Again, I haven’t done much traveling since my last post, but life has been pretty busy.

Our group has lost a few people, as Tom has been and gone, and we said a fond fair-well to Kenny. I think it is safe to say he enjoyed his first ever experience of snow and we even managed to get him over the jumps in the advanced park. I have moved… again. This time I’m staying in a boarding house in the middle of Queenstown. It’s not the nicest place I have ever stayed, but the banter is good and the views over Lake Wakatipu are amazing. Thankfully Chris is still in our old hostel so I can still nail the hot tub and sky TV over there.

Boarding wise we have been able to watch a couple of slope-style competitions, Jude and Sarah had a day with the freestyle instructors, and we have had a few good days hitting some features in the Stash. Jumping over the hut has been the highlight; I would like to say it was the sense of achievement from riding off a roof that made the days, but it is the insane crashes that come to mind. Amazingly we have all come away unscathed, so it is safe to laugh at all of the crash videos (which I should be putting on here in a week or two!).

The arrival of spring has had it’s drawbacks; mainly that Buffalo Bar has stopped showing ski movies or serving free monkey nuts. However the weather has become stormier, meaning we have had a few sweet powder days! These days away from the park have taken us on a few gnarly hikes and some epic days hitting the open powder plains. The season looked like it might have been over when it started to rain up the mountain a couple of weeks ago, but we have been treated to some great spring snow. Coronet Peak has even extended it’s season for a week. The slushier spring snow means we can try a few new tricks out without hurting ourselves too much. After a session on the airbag I’ve even been trying backflips of the Intermediate jump. I am yet to land one though.

The next few days will see a skim pond put in at The Remarkables and a Spring Festival take place. So as was requested after my last blog… my awesome ski pants and terrible new hair do (possibly) will be on show.