the powder room

10th September 2006, 22.38
In bed

My quest for space took me up Mount Roy today. It’s been ages since I’ve done any proper walking, so it was quite a nostalgic relief to go up the side of a mountain.

Mount Roy (or Roy’s Peak) is at around 1500m, so is over 1000m above the road – pretty vertiginous climb, steep switchbacks snaking all the way up. It took Kev and I nearly 3 hours to get up (via a small diversion into some prickly tussock – oops!). The views were spectacular – right the way down the Matukituki river to Mount Aspiring, over to Treble Cone and right back over to Wanaka. Couldn’t have asked for better weather – clear blue sky and not a breath of wind in the air.

As we reached around 1200m, we hit the snowline and had to dodge the odd patches of spring snow. Right up the very top, we were forced to trudge through snow to climb the last few metres up the ridgeline.

I was supposed to be having a rest day before BASI, but I’m glad we went. I needed to get out there and do something (not that I don’t do that on a daily basis, but you get what I mean).

I’m looking forward to starting the exam tomorrow – not sure how I feel, don’t feel worried as it feels just like another week of training. Well, we’ll see how it goes. I feel much more confident about my riding (and feel that I’m now riding like a Stage 1 qualified instructor!) and the teaching is pretty much the same, so am quietly upbeat about it. I’ve just got to focus and consistently show that I can do it.

8th September 2006, 16.58
On my bed, after an epic day

Today was our last day of training – it kinda crept up on me, but there we have it, all we’ve got left is the BASI exam. It’s been a challenging experience, I have in equal parts hated, admired, reviled and loved the trainers, but what is undisputable is how far I feel that I’ve come. In terms of my riding, my resilience and my understanding of myself and others.

Coming here was a real step for me and looking back, I’d forgotten quite how much this means to me. Somewhere amongst the changes, the stress of exams, self imposed pressure to improve my riding and wanting to be seen in a good light, I’d lost perspective. But in the last week or so, I feel like I’ve remembered what I came here for and how life is. I’ve remembered that life is fun!

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

6th September 2006, 21.59
On me sofa, having cleaned the kitchen

Awesome (must stop using that adjective…) day today – snow is still a bit rubbish today, but it was a bit colder today and there was a little fresh last night, so all in all, it wasn’t too bad! We had yesterday off-mountain because of the rain, but it was a good break.

I’m in a group with Tom as our trainer this week – still with Pete, Claire, Nipper and Chelsea. We’ve been working on improving our flow and moving fore and aft on the board a bit more. Had a bit of a breakthrough on Monday with Tom and practised it a bit today – starting to feel more fluid in my riding now. Still need to work on my heelside posture (I tend to break at the waist), but we did a great exercise with Neil last week that really helped – he dragged us around with a drag lift handle to get us to resist and stand up properly.

But the real exciting thing today was a new board! Having demoed the Burton Seven and not liking it, I tried a Capita Shapeshifter – and loved it! So, I’ve treated myself to one, managed to get quite a bit off cos it’s the end of the season and cos I’m a qualified instructor!.

Can’t wait to play with it tomorrow – looking forward to BASI exam now, feel less stressed about it, partly because of the style of the trainers and partly because I know I’ve got my NZSIA already.

30th August 2006, 2146
On the sofa (again!)

Was roasting today – glorious and sunny, but way too warm. Spring is creeping up on us! Spent the morning on the platter practising the BASI Central Theme – basically the beginner stuff. Being a geek, I found it real interesting to compare it to the NZSIA approach.

For the afternoon, we all rode together and hit the bumps in powder bowl – tough work, but great fun – Neil even said that my run would be a pass in the exam. Also managed to make my first grab on a straight air today – and it’s even on video! It must have been the demo board, cos I managed to land a 180 later on. Really enjoyed the board today, but will try a few others – have picked up a Burton Seven to try tomorrow.

29th August 2006, 22.02
On me sofa, trying to fix Claire’s computer

Day 1 of the BASI training and I had possibly my best day riding ever. Things just flowed today and I was riding like I should be. Was a real confidence boost and I thoroughly enjoyed myself today. I reckon it’s cos the pressure’s been lifted and I can relax a bit more now.

We had an evening lecture setting out what was required and going through some theory. Basically, BASI score things from 1 to 6 and we need to be scoring 5 on most things, which is the ‘early acquired’ phase – which means that we are doing it without thinking about it. I’m feeling pretty buoyant about this and we’ve got 2 weeks of training to get to that level, so I hope I can do it. Again, I’m pretty confident about my technical knowledge and my teaching, just not so sure about my riding. Well, we’ll see how things go!

I’ve also decided to demo a few more boards, trying a Rome Agent 158 tomorrow – it’s a bit more freestyle and has loads more pop than my old board, so will be chucking me about the mountain!

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.