouds parted and out of nowhere the most glorious day emerged. Fed and watered we raced out to the Saddle Basin.

Riding the quad up to impossibly blue skies, we looked up to see the summit slopes, untracked and covered in fresh snow. The temptation was too much and we hiked on up.
We carried on right to the end of the ridgeline and looked out over untouched snow.

Chewy led with a huge drop-off and we were off, racing down, straight into the Powder Bowl Chutes, then hiking up Sundance Ridge before dropping into Hidden Valley (bit sketchy without transceivers). Fresh powder all the way, a few hits and drops – summit to road, dropping nearly 900 metres, fresh all the way – awesome.

It was exactly what we needed today and the moment that stands out in my mind was as we peered over the edge of the summit looking at untracked powder, Neil delivered a rousing speech. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but for a moment, NZSIA, BASI, Stage 1, front knee steering, board performance and all that vanished. Whatever happens over the next week, pass or fail, what matters are moments like that, standing under glorious sunshine with a happy crew and nothing ahead except unblemished snow – that’s why we all do this.

To borrow from Shakespeare (Henry V):

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that rides his board with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That rode with us upon this fine day.

19th August 2006, 11.24
On the sofa, desperately trying to rehydrate myself

Was supposed to go out last night, but was totally exhausted so went to bed instead. I’ve decided it’s because I’ve not been drinking enough water, so trying to make sure I drink plenty today.

Anyways, this week has been a great week for riding, a couple of little things have clicked into place and I feel much more confident about my riding. Neil’s been a great coach and helped me to stop thinking so much and just get into a flow and rhythm. I spent the whole of yesterday focusing on my breathing and timing – made a huge difference and has really helped me to relax into my riding more rather than get swamped by “am I twisting the board enough? am I flexed? have I broken at the waist? where am I looking? have I pulled the board through properly?”. Still got some things to work on, but getting there.

Also managed to exorcise my freestyle demons by riding through the park, getting some air off the rollers and nailing a box without trashing my knees! It was the smallest, lowest and easiest box (for those that don’t know what one it, check out the photos on the TC website), but totally stoked, cos I didn’t have a repeat performance of my last attempt (see ‘Big Crunch’).

Forgot to update on the board situation too – after trying a couple (and really loving the K2 Darkstar), I fell back in love with my Custom – now that we’ve learnt to really move the board and flex it, I’ve accepted that it’s me, not the board! Plus by bending it more, it’s starting to mellow out a bit and get easier.

As for the Stage 1 exam, it’s another 5 day jobby, starting on Wednesday:

• Wed AM – Rider improvement and review of 4 movements
• Wed PM – review levels 1 and 2, review Movement Analysis

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• Thu AM – Rider improvement – skidded turns (lots of switch riding here)
• Thu PM – Level 3 progression, movement analysis practice
• Thu NIGHT – Movement Anaylsis exam practice

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• Fri AM – Rider improvement – edged turns
• Fri PM – Level 4 progression – strong edge. Practice movement analysis

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• Sat AM – Level 4 progression – freestyle. Practice movement analysis
• Sat PM – Practice teach
• Sat NIGHT – Movement Analysis exam

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• Sun – Teaching exam – we’ll get a 30 minute slot to teach in.

Then it’s all over and we get a presentation at 5pm on Sunday where we find out if we’ve passed or not. We’re continually assessed on our riding, which is a bit of a stress, but just need to focus really. Jim and Dan will be our examiners, which is a mixed blessing, but at least it’ll be nice ot have familiar faces.

Another storm cycle is passing through, which is great for snow, but yesterday was pretty crappy. Lots of rain and wind, so we were wet through by 3 o’clock and called it a day early. Still pretty nasty now and looks to stay that way for a while – let’s hope it clears for the exam!

14th August 2006, 20:30
Alpine Resort

Well, another week, another training group. This week I’m with Claire, Nicole and Chelsea with Neil as our trainer (Pete joined us after lunch). It’s the first time I’ve ridden with Neil and I’m really enjoying it. I feel like I made a bit of a breakthrough with the completion of my heelside turns (which is where my big problem is) – it’s not perfect, but I know what it needs to feel like, so it’s just a question of practice.

Feeling a bit more confident about Stage 1 now, still a lot to do, but getting there. We’ve got to do some lesson planning tonight and then tomorrow we’ll have a proper slot to practice teaching. Looking forward to it, cos it’s what it’s all about.

9th August 2006, 13:47
Alpine Resort, sitting outside in the sun

Day off today, but decided not to go up the mountain – feeling crook again, some sort of cold thing, need a day’s rest methinks. Anyways, this week has been better, we’ve swapped groups again, this time I’ve got Dan as our trainer in a group with Chew, Jen and James. We’re working on the teaching element again, which I think I’ve got a good grasp of and really quite enjoying. Feel like my freeriding has improved and I’m beginning to address my heelside problem, but really need to work on my freestyle. We had our introduction to movement analysis the other day, this is the core of instructing and is about spotting where people are going wrong and figuring out how to explain it and correct it. I seemed to get on OK with is, so fairly relaxed on that front – got a week and a half to go before the Stage 1, so just need to focus on riding.

On the job side, I’ve been lined up to go to Winter Park (in Colorado, USA), but still struggling to find jobs for Jen. Spoke to the team from Snowshoe Mountain, which was the most promising resort, but alas, they don’t have any jobs for Jen – the problem is to do with visas, basically we need a H2B visa and the jobs that we’d seen were for US citizens.

There are some H2B jobs at Winter Park, so we’ll see how those go. I’m sure it’ll all work out somehow and someway.

3rd August 2006, 18:00
Alpine Resort, after an exhausting day

Today was a bit cloudy and the sunrise was awesome but as the day rolled on, the clouds rolled in and visibility dropped. The cloud was kinda mid-level so the very top of the Saddle was nice and clear, but from about halfway down, it was pretty much zero!

Not to worry though, cos Tom decided to hike us up to the summit of Treble Cone – totally awesome! Mindblowing views as we looked down on top of the clouds!

After tip-toeing around and getting a bit giddy, we dropped off back into the Saddle, snow was a bit scratchy, but lots of nice powder patches – well worth it!

6th August 2006, 18:00
Alpine Resort – exhausted and happy

Despite last night’s celebrations, struggled my way out of bed and crawled to the bus for a day’s riding. Glad I did, cos it was well worth it and got to enjoy another perfect sunrise over TC.

I’ve been so lucky over the past few weeks to have so many moments of sheer pleasure and beauty. This place just blows me away – every morning we are treated to the most spectacular commute you could wish for, with a different range of colours spreading out over the horizon in the most perfect of sunrises. Even on the bad weather days, the cloud makes for a spectacular lightshow.

Then we get 5 hours of training with some of the best snowboard trainers in the world and some of the most fun people to be around that I’ve ever had the priviledge to meet.

After all that, we get to come home to luxury apartments, maybe have a few drinks or just chill with mates and watch the sun set over a perfect day, safe in the knowledge that it’ll all start over again in the morning.

Yeah it’s hard work, mentally and physically challenging, exhausting at times and far from home, but a bad day on the slopes still beats a good day in the office hands down!