New Zealand 05 Course Diary

Monday 29th August

Congratulations!  Well done all the snowboarders who passed the Certificate in Snowsports Intruction last week and to the skiers who passed (only 2 missed out and they will have another go this week).

Monday 15th - Monday 22nd August - Alec Moore & Alex Burgess' (slightly loopy) update:

Oooh...CSI in 1 week!
Lucygirl left at 7am. We were left motherless. Nevertheless, business went on as usual, as the 'snotboarders' learnt how to ride swich (except Jim the Jitter and Psycho Paul who were already brilliant at it). The 'skieeks' were training hard as per usual, with more than double the workload, in accordance with more than double the equipment. They did however learn to ski on their hands.

Alex's First Joke of the Week:- Where do you learn to make ice cream? Sundae School.

Ooooooooh.....CSI in half a week!

Ross and Chad complete their 2nd jump, the Ledge Bungee, 400m above Queenstown. I'm standing next to Ross now who tells me that it was "awesome, but not as good as the Kawarau".

An Alex Quote, "Not too keen on jam on toast...it's a bit weird"

Chadlington's recon mission resulted in the successful capture of call sign MARSHMALLOW (a larmet snowboard instructor). General training for the CSI continued all week focusing on Levels 1 and 2 teaching. Chris gave the group a delightfull presentation on Friday evening, the Chav Survival Guide, an excellent crash course for beginners and those of intermediate experience alike. And to be noted, Ross finally passed his Level 1A spelling test, with flying colours. There is apparently entertaining video evidence of a technically brilliant danish skieek cutting up a northern snotboarder. I don't think so.

Alex's 2nd Joke of the Week:- What do you have if you put 8 oranges in one hand and 9 lemons in the other?  Big hands.

The weekend brought Simon's 21st Birthday Extravaganza, toasted with a rare trip into Queenstown's nightlife and a couple shandy's. Poor Simon shouldn't have had that extra Breezer! Sunday afternoon brought 36 holes of crazy golf, where King John and a refreshed Simon came joint 2nd to an on form and 1 below par Alex!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh...CSI in 2 days!

Another Alex Quote:- " Hope you're not one of those weirdoes who mixes up their food, like beans and toast"

Which brings us to today, where it has been reported that King John fell off the Magic Carpet. Speaking in an exclusive interview he said, "It was rather embarrassing". We were treated to another presentation of exceptional  quality, given by my co-writer Alex on bears. I'll sign out with a small extract:-

How do you make bears cross?   Nail 2 together.

Sunday 21st August - Ben MCGill's update:

A slightly cloudy and windy day today, with patches of sunshine peeking through the clouds every now and then, with icy snow to start, and turning to a soft slush later on in the day, as it is still a warm day.  With some people nursing sore heads from Simons birthday, a few people hit the slopes to do some personel training or shadowing, whilst others took advantage to have skis and snowboards tuned and serviced. Whilst waiting for this task to be done in Queenstown, some people went to the top of the hill, and did a run on a 'luge' designed for concrete, and some others played crazy golf.  With gear collected, and hotel returned to, some homework was done, and then a normal night for the week ahead.

Saturday 20th August - Ben MCGill's update:

Today another fine cloudless day, with the snow conditions being firm at first, and turning softer throughtout the day. It was a normal day of training for us today, to replace the day lost whilst doing the avalanche awareness course 2 weeks ago, but the first set of exams are creeping ever closer, and people are starting to get a little nervous.  However, it is Simons 21st Birthday today, and we are all going to give skiing and snowboarding a little break tonight to celebrate, and to meet up with the other course perhaps.

Thursday 11th August - Freestyle clinic. jumps, spins, rails and boxes.... brilliant!

Wednesday 10th August - Nursery slopes all day.

Tuesday 9th August - Snow has arrived, it's everywhere... see how much we love it!

Monday 8th August - Still waiting for snow... Practised teaching and demos all day....

Sunday 7th August - Some spent the morning on a spinning jet boat... doing 360 turns through narrow gorges... a fresh start to the day. Everyone went to a guest service lecture in the afternoon where they learnt to be charming and polite!

Saturday 6th August - Most of the boarders & skiers shadowed instructors or practised teaching...

Friday 5th August - The skiers spent the morning in the mountain practising carving and short turns. In the afternoon we went ice skating for more training... apparently it's similar to skiing! Sarah was Jane Torvill and Chris was Christopher Dean!

Thursday 4th August - Alex's 20th Birthday. Everyone enjoyed the party but sadly Alex turned into a goblin on the stroke of midnight!

Tuesday 2nd & Wednesday 3rd August - Everyone's poring over their manuals, studying lots of new big instructor words. This week the main focus on the slopes has been on practising teaching and shadowing other instructors. The skiers practised their carving and balance using various methods including careering around on one ski. Chad continues to pose!!!!!

Saturday 30th July - Another fine, sun drenched day! There's a vicious rumour that snow will come tomorrow.  The hardcore dragged their limbs out of bed and up to the snow... after a large breakfast and much tea.  High speed skiing, boarding, jumping and other antics then followed.  Some practised exercises they'd been given by their instructors others just leapt about like turbo injected crickets.

Friday 29th July - Friday was a gorgeous day. The boarders worked on their technique and analysed their boarding using a video while the skiers worked mainly on the nursery slopes with a bit of technical training in the afternoon.  Lucy harassed everyone all day with the camera! In the evening Grant gave a presentation about his hairy escape from riots in La Paz, Bolivia. Beautifully delivered. Later everyone went out to sample the delights of Queenstown by night.

Thursday 28th July - Thursday brought with her a beautiful sunshine and a blanket of cloud which lay prettily in the valley. All the groups were videoed so everyone's technique could be analysed by their instructors. All the groups practised teaching on the nursery slopes as well as working on their technique.

Wednesday 27th July - A cold and windy day up the mountain. Top Gun Team (Snowboarders) and Ski Unit Team (one of the ski groups) managed to stay on the mountain all day despite the bleak and challenging conditions. Ski Unit did all kinds of weird and wonderful exercises to help perfect their technique. Top Gun Team worked on teaching beginners on the nursery slopes. The other ski group who are yet to name themselves did a half days work.. then indoors for theory.. part-timers. After a hard day's work the sauna was much appreciated as was a good stew and a few warming beverages!

Tuesday 26th July - Today the skiers have started being taught how to teach beginners. So they spent the morning practising demonstrating a good snow plough and fun exercises they can use with the kids. The snowboarders continued honing their technique.

Monday 25th July - After an epic but good journey trainees spent the first day on the slopes trying to stay awake and having their skiing or snowboarding standard assessed by the instructors!  The evening was spent relaxing and enjoying a nice meal…

Friday 22nd July  - The group depart this afternoon. Lucy Hellberg will be the mentor for the first month.  Lucy is an experienced jungle and mountain expedition leader and led a Peak Leaders' course in Argentina in 2004. When she is not leading expeditions, Lucy teaches art in a school in Bristol.

The other mentor for the group is Stu Rea. Stu is a top level snowboard instructor and examiner and will be working with the group on the mountain as technical director. Stu will live with us in the Coronet Alpine Hotel.

Lucy Hellberg

Stu Rea