Snow Action 2023

SNOW ACTION

®

THE TRAVEL EDITION

SINCE 1997

WHY THE HELI NOT GIRLS? SKI THREDBO FOR $12 A DAY? YES YOU CAN!

PATAGONIA SLIDE ON THE WILD SIDE

MOGUL EMPIRE AUSSIES BOSSING BUMPS

BIG PHAT BC FAMILY ROADIE

69 SEASONS SHARING THE SHRED

SPRING OVER THE DITCH IS NZ BETTER LATE THAN EVER? OFFICIAL PARTNER OF THE

THAT'S AOMORI

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9 771447 870013

Volume 27.1

ISSN 1447-8706

RRP AU$15 NZ$15 ¥1490

MORE SNOW, LESS PEOPLE

WHERE WILL YOU GO NEXT? Almaty to Aspen, Wanaka to Whistler, Poland to Patagonia, Revi to The Remarkables, or checking out Czechia..

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CONTENTS 14

GEAR UP 4 WINTER: What’s hot for when it’s not

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MOGUL EMPIRE: Aussie Bump Rulers

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SKI THREDBO FOR $12 A DAY? Yes, you can!

36

OL’ 69ER 69 seasons sharing the love of shred

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SKI BACK BETTER AT HOTHAM Who needs a lesson? Likely you do

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SPRING OVER THE DITCH Is NZ better late season than ever?

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IN PATAGONIA #1: SUPER SIDE ME Check out some of the Southern Hemisphere’s best side country

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IN PATAGONIA #2: REFUGIOS RULE! A bunk, meal & vino deep in the Andes back country sure works for us

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OUR BIG PHAT CANADA ROADIE 2 adult kids, parents, 4 boards & a 27’ motorhome for a month from Revi to the coast

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GO NEXT LEVEL @WHISTLER

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WHY THE HELI NOT, GIRLS? For too long heli has been male dominated.

Now it’s your time to fly!

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FIFTY YEARS OF AUSSIES TO ASPEN Why it is our #1 and we are their #1

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ALL QUIETER ON THE EASTERN FRONT Amazing value, great skiing, cheap beer welcome to Czechia & Poland

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RETURN TO GULMARG The ski bum days are gone, but Kashmir still delivers — if you stay alive

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THAT'S AOMORI More snow, less people!

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IT’S YOUR TIME TO FLY LADIES HELI HAS BEEN MALE DOMINATED FOR TOO LONG, OPERATORS LIKE BELLA COOLA HELISPORTS ARE WORKING TO CHANGE THAT. CHECK OUR “WHY THE HELI NOT, GIRLS?” MEGA FEATURE P92.

Snow Action acknowledges that we live, work, recreate, ski and snowboard on stolen land, and that sovereignty was never ceded.

We acknowledge Traditional Custodians across Australia and Aotearoa, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise the continuing connection of all First Nations peoples to Country and Culture across all lands and waterways since time immemorial, and we reaffirm our commitment to reflection, reconciliation and solidarity. This issue of Snow Action was printed on Wangal Country.

© Guy Fattal / Bella Coola Heli Sports

Make quantum ability & fun leaps with an Improvement Program

Adventure starts here.

SUUNTO VERTICAL

Some people choose a five-star hotel

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CONTRIBUTORS After 27 years Snow Action moves on to bigger & better things as part of Adventure Entertainment. Same great content, even better distribution. As Australia’s oldest snow mag we stay relevant by always focusing most on what & where YOU, paying skiers & boarders, might want to check out next time. And the lowdown to have more fun and get the best value doing that. From the best sundeck salsa spot in South America to still-off-grid Japan tree skiing, it’s been a tough gig sussing it out all these years - note the hardship on our faces while on the case. But the more places you ski, the more there are to discover. Like from Poland to Patagonia in this issue.

See you on the slopes — Owain & Carmen Price

GEAR UP 4 WINTER THE HEAT IS IN WITH LENZ HEAT SOX & GLOVES Lenz heat are world leaders in heat gear for the snow, with socks, mitts, gloves and even a boot warmer bag to make sure however chilly it gets, you won’t miss out on snow time. They are also beneficial for people with circulation problems to the extremities that are exacerbated in cold conditions.

The latest models featuring the Lenz Toe Cap and Finger Cap provide an even warmer feeling. The Lenz app lets you set timers and have different settings for left & right for total control.

Lenz 5.0 & 6.1 heat socks feature around the toe heating. Lenz 6.0 heat gloves & mittens feature around the fingers and thumbs heating. Once you have the system set up, they last for ages and replacement socks are available, so it’s a multi-season investment in getting more snow time that delivers a great return.

Managing Editor Owain Price Publisher Toby Ryston-Pratt Founder and CEO, Adventure Entertainment, ABN 79 612 294 569 Art Director Marine Raynard Snowboard Editor Peter Wunder Travel Editor Dave Windsor Features Editor Bronwen Gora Victoria Editor Trent Abberfield

The Lenz Heated Boot Bag features both a 220v and 12v car charger the boot bag, to keep your boots warm and dry in the lodge or in the car on the way to the mountain. Comes with backpack straps, shoulder strap and carry handles.

Check the range in good snow shops or search “Lenz Heat Australia”

Writers & photographers: Kirk Owers, Ash Mueller, Diego Esquivel, Troy Tanner, Guy Fattal, Joel Owers, Ramiro Calvo, Nic Lawrence, Bianca Fidani, Hywel Williams, Craig McGee, Camilla Rutherford, Kevin Boekholt, Mateusz Kielpinski, Andrey Kulagin, Vanessa Graham, Andrew Railton, Tony Harrington

REUSCH RULES

Cover Shot: Aussie FWT star Michaela Davis-Meehan in deep at Revelstoke © Hywel Williams / Revelstoke Advertising Reach a huge local and international audience in the Southern Hemisphere’s with our unique quality print and digital issues, plus 24/7 online and social. For media rates, bookings & info: Toby Ryston-Pratt CEO, Adventure Entertainment +61 423 183 804 toby@adventurentertainment.com

Zac Merrion Partnerships Manager - ANZ +61 499 661 101 zac@adventureentertainment.com

Charles Werb VP Global Business Development +61 418 984 019 charles@adventureentertainment.com Newsagent Distribution Australasia SnowAction® is a registered Trade Mark of Adventure Entertainment Pty Ltd. All material © Adventure Entertainment Pty Ltd 2023 Opinions expressed are those of the authors.

Like/follow @snowaction

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Reusch Down Spirit GORE-TEX A skiers favourite for years. Featuring our premium natural down insulation, high quality Gore-Tex insert, leather palm and softshell backhand. This style will keep your hands warm and dry in even the harshest weather conditions.

Available in Glove, Mitten, Lobster and new Down Spirit Short Cuff version. $229.95 AUD Reusch Alessia GORE-TEX The Reusch Alessia is an extra warm and elegant ladies glove with Gore-Tex membrane as well as Primaloft Gold insulation for extra warmth. The Alessia also has a leather palm for extra durability, adding up to a perfect combination for your next skiing adventure.

Black/Silver or White/Black. $139.95 AUD Available at snow stores everywhere

ACTION SPORTS ANCHOR NEVER LOSE YOU PHONE The Aussie made Action Sports Anchor is a product that just makes sense.

You will never drop or lose your phone again in the snow or out and about anywhere. Mt Beauty based instructor, Trent Abberfield had one all season last winter and won’t head out without it now.

Personal electronics are expensive, whether it's your new iPhone 14, you latest GoPro, or the radio you give your children to help keep in touch with them on the slopes. The Action Sports Anchor can save all of these items from being lost – on the slopes, on the water or outdoors generally.

I have been using one for over a year now. As a ski instructor, I use my phone a lot to take photos for guests on ski lifts. Phones are expensive and Action Sports Anchor’s simple tether system give me the confidence to know that if I drop my phone, it’s not lost in the snow or smashed onto the rocks below. The metal clips and simple design allow the phone simply to be pulled back up. I have tried dropping my phone deliberately and it worked as advertised.

It also helps attach any other type of electronic device to your ski jacket as well. Aussie FWT rider Vaughn Hardwick is a convert to the Sports Anchor’s effectiveness. Mount Beauty Paraglider Erin Francis is another fan. Also great for tradies, bike riders and more.

Even après - don’t lose your phone in the mosh pit!

It attaches to most phone cases and easily to zippers. Aussie owned and manufactured, so support local business and do yourself a favour. —Trent Abberfield Available in stores and online: actionsportsanchor.com.au

VICTORINOX WORK CHAMP GETS JOBS DONE! My friends still claim editing snow magazines is not actually work. But it is, and for 30+ years helping me do that job my constant companion has been a humble, or not so humble these days, variant of the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife.

I had the best ski specific one 30 years ago: with ice scraper, phillips & regular screwdriver, knife, corkscrew and bottle opener it pretty much covered my day from de-icing the windscreen pre-dawn to après postdusk. I loved it, but sadly it was lost or stolen years ago.

The replacement was a full spectrum had-it-all version I carried everywhere in my hand luggage until 2001’s terrorist attacks ended that. Caught out with it at security in Buenos Aires on a flight down to the world’s most southerly ski area, Cerro Castor in Ushuaia, I had the bright idea of paying the newstand kiosk guy just before security a few dollars to mind it, with the promise of more when I came back four days later.

Miraculously that worked. But it mysteriously dissapeared later too - lost or stolen? You can’t be too careful with something as downright useful as a Swiss Army Knife.

Flash forward to Verbier 2017 and the fantastic Tourist Office crew gave me a Verbier logo version for my 60th birthday present. The icing on the cake of a great day. If you have a big birthday coming up, Verbier is a great place to celebrate it.

regular screwdriver heads handle most screws; an ingenious tiny screwdriver, that’s hidden on the corkscrew, does the screws in sunglasses/devices, etc; the pliers are strong enough for twisting wire so handle boot buckle issues with ease; the metal file can quick-tune rock ravaged edges with three levels of coarseness; the saw will cut metal too; a sharp-as scraper knife will remove bits of base or shave cheese according to your need; scissors; a decent knife blade of course; cap and bottle openers; last but not least, and old school these days but still handy some places, a corkscrew.

But now it’s 2023, and like a fine wine or over-ripe banana (take your pick), I have matured, and so has the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife range.

So much utility in such a handy little tool!

The latest Work Champ is awesome!

It is great for at the snow or anywhere. I just love it, and take it everywhere now stowed in check-in baggage. It even comes in very handy for opening coconuts. —Owain Price

So many features, so useful: two phillips headdrivers will sort your loose binding problems and/or clean the ice out of your pin toes; two sizes of

In stores and online: victorinox.com.au/work-champ

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GEAR UP 4 WINTER

GET SKI FIT PLUS WITH SKIER’S EDGE Did someone say get fit to ski? How about cross training for the Berlin Marathon at the same time? News producer Vanessa Graham works crazy hours and makes up for it with regular snow trips to Japan, Canada, Argentina, etc.

If you think the Skier’s Edge is purely a ski fitness machine forget it. The exercise equipment provides the ultimate cardio workout, arguably better than an exercise bike.

Not only does it allow you to push your heart rate above the fat-burning zone, it singes your quadriceps in the most beneficial way. It is terrific for interval sessions and far more enjoyable than running stairs or doing seated squats.

Most recently, I used it in my preparation for the Berlin marathon. Of course, I was following a rigorous running program, but the Skier’s Edge made for a sensational alternative on cross training days. It also broke up the monotony.

Following the marathon, my husband and I trained on the machine daily in the lead up to our most-recent ski trip to Canada with splendid results. There was no day-one leg burn and we were able to tackle steep terrain from the moment we arrived, with no stops along the way.

During Covid lockdowns, the Skier’s Edge was also a saviour. We could meet our exercise quota from the comfort of our living room, as it is compact and portable.

During this period – and admittedly with a separate, focused diet – my husband shed 40% of his body weight to get back to where he was 20 years ago, which made a massive difference to his on snow stamina - kind of handy at Revelstoke in February! We would not be without our Skier’s Edge. —Vanessa Graham The Graham’s purchased their Skier’s Edge system in 2016 More info: SkiEdgeFitness.com.au

Vanessa Graham, Berlin Marathon 2022 © Kel Graham

Snow Accon Magazine calls the Accon Sports Anchor

“The best $20 you’ll spend on your phone!”

Australian made, bungie cord tether for phones, cameras and more!

Available at selected snowsport retailers or

Retail inquiries welcome

Accon Sports Anchor 16

accon_sports_anchor

acconsportsanchor.com.au

NEVER BE COLD AGAIN! LENZ 5.0 & 6.0 HEAT SOCKS with around the toe heating LENZ 6.0 HEAT GLOVES & MIT TENS with around the fingers and thumbs heating

AVAILABLE IN GOOD SNOW STORES OR ONLINE SEARCH LENZ HEAT AUSTRALIA SNOWACTION.COM.AU

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GEAR UP 4 WINTER

SLACKPACK 2.0 SIDE-COUNTRY SPECIAL Users loved the original, now the Slackpack 2.0 has been redesigned with insights from Angel Collinson and Griffin Post, so you can venture off-piste and into slackcountry with a streamlined, yet burly, 20” (50cm) backpack that prepares you to chase down fresh powder stashes with specialised features including built-in organisation for avalanche tools and a ski/snowboard carry system.

The Slackpack 2.0 features protective, fleece-lined goggle pocket, patented Glove Stash™ on shoulder strap for hats or gloves, multiple ski and board carry options, slim profile for maximum freedom of movement and reinforced high-abrasion zones.

Also available in women-specific design, which features an adapted fit and harness. $200 AUD / $230 NZD thenorthface.com.au

SING IN THE RAIN THE SUMMIT SERIES™ CHAMLANG FUTURELIGHT™ SHELL Our gear guru Peter Wunder is ready at Thredbo to try and beat his 113 days ridden last season - rain, hail, snow or shine - in his The Summit Series™ Chamlang FUTURELIGHT™ Jacket.

“It is a super light shell but feels very strong. I don’t think you could rip it if you tried. I love that all the pockets and vent zips are fully sealed to keep all the water out.”

“Together with the quality Gore-tex this jacket just keeps you dry even on the rainiest days. Which on a board on soft snow and no one else out can be a lot of fun — never miss a day on snow, I say.”

“I love black gear and the Chamlang jacket is a true black colour unlike a lot of other brands which are more wishy washy.”

Available in Men’s or Women’s versions, the Chamlang is fully featured for ice climbing, which provides crossover benefits for skiing/boarding. Like fully attached, fully adjustable, helmet-compatible hood with a bonded brim, no shoulder seams for reduced bulk and extra comfort while you’re wearing a pack, and underarm gussets for better mobility. $800 AUD / $900 NZD thenorthface.com.au

SUMMIT SERIES™ PRO 120 CREW As foundations are to a building, your base layer is to your comfort, pleasure and safety in the snow.

Enter The North Face’s slim-fit Summit Series Pro 120 Crew, it is a lightweight baselayer featuring DotKnit fabric that helps manage moisture, low-profile seams to minimize bulk and maximize comfort, and thumb holes at the cuff prevent the sleeves from riding up when worn with additional layers.

Team with Summit Series Pro 120 Tights, with a wide elastic mesh waistband, for a comfortable fit.

Ladies & men’s, $120 AUD / $140 AUD thenorthface.com.au

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GEAR UP 4 WINTER

WHY ATTIBA APRÈS BOOTS? IT’S AN OPEN AND SHUT CASE..

Attiba snow boots are simply the best - the Rota pop out stud soles keep you safe from icy falls, while suede lowers and kid uppers, with faux fur, are the ultimate in warmth and comfort too in models like the Florence. A full windproof and snowproof liner means you won’t get wet or feel cold. Sole is rated to -30◦C and made from rubber.

They feature Italian design and materials, made in Europe for exceptional style and quality.

The Rota-non slip sole equipped range runs from ankle height to below the knee, from $249.95 to $359.95 AUD For smaller sizes the ‘OC’ half rotor non-slip models in sizes 30-39 go from $169.95 to $359.95 AUD Check Attiba in good snow stores or search “Attiba Australia”.

ENJOY THE JOURNEY VICTORINOX JOURNEY 1884 AUTOMATIC Over plastic app-dependent watches telling you the minutia of your life?

How did humanity survive without knowing how many steps they did daily? Be different, stand out with the Journey 1884 automatic movement, built to help you navigate the urban landscape. Featuring an elegant ceramic bezel and echoes of the iconic Swiss hiking signs, it’s inspired by nature but city savvy. Shock resistance ensures impeccable performance, and it comes with an elegant, innovative wood strap, plus extra blue rubber strap and accessories wallet for added versatility.

More at victorinox.com.au/watches/journey-1884

HIT THE SLOPES WITHOUT HURTING THEM LANKY BEAR ECO-SKI WAX Meet Lanky Bear. A local brand on a mission to make green mainstream. Guided by their mantra, “Performance that protects your passion”, they’re setting out to design products that curb waste, promote sustainability and, most importantly, do what they say they’ll do.

With ~130 million people hitting the slopes every year, a small block of wax can make a huge difference to the environment. Enter their flagship product—a range of plant-based ski waxes that contain 0% paraffin wax, 0% toxic fluorocarbons, and 0% preservatives. Not only designed to completely break down, four years of research and development have gone into it to make sure its performance keeps up with its toxic competition.

Their drive for performance has involved some pretty impressive people testing their product. Like Olympic gold medalist Valentino Guseli: “I have been on Lanky Bear’s wax products for a while now and I am loving them. Performance-wise, the wax is ultra-smooth and fast, but I’m most impressed by what the brand is doing in the sustainability space. Transforming a product that has traditionally been harmful to the environment into one that is eco-friendly and not stacked with toxins.”

“Let’s charge ahead on protecting the environment we love to charge down”—Lanky Bear 130g Plant-based Wax / $34.99 AUD Lankybear.com 20

A NATURAL PERFORMER.

BE MORE MERINO. Breathable, temperature regulating merino wool.

It’s been working for sheep for thousands of years.

Shop online at icebreaker.com or an icebreaker stockist.

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MOGUL EMPIRE AUSSIE BUMPS RULERS TALK ABOUT BOSSING WHAT THE FRENCH CALL ‘LES BOSSES’ (BUMPS). LOOK WHO TOPPED THE PODIUM AT THE DEER VALLEY WORLD CUP MOGULS, JAKARA ANTHONY THE WOMEN’S AND MATT GRAHAM MEN’S. BOTH RACKED UP PLENTY MORE PODIUMS AND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALS TO BOOT, PROOF POSITIVE OF OUR ‘MOGUL EMPIRE’ OF TALENT. OWAIN PRICE CAUGHT UP WITH MATT FOR THE LATEST ON AN OUTSTANDING CAREER, THAT HE PLANS TO KICK ON TO THE MILAN WINTER OLYMPICS IN 2026.

Below: Double gold for the Aussies at Deer Valley © FIS; Opposite: Matt Graham training at Perisher © Peter Topalovic

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MOGUL EMPIRE

We first did a feature interview with Matt Graham back in 2015, after he started stacking up podium finishes on the FIS Freestyle World Cup Mogul circuit.

Then while we were all in lockdown, he managed his career highlight to date, taking the Crystal Globe as overall World Champion for the 202021 season in Dual Moguls.

Quite by chance though, we had featured him competing, while winning, in the ABOM classic at Buller back in 2011, with a full page shot from the 2010 when, as a 15 year old, he was beating all and sundry, young and old.

Our apologies for taking a while to bring this to you - back in 2021, I was skiing Perisher on Fridays, waiting for the opportunity to grab Matt between his flat-out training and coaching regime on the mogul course there. Chatting to young mogul skiers visiting from Falls Creek on a training camp, I got an idea how he his revered by the next gen of Aussie bumps skiers.

That’s pretty much half a lifetime skiing the incredibly technical and demanding moguls circuit at the top level. He burst onto mainstream Australia’s consciousness picking up silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

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Above: Perisher © Peter Topalovic Right: Almaty images © Andrey Kulagin/KSA

It’s a long way to the top if you want to ski bumps.. Matt Graham finally got to clasp the Crystal Globe as overall World Dual Moguls Champion in 2021 - Aussie XTM gloves providing the perfect grip for a globe, just saying..

For much of winter you can often check out Matt and our other mogul stars training while riding up the Ridge Chair on the Blue Cow side of Perisher.

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MOGUL EMPIRE

But then lockdown shutdown the ACT, we couldn’t get back to Perisher again, and not long after Matt suffered the worst injury of his career in late 2021.

Despite his best efforts to rush back, that meant his 2022 Beijing Olympic challenge was never going to reach the heights he expects. Season 20222023 saw him back to full fitness, and skiing as well as ever.

The highlight of another - his 4th - World Cup win at Deer Valley in February was made even sweeter by sharing it with Jakara Anthony, taking gold in the Women’s event.

Aussies on top.

If you are wondering why Graham has not won a lot more World Cups, timing has been crucial. His career has completely overlapped with the G.O.A.T. of all-time G.O.A.T.s of mogul skiers, Canadian Mikhael Kingsbury. Imagine Federer, Nadal & Djokovic rolled into one athlete and you would get the tennis equivalent. The tennis G.O.A.T trio won13 consecutive Grand Slams from 2016-2020, and 64 of 78 to this year’s Australian Open. Kingsbury has won 78 of the past 118 World Cups, 6 out of the last 6 World Championship golds, and gone silver/ gold/silver at the past 3 Winter Olympics.

So anytime he can beat the G.O.A.T is extra special. He was back under the knife for collar bone surgery at the end of March ahead when Owain Price caught up with him for this interview.

Your entire career has been up against the G.O.A.T of all GOATs in mogul skiing - Mickael Kingsbury being the bumps equivalent of tennis’ Federer/Nadal & Djokovic combined in one.

When he missed a couple of events in 2021, you pounced and snatched the title. How good was it to finally claim a crystal globe as overall champion in 2021?

Yeah, it has always been tough competing alongside Mik my entire career. His track record is insane. Having said that though, I believe having him around and pushing the sport to another level has also pushed myself and many other top guys to levels that we didn’t think possible. To snag the crystal globe in 2021 was surreal. It was a tough season for the Australian team, we lived under tough covid restrictions and based ourselves in Ruka, Finland which is dark for about 20 hours a day and we trained in some of the coldest temperatures that I’ve experienced for two months straight. So, given those circumstances, to finish number 1 in the world was pretty special. I was then lucky enough to come home and spend two weeks in hotel quarantine to celebrate.. ha ha Heading into the next Olympic season, you were looking good to at least repeat silver from Pyeongchang. Then disaster struck with the injury. You made it back, just, but obviously nowhere near your best. Watching on TV it reminded me of Russ Henshaw in Slopestyle four years before, coming out the gate with

buggered knees. From the first feature then anyone who knew how well he normally skied knew he just wasn’t all there to give it his best shot. Still placed 5th but just sad the wider public who only tune in come Olympics time didn’t see him at his best. In your case Walter Wallberg, who you have beaten several times, got up to pip Kingsbury for gold. For us armchair viewers, it sucked that wasn’t you.

How did you feel?

Beijing was a brutal experience for me. To come off an Olympic silver medal, and to then go into the Olympic season in close to career best form and then have everything go the way it did was hard to deal with. I was devastated when I got injured 6-weeks out from the games, but I was able to put that aside and stay positive throughout my rehab period. I always believed that I could come back in time and push for a medal at Beijing, and I still believe that it was a possibility.

That is potentially why the outcome was so hard on me. I felt as though I could make the Cinderella story a reality, but instead I failed at what I set out to achieve, and that is what hurt. At the time and the following months, I was embarrassed about what had happened and questioned whether my time in the sport was over.

But here we are, 2023 season wrapped and some of your best ever performances under the belt, including another win at Deer Valley pushing the GOAT into 2nd place in the process. Do you feel like you’re skiing as well, or better, than ever?

The past 14 months or so have been a rollercoaster for me. After my Beijing Olympic experience, I was down in the dumps. Shortly after returning home from Beijing, I found out that my collarbone didn’t heal, which meant I had to undergo another surgery and redo my whole rehab process.

It basically put me back on the couch until our Aussie winter. During that period, I had a lot of time to think about things and how I could do things differently. So, I spent the domestic season making some changes to my equipment set up which I believe just opened another door for me to keep progressing, and off the back of that I just felt like I was enjoying the sport so much more. I was able to feel and see the changes in my skiing. So, to answer the question, yes, I do feel like I am skiing as good as I ever have, and I believe I have more to give.

No one has won more of Australia’s premier moguls event at Mt Buller than Matt Graham, with 7 titles to his credit since his first in 2009, as a 14 year old! Right: In 2010 © Andrew Railton. Left: in 2022 © Tony Harrington / Mt Buller

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MOGUL EMPIRE

How long can you keep it going, is the fire in the belly - and whatever-comes-next / the real world - going to last 3 years for another Olympics, which to go one better at is pretty much the only thing you haven’t achieved already?

The sporting world is changing in the modern world. The all-time great athletes are hanging around so much longer these days than in the past, so I think I am looking at that as evidence that I can keep pushing and keep improving which is pretty cool. In my head, I am pretty certain that the next Olympics in Milan will be the last dance for me so I am currently working on preparing myself for that change to move onto life after sport. Last year I graduated from the University of Newcastle with a double degree in Civil Engineering and Business so between now and when I hang up my boots, I will try get some practical work experience in my off-seasons.

The World Cup tour hits some obscure places, but the same venues every year. Deer Valley is the only mainstream one most Aussies would recognise. But Almaty Kazakhstan, Ruka Finland, Idre Fjall Sweden all look awesome..

You could pretty much run tours there you have been so often. Should us punters check them out, got any tips on where/why we should visit - apart from watching Aussie team compete?

Ha ha, yes we do go to some uncommon places to go and compete and ski which is pretty cool.

As I get older I think I am appreciating the fact that we do go to places that otherwise I would never 28

go to, but my favourite spot would have to be Deer Valley. Speaking of obscure places to ski, it is a dream of mine to bring the World Cup tour down under and compete on home soil at Perisher. That would be unreal!

Locally you are Mr ABOM. By chance, looking for something else, I found a full page action pic of you at the 2010 event we ran back in 2011.

There’s an inset pic of Jakara on the podium for u14s too, but you were already winning ABOM in 2009, aged 14. Last year was title #7, two ahead of Nick Cleaver on the all-time list. How important do you think it is - seems to be the biggest event we get locally by far, attracting some great talent?

Competing on home soil is always special. Each year I look forward to competing in front of my family at my home resort in Perisher for the National Championships, and then following it up at the ABOM Mogul Challenge a few days later in Mount Buller is always a lot of fun! I remember when I was a kid, I looked up to the guys and girls winning the Nationals and the ABOM which inspired me a lot. Watching our local talent take on some of the best international skiers in the world was cool to me, so hopefully, I can pass that on to the next generation.

Staying even more local, COVID lockdown in Canberra stopped us from catching up with you at Perisher in 2021. But riding the lifts with some kids doing a moguls program, we chatted and they were in awe of you. They said how great you were coaching and helpful and an

example. While training and focusing on your own improvement, how big of a part of your life is the mentoring/role model gig?

That’s always cool to hear that. It can be pretty intimidating as a youngster to go up to the older national team skiers. I remember being in their position, having a thousand questions but feeling too scared to go and ask. I always try to stay in contact with the club skiers out on the hill so hopefully they can feel comfortable enough to ask me any questions they have.

Finally, last time we mentioned how many mogul skiers went on to become legend big mountain skiers too. You said then (2015) big mountain skiing might be a thing for you in future. Is it still so or are other future options taking over there?

We will have to wait and see ha ha. It is something I would love to do at some stage. To what level, will be determined with where my head is at though. The big mountain scene is bloody gnarly and dangerous and I currently know virtually nothing about so I would need to learn a lot before I start to take on the backcountry.

Awesome Matt thanks, good luck with the collar bone recovery, looking forward to see you fit and firing in Milan, cheers.

Want to get serious about bumps yourself?

Check out snow.org.au/get-involved/ Above: Watch & learn from the Ridge Chair kids © Peter Topalovic

@MAMMUTAUSNZ MAMMUT1862.COM.AU

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Opening day June 11, 2022 © Thredbo Media

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SKI THREDBO FOR $12 A DAY? YES, YOU CAN! JUST GET OUT EVERY SINGLE DAY, LIKE OUR SNOWBOARD ED PETER WUNDER, WHO RACKED UP 113 DAYS LAST SEASON. OPENING DAY, ON JUNE 11, LOOKED LIKE THIS ALREADY, WHICH WAS A BONUS. POWDER, BLIZZARD, BLUEBIRD, RAIN, HAIL OR PLAY-MISTY-FOR-ME, HE WAS OUT THERE. NEVER LATER THAN FIFTH LIFT IN THE MORNING EITHER.

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SKI THREDBO $12 A DAY

IT’S USUALLY WELL WORTH BEING THERE WHEN SPONAR’S OPENS FOR THE FIRST TIME. IT HAPPENED 0N JUNE 30 LAST YEAR.

Who says skiing or boarding Thredbo has to be expensive – you can do it for $12 a day.

OK, that’s a slight exaggeration. It actually cost Snow Action’s Snowboard Editor & gear test guru, Peter Wunder, a fraction less than AUD $12.03 daily for his 113 days on the hill at Thredbo, last winter.

Not too shabby at all!

Especially after all the early snow - over a metre already in the snow gauge at Spencer’s Creek by the second week of June - which meant it was on from opening day.

30th June, 2022. Sponars is go © Thredbo Media

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DID WE MENTION, MIDWINTER, IT USUALLY STAYS COLDER TOO? DRY WIND BLOWN UP HIGH, JULY 18.

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SKI THREDBO $12 A DAY

DON’T YOU JUST LOVE IT WHEN JULY DOES A JAPOW DOWNUNDER? LIKE WAKING UP TO 40CM ON JULY 25.

$12.03 for a day pass skiing Thredbo.

Sounds like a bargain right?

Well it is, but you need to put in the days to get that price per day. I skied or boarded every possible lifted access day in the 2022 winter season, which was 113 days.

On a discount local resident season pass at $1,359, this worked out at $12.03 per day.

You may think, “well he probably just did a few runs a day”, but that’s not the case at all. I did 2,252 runs in total. That’s an average of 19.9 runs a day, or $0.60 per run.

Or roughly, one million vertical metres for the season.

It’s not an easy feat when you have rainy and windy days where you can only get a handful of runs in due to the lifts going on wind hold, or running slowly due to bad weather.

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It helps to have great water proof gear, like The North Face Summit Series Chamlang FUTURELIGHT jacket in my case. It’s well worth making the most of the soft conditions, because when it stops raining and freezes, the next day is often solid bullet proof ice. Getting out on the hill so much gives you the advantage of seeing and experiencing the weather every day, so you know what conditions will be like and obviously you get all the powder days, so it is maximum fun.

Without trying, the time on the hill will improve your skiing/riding, and you won’t need to go to the gym.

You might have leg burn for the first few days, but the rest of the season you can enjoy watching friends suffer on their first trip down feeling the burn because they didn’t work on their fitness before their snow trip.

You need to plan well in advance to clear your schedule for four months to be on the hill every day.

But it’s well worth it.

Sure, life’s busy and it’s hard to get away, especially for a big chunk of time, but it’s so worth it. Even if you just experience one full winter in your life, and all the stories and memories made doing that, you will never regret it. And for a time maybe you can even call yourself a local.

If I wasn’t on the very first chair of the day, I was on one of the first five chairs, total commitment right to the end.

Even if you can’t quite match Pete’s amazing every day plus in the first 5 lifts effort, you can still get in a huge amount of riding/skiing. —Peter Wunder

It’s not always easy to get out there in the pouring rain when you’ve already been skiing every day for months, but besides getting a little wet, rainy days have super fun slushy snow, which is so much fun on a board. Not many people brave the bad weather, so the groomers stay neat and flat and you often have the hill to yourself to enjoy.

If Pete had stayed in-bounds he might have racked up two million metres vert off the lifts and made it 30c a run. But he loves a fresh line, and often heads out to find it after sessioning the lifts - for example, check his tips on getting the most out of Dead Horse Gap on snowaction.com.au

Opposite: © Thredbo Media Clockwise: September 19 was the last pow day. Only a patroller beat Pete’s crew for first lines.

Pete made first 5 lifts every day for 113 days. Tip: don’t mess with the locals lift stakeout.

In July pow days are expected. July 25 delivered in spades, or rather snow shovels full; top But 'expect the unexpected' is the mantra for skiing anywhere now, never mind in Australia. Despite being peak winter, on August 6, a La Niña deluge of Noah’s Ark proportions flooded the village and opened the creek lines as raging torrents higher up. But when the going gets tough, the tough don’t mind getting wet..

All images © Peter Wunder.

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Dean “Deano” Shepard & Ash ‘Crashley’ Muller, 1991 at Hotham © And thanks for the memories Sonny Miller RIP Opposite: At Hotham, a couple of winters back © Ash Muller Archive

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’Ol 69 ’er

SIXTY NINE SEASONS SHARING THE LOVE OF SHRED with Ash Muller

SNOWBOARD TEACHING HAS COME A LONG WAY SINCE THE 80S. SO HAS ONE OF OUR ORIGINAL INSTRUCTORS, ASH MULLER. HE TALLIES UP A WHOPPING 69 SEASONS SPREADING THE SHRED. FROM BASIC ORIGINS IN KITZBÜHEL IN THE 80S, THROUGH BEING A FOUNDER MEMBER OF HOTHAM BOARDRIDERS IN ‘88, TO OVER 30 WINTERS AT UPMARKET BEAVER CREEK, NOT TO MENTION 14 AT CHILE’S AWESOME VALLE NEVADO. OH, DID WE MENTION REPRESENTING AUSTRALIA AT THE 1999 INTERSKI (AKA ‘THE INTSRUCTORS’ OLYMPICS’) IN NORWAY? IT’S BEEN A LONG RIDE. BUT HE’S NOT SLOWING DOWN AS SEASON 70 BECKONS THIS WINTER, A MARK HE WOULD HAVE PASSED ALREADY BUT FOR COVID. OWAIN PRICE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM FOR AN ONGOING CHAT - WE STARTED OVER BEERS IN CHILE BACK IN 2014.

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'OL 69'ER

"TO ME THE MASSIVE WHITE MOUNTAINS COVERED IN SNOW WERE REMINISCENT OF BIG WAVES AND I LONGED TO SURF THEM."

We probably met Ash back in the day c1990 too, but memories fail us both. He was the token Aussie when we dropped into Valle Nevado midSeptember 2014, and had a crazy few days skiing and partying with him.

It was an early onset of spring there, while in Australia it had been a great season.

“Mates from Hotham keep telling me how good it is” he said, barbecued meat in one hand, beer in the other, as we sat on the sunny mountain restaurant terrace after a morning exploring the vast area.

“Do I look worried? ” he continued, waving at the surrounds - with inter-linked El Colorodo and La Parva, this is by a fair margin the largest ski area in the Southern Hemisphere.

Valle Nevado is highest and best of the 3 areas, at 3,000m beneath peaks hitting 6,000m in the heart of the Andes.

Ash doesn’t ever seem worried by much. He has always been a guy who goes with the flow, leading to a peripatetic life that puts most people’s decades spent mowing the lawn and worrying about having more garages than the neighbours in perspective.

Though he had the smarts to pick up a cute, now very valuable, townhouse in Lennox Head along the way. Known as ‘Crashley’ in Australia and America, or ‘Abuelo Ash’ in Chile (ie Grandad) he has a worldwide network of friends and clients that has taken him to amazing places.

Not to mention it got him up to Platinum frequent flyer status, enjoying First Class lounge access as he swans about the planet from gig to gig.

How did it all start?

“Chance. I was backpacking in Turkey when some Canadians showed me a ski magazine. Among all the big colour ski photos there was one small black and white pic of a guy sliding sideways with a massive plume trailing behind him. That one photo changed my life.”

Photo: At Beaver Creek, Colorado, November 2022 © Peter Lindecke.

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Main photo: Ash charging at Valle Nevado, Chile © Owain Price. Bottom from left to right: Examiner course selfie Perisher, 2022. With the legend himself, Peter Zirknitzer, at Hotham 2021 © Ash Muller Archive. At Steamboat, Colorado, 2023 © Clay Campbell.

“To me the massive white mountains covered in snow were reminiscent of big waves and I longed to surf them. So I headed for Kitzbühel, Austria and began my odyssey.”

“Kitzbühel had its own challenges, especially as I was down to my last American Express traveller’s cheque.”

Kitzbühel was the mecca for Aussies wintering and working in the snow in the mid-80s, with plenty of jobs to be found.

The Londoner Pub was the centre of the nightlife, and those who worked there could drink as much as they liked, as long as they maintained fast service.

Serving shots at the pace of the fastest drinker in

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a group was the aim - no responsible service of alcohol in those days. Ash got a job cooking pizza and pasta, and began his get-into-boarding mission.

Starting with finding a board.

“Nobody was able to tell me where to get a snowboard because it was early days, preproduction and most were riding home made ones.”

“During my seven years at Kitz I formed a friendship with some locals who were making homemade boards, so I got on those. The next season, after working summer at a NATO base in Germany, I was cashed up and bought myself a Burton 150 Elite, which I then exchanged for a 165 Cruiser.”

“It was an amazing time. Although we were turned away at the base of chair lifts, we were permitted to ride the Gondola up the Kitzbüheler Horn.

Improvisation was key as we sourced warm boots that could be squeezed into old XL ski boot shells, that were then cut apart to make an exo shell, which was then affixed to a wooden board with sectional edges screwed in. Not pretty, but functional.”

Kitz was home to Austrian ski royalty, the ‘Red Devils’ Ski School run by Tony and Rudi Sailer.

Snowboarding was quite the upstart.

“Fritz Hartman was a great skier and ripper rider who was sponsored by Quiksilver Europe."

All © Ashley Muller Archives; poster art Michelle Kingston

1999 Aussie team at Int l set up the origina in boarding - he - with Team n me wo ed ot om urse - LSD Ash always pr d Development co rams for Ladies Snowboar , one of the first boarder prog to sign ple st am fir ex e r Hotham fo was one of th ista Zirknitzer ough.

Kr th . pic OZ e in th in les fema a, nor Hotham ist Kr t no ’s at up. Th

© APSI

erski, Norway

he entire etty much t School, In 1990, as pr Hotham Ski at ‘ t ep D s own hands ‘Snowboard otion into hi om pr ok to sh A Can ski too © Diego Esquivel

Checker Pigs do fly, and rip.

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'OL 69'ER

"He showed me the ropes and I started in his Snowboard School. Some of the alpine carving skills he passed on gave me an early interest in racing.”

“Again we presented the Australian way, and in my view, the Australian way was on par with the rest of the world. We were then, and remain now, proud to represent Australia and its teaching methods.”

One that continues: video chatting to check details for this story in March, I caught Ash back home in Beaver Creek after just missing the podium in a race and totally bummed as a result.

Last season he was back as a National Trainer and Examiner, putting aspirants through the hoops at Perisher.

“Basically I learned boarding by the crash and burn method. I was a kid who had only seen snow on a school trip to Jenolan Caves when I started.”

After a couple of northern season doing snowboard tours, Ash made it to Beaver Creek in 1993. As one of America’s most up-market resorts it has allowed him to meet some very high-powered and wellheeled clients over the years. With some amazing side-trips as a result, like getting taken heli-skiing in Iceland, or diving in the Galapagos.

Soon he had his first Austrian licence to teach, and a long career was launched. He moved to Ernst Hinterseer’s Ski School Total next.

“Chance intervened again when I met a couple of Aussie instructors who pointed me in the direction of our powder capital, Mount Hotham.”

It was a lean start there for a would be snowboard instructor in 1988. “There wasn’t a great deal of work if you didn’t ski and I didn’t. The Ski School already had two snowboarding Swedish brothers, Stefan and Andres Nilsen, and along with Dave Coleman they had the whole field covered.”

In 1989, I did the APSI (Australian Professional Snowsport Instructors) Snowboard Proficiency course, run by Geoff Sawyer at Falls Creek.

“It wasn’t until 1990 that I was finally hired, when Mount Hotham Boardriders successfully secured a sponsorship with Vic Health under the umbrella of LIFE BE IN IT (remember Norm?). Our plan for Australia’s first Banked Slalom was up and running.”

He also set up LSD - the Ladies Snowboard Development Program - for Team Hotham, with Krista Zirknitzer one of the first signees. “I sold Zirky his first snowboard too - a Crazy Banana in 1988.”

Australian snowboard teaching was getting organised and structured properly at the time.

“In 1991 Matt Gilder, Selina Weber and Geoff Sawyer began formulating Level 1, and in winter 1992 did the first ever Level 1 exam and course.

Later we rode the northern winter in Whistler Blackcomb, and worked at what would become Level 2. By 1994 the first Level 2 was run at Mt Hotham.”

“BASICALLY I LEARNED BOARDING

BY THE CRASH AND BURN METHOD. I WAS A KID WHO HAD ONLY SEEN SNOW ON A SCHOOL TRIP TO JENOLAN CAVES” 42

“Australia’s Snowboard Certifications were presented in Japan in 1995 at Interski. Australia’s Level 2 certification earned its ISIA stamp, followed

by Level 3 in 1997. At the time we felt that a fully certified instructor should be able to instruct in alpine gear as well as freestyle. Honourable thought, but the reality was that the associated expenses for instructors, who weren’t exactly making big bucks, and the decline in students chasing the hard carve, meant it wasn’t practical.”

At the following Interski in Norway in 1999, Ash and Dan Monahan from Hotham and Adam Webster from Thredbo represented Australian snowboarding.

“It was a personal highlight of mine and I recommend all APSI members to strive for the chance to try out to be an Australian Interski team member.”

Another fringe benefit is the lifetime Gold Epic Pass, after completing 25 seasons teaching at Beaver Creek. Despite having introduced whole families to the enlightened side over the years, he also ski instructs to pay the bills. “I’m certified for ski as well.

I had to for work. Skiers have a different mentality, and I’m just happy to do low end ski lessons.”

Valle Nevado was another chance gig. He had originally tried to get to Portillo, but missed deadlines and ended up at Valle Nevado instead. That turned into a rewarding relationhip for him and them.

As mentioned, he can have a beer at lunchtime there in public, in uniform, and no one cares. He also got me tagged onto the weekly instructor’s torchlight descent when we caught up there again in 2017, just via a quick word to the Ski School Director. Personal responsibility and relations still overrule rules in Chile.

As for a ski school end-of-season party trick, one of the team wearing the kid’s animal mascot outfit back to front with tail to the fore was pretty fun too. He would have got arrested at home..

Subject to visas, Ash hopes to get back there for a short season in 2023, not wishing to miss the 35th anniversary of Hotham Boardriders in August.

Life generally is getting tougher for instructors in most places as season accommodation rentals soar. It’s easy to end a season owing money, which is not the idea going long term. It’s okay if you are the gap year kid doing it for fun, with a career or family business to segue back into, but not to make it your lifetime commitment like Ash. “For me, a lad from a blue collar working class family who, by chance, met some crazy Canadians whilst backpacking, it has been a champagne life style on a beer budget’’ he sums up.

“Being able to look across the mountains of the world to see incredible sunsets and sunrises, to heli board in Iceland and swim with penguins in the Galápagos Islands (another client invite) who could ask for more? I have met and made friends with people of all backgrounds, from sport stars to Hollywood stars, Washington politicians to wolves of Wall Street. It’s been a blast. I love boarding and I love teaching people. Sixty nine seasons is just warming up, I’m not done yet!”

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On the improve at Hotham © Vail Resorts

SKI BACK BETTER AT HOTHAM

“LESSONS, WHO NEEDS ‘EM?” IS A COMMON ATTITUDE FOR SEMI-COMPETENT SKIERS. BUT COMING BACK RUSTY ON A FIRST POST-LOCKDOWNS FAMILY SKI TRIP FOR 3 YEARS WAS A WAKE-UP CALL FOR DAVE WINDSOR AT HOTHAM PRO TIPS WORK! Funny about that. Hey, we all know kid’s programs are great for the kids and will happily book them in for those. Don’t only do that is my view: first family trip back since 2019 meant being a good dad for the first few days, enjoying some quality snow time with them, but Hotham’s kid’s programs are too good not to take full advantage of.

I signed my 9 year old Jack into Kids Club at Big D and let the expert ski & ride team coach him back to black runs. The friendly crew are super easy, fun and focus their attention on the small groups of equally matched kids (from Level 1 to 6). Three hours later, Jack’s spent and ready for lunch at Hotham Hotel.

“It was a good group dad and the instructor was really nice,” he tells me, “am I signed up for tomorrow? I wanna get to the next level.”

Sure son. Which got me thinking what about me?

Or rather us, mum too!

So a private lesson with Canadian Mike Meaney follows. Mike hails from Caledon Ski Club, 45 minutes north of Toronto, boasting 6 chairs, 25 runs, but a mere 80m vertical – talk about keen.

Life changed when he headed west to British Columbia, instructing at renowned tree heaven Red Mountain and the legendary powder capital of BC, Whitewater, for 6 years, before arriving at Hotham for the 2022 season.

“A handful of people have come from Hotham to Whitewater,”Mike explains, “So it made sense coming to Hotham, which is my first overseas ski trip.

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Instructing has made skiing more fun – I’ve gotten a lot better, made plenty of friends and found my full appreciation for the sport.”

How is he finding Hotham?

“I’ve been blown away by the skiers and skiing here.

The terrain is steep, there’s a lot fun to be had and a lot of off-piste. And the snow has been really good at times.”

If ‘The Hoth’ is good enough for someone who knows Whitewater, it’s good enough for me. But am I good enough for it?

Well, thanks to Mike I certainly have a better shot at it now. We kicked off in Heavenly, before heading to Orchard and finishing up smashing Spargos.

Mike kept it super simple, focusing on one weakness (though I’m sure there are more). Good instructors know not to overload their subjects with too much to digest in one hit. That KISS principle sure worked for me.

Mike reminded me of a weakness, coincidentally also picked up by an instructor at Mt Hutt 8 years ago, and clearly forgotten by me in the meantime – when turning I tend to leave my uphill shoulder uphill and consequently slip through turns rather than carve through them.

Mike had me visualising a rubber band from my knees to my shoulder pulling it downhill. This squared me up, transferred upper body weight forward, and dramatically improved ski control.

One little thing makes a huge difference. Lazy turns become controlled turns.

Next day was my last at Hotham and I made the most of it with a 7:30 start accompanied by SnowMonkey proprietor Richard Neville. We ripped laps with confidence and control down Gun Barrel, the Pimple, Imagine, the Cornice and Snake Gully, then took on The Orchard after lunch.

The cover was perfect, with a sprinkle of fresh on immaculate grooming. Mike was in my head, “Imagine a rubber band pulling your shoulder downhill.” And so it went – shoulder control leads to weight control which leads to ski control. Simple.

So lessons, who needs ‘em? Me. Probably you too.

Like getting the right gear - especially boots - in the scheme of things a lesson, especially a private lesson, adds value to a snow trip as you’ll ski better, get less tired, and be at less risk of injury as a result.

Hotham Ski & Ride School is nothing short of brilliant, and are a worthy investment for one’s improvement.

“I’m a bit scared of going down the steep hills, so that’s why I have to work on my technique so I can stay in control” Jack summed up. “But we don’t always have to do the steep ones!”.

No son, we don’t. But now we can do more of them together. More info: mthotham.com.au/lessonshire/lesson-type/lessons

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IS NZ BETTER LATE THAN EVER? SUNNY SKIES, ZERO CROWDS AND SOFT LANDINGS MAKE SPRING SKIING IN NEW ZEALAND’S SOUTHERN ALPS A STRESS-FREE PLEASURE FOR OUR ROVING CORRESPONDENT, KIRK OWERS.

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h c it

Don’t be bummed if you’re not quite up to the level of those hitting the jumpline then at Cardrona - that’s young Aussie superstar Valentino Guseli, reigning World Cup Big Air & Park & Pipe Crystal Globe title holder. Cardies has the Southern Hemisphere’s best freestyle facilities, so expect to see a lot of talent out and about in spring, local and international. © Troy Tanner

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SPRING OVER THE DITCH

“WE RODE FOR EIGHT DAYS STRAIGHT AND NEVER ONCE SAW A SUBSTANTIAL LIFT QUEUE OR EXPERIENCED CAR PARK RAGE.” Rocco Jamieson enjoys a face shot day at Cardrona © Troy Tanner

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Winter is often the best season for skiing, but it’s always the busiest. Ripping fresh tracks down deep powder bowls may be the ultimate mountain thrill but it requires more than just timing and luck in our busy modern world. If you’re staying in an Aussie satellite ski village, like Jindabyne, you may need to rise at dawn and bolt up the mountain to avoid traffic snarls and full car parks. On mountain, you’ve got to know the resort like a cunning local so you don’t spend half the day standing in line. The best powder days are sweet, but they can stir up a mix of adrenalin and anxiety in the keen holiday skier.

Which is why I booked a family snow trip to New Zealand for the very end of last season.

It was a gamble arriving in Queenstown the day Coronet Peak was due to close (September 25), but it quickly proved a good call.

Spring may not produce many powder days but it has multiple advantages. We rode for eight days straight and never once saw a substantial lift queue or experienced car park rage. We stayed up late.

Slept in. Went out for breakfast. We didn’t expect it to dump and weren’t disappointed when it didn’t.

Instead we carved soft spring snow under powder blue skies and drank up New Zealand’s pristine alpine scenery, while our offspring took to the parks and hit bigger and bigger jumps.

Anyone who has worked in a ski town knows late spring is an awesome time to be alive and in the mountains. Most punters – as we used to call the tourists who paid our wages – have put away their battered skis for the year and are planning beach holidays, so there are rarely crowds and related hassles. It’s end-of-season party time for the seasonal work force and the mood around mountain towns is life-affirming and festive. The snow may not be great but it’s usually good. Spring snow is perfect for learning, backcountry touring or sending it off a mound you’ve been eyeing all season.

The snow season always lasts much longer in New Zealand than in Australia, even in a weird La Niña affected season like 2022, which saw some huge dumps interspersed with mid-winter rain events.

Mt Hutt and Whakapapa still managed to keep the lifts swinging until late October. Hutt had four of their five lifts running, so you know they’re offering much more than a few sad white stripes for beginners to wet their bums on. Down south Cardrona and The Remarkables also stayed open until mid-October, while Coronet Peak and Treble Cone extended their seasons because the snow was so good.

To be honest it was hard to sit out the entire Australian winter knowing we wouldn’t be even seeing snow until late September. And then, as our holiday drew closer, it almost didn’t happen. My oldest son’s new passport didn’t turn up until the day before our flight (even though we’d applied three months earlier). Then, on the way to the airport, our youngest started projectile vomiting in the car, spraying his dad in the process. Luckily, it wasn’t Covid or contagious. He was allowed on the plane and staggered out of Queenstown airport with a new nickname: sick bag.

The last time my wife and I were in Queenstown we were young, kid-free and on a backpacker budget.

We stayed at a hostel and rented a bomb to get

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SPRING OVER THE DITCH

Clockwise: Locals love spring at TC - no wonder! Gus Owers enjoyed the park then got a swim in the lake; Spring is easier on the access roads too, like this up to TC; The Remarkables looking late season, but it still delivered. © Kirk Owers Opposite: who says slush can’t be more fun than powder? Gus Owers thought so at Cardies. © Kirk Owers

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us up the hill. Now that we’re older and in charge of teenagers there was at the least the consolation of staying somewhere good. We bunked down in a large family room at The Rees, a handsome five star property which overlooks Lake Wakatipu. It was an absolute delight to wake in a king-sized bed, stroll down to the lake for a dip, have breakfast on the deck overlooking one of the best views in Queenstown. And then go skiing.

It’s a long windy dirt road to reach the resort and, typical of NZ, there are still big drop offs with no guard rails. I’d hate to negotiate it in a blizzard with cars stopping to fit chains, but in late September it was almost an enjoyable drive.

A good snow pack meant Coronet Peak was able to extend for an extra week, so we started there. It’s the closest hill to town so we cruised up at lunchtime and were stoked to get a rock star park at the village base.

The jumps and features in the parks were sized small to medium and lured me into them despite the age-inappropriateness. Over my middle years I’ve gradually backed away from hitting jumps or rails and boxes, but this spring in New Zealand I learnt to fly again. And it felt good.

The resort is a Kiwi classic, once rated by Newsweek magazine in the top 25 ski resorts in the World, which seems a stretch but they must be doing something right, celebrating 75 years in operation this season. It was a good place to adjust to new hire gear and warm up the legs. The kids soon found cat track jumps to fly off and sprayed sheets of slush like they were summer surfing.

Coronet is easy to underestimate because it’s so convenient and does a great job catering for families and beginners (their kid’s club is called Skiwiland). But it also has some leg-burning runs and shapely bowls that would be epic on a powder day. Coronet offer night skiing on Wednesdays and Fridays main season. If you want to stay out late partying in Queenstown, you can start your ski day at Coronet with a 12.30-9pm twilight pass that includes night skiing and, hopefully, a spectacular sunset over the Wakatipu valley.

Nearby, The Remarkables has a big name and reputation to live up to. The abundance of steep, cliff-strewn free-riding terrain attracts some of the world’s best big mountain skiers and boarders and a Freeride World Tour event. From the base of the village you look up at an expanse of cliffs, chutes and boulders that wrap around the top of resort like a jagged crown.

In spring the focus shifts to hitting jumps, boxes and rails. The Remarkables terrain parks are impressive and cater for all ability levels. There are six different park routes, accessible from a high speed quad, that range from beginner bumps to expert kinked rails and tabletop kickers.

While there were huge patches of grass and newly formed waterfalls raging on the sunnier slopes, most of the resort was still shaded and marzipan white.

We skied and rode at the Remarks for three action-packed days. My teenagers are at an age of accelerated learning and improved rapidly. By the last day they were racing down Burton Stash, a concept terrain park that combines snow features with jumps constructed from natural elements Designed by snowboard legends Jake Burton and Craig Kelly, it is one of only six such parks in the world, and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere.

I trailed behind them and followed their whoops of excitement. After five days we moved to Wanaka and settled into a comfy hotel with views across the compact town to a stunning vista of lake and mountains. The afternoons were still and sunny, and we ended most days with a lake swim. Everywhere you looked around Wanaka’s outskirts people were out and about enjoying the natural world and seizing the day: rock climbing, tramping, sailing, biking, paragliding.

My wife and I fell in love with Wanaka all over again – finding it even prettier and friendlier than we remembered. Over dinner and a few craft beers we toyed with the idea of selling up, moving to Wanaka and becoming middle-aged ski bums.

It’s a beautiful drive from Wanaka up to Treble Cone – again, on a steep dirt road without guard rails. TC is less family-orientated than most NZ resorts – only 10 per cent of the skiable terrain is green runs. But their loss is your gain.

If you are a half way decent skier/boarder you’ll have plenty of killer terrain to explore.

Treble Cone has the largest ski area in the South Island (550 hectares), and one of the longest vertical drops (700 metres). Close to half the terrain is made up of black runs, plus there are some great side-country powder stashes to search and destroy.

We hit Treble Cone on the second last day of its 2022 season and found the mood was already festive. Locals were skiing in comic onesies and drinking heavily at noon. The real celebration wouldn’t start until the next day, but evidently Wanaka folks don’t like to be late to a party.

Cardrona we saved for last and it provided a great climax. Cadrona rocks in spring. It’s always been a great family resort but many years ago it really focused on catering for snowboarders and progressive skiers and now boasts the biggest terrain park in the Southern Hemisphere. Halfpipes are prohibitively expensive to build and maintain for most ski resorts, but Cadrona still has several, including an Olympic super pipe. It also has three awesome terrain parks, including a three stack of monster kickers that skilful locals were using to explore outer space while we gawked from the chair lift.

My snowboarding sons couldn’t get enough of the jumps, half-pipes and rails at Cardrona, while my wife was delighted by the deliciously healthy resort food and the resort’s admirable zero plastic policy.

I was happy because my family were happy, but also because I was fizzing with adrenaline. At Cardrona I got off the groomers and stayed in the park, pushing myself to places I’ve never been for a good 15 years. Of course there were humbling crashes and the local shredders made me look like a total Jerry, but I kept up with my competitive sons and that’s all that matters.

All told, it was a fabulous ski holiday. My only disappointment was that the heli-boarding day I had lined up with Harris Heli didn’t get off the ground due to marginal backcountry conditions. You should arrive before mid-September if heli-skiing is your priority, although most years they will run later.

More info: therees.co.nz | cardrona.com | treblecone.com | coronetpeak.co.nz | theremarkables.co.nz SNOWACTION.COM.AU

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THE REES • 377 Frankton Road • Queenstown • New Zealand Tel +64 (0) 3 450 1100 • reservations@therees.co.nz • www.therees.co.nz 54

EXPERIENCE THE REES HOTEL, QUEENSTOWN THIS WINTER

Luxury Accommodation • Lakeside Views • Award Winning Food and Wine ABOUT THE REES HOTEL, QUEENSTOWN

Built in 2007, The Rees Hotel Queenstown is a sophisticated five-star hotel situated right on the shores of Lake Whakatipu, in the South Island of New Zealand.

The Rees offers a variety of spacious, air-conditioned, and luxurious accommodation options including 60 Hotel rooms, 90 Apartments and five private, 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom Lakeside Residences, all with terraces, showcasing spectacular views across Lake Whakatipu to the alpine panorama of the Remarkable Mountain range.

The many exceptional features at The Rees Hotel include a library of rare books and art, courtesy shuttle to/from Queenstown town centre, complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi, movies and local telephone calls, conference rooms, a fully-equipped gymnasium, secure undercover parking, electric car-charging station and its own private beach and wharf accessing jet-boat and water taxi services. Guests can swim from our wharf or beach – but it’s not for the faint-hearted!

Our team of experienced local and international staff pride themselves on delivering professional friendly service that consistently exceeds our guests’ expectations and is a hallmark of The Rees Hotel’s reputation.

Quiet, private and sophisticated, The Rees Hotel Queenstown epitomises southern hospitality at its finest and an authentic New Zealand experience.

Tel +64 (0) 3 450 1100 • reservations@therees.co.nz

www.therees.co.nz

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Looking north past the ski area - the pass to Chile is just past the head of the lake © Owain Price

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IN PATAGONIA #1 SUPER SIDE ME..

IN BOUNDS IS NONE TOO SHABBY AT ARGENTINA’S #1 SKI RESORT, CERRO CATEDRAL. BUT THE SIDE COUNTRY IS NEXT LEVEL. SO NEAR, AND YET, SO FAR. ONLY 70 MINUTES OR SO FOR OUR EDITOR OWAIN PRICE TO GET OUT HERE (AND HE’S FAR FROM THE FASTEST, FITTEST OR YOUNGEST IN THE TOURING DEPT), FOR A VIEW ALL THE WAY UP 125KM LONG LAKE NAHUEL HUAPI. BY COMPARISON, NZ’S LONGEST LAKE, WAKATIPU AT QUEENSTOWN, IS 80KM LONG. YOU GET MORE VERT HERE TOO, DROPS OVER 1100M POSSIBLE WHEN IT’S ON..

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You don’t have to be some sort of freeski legend (either in reality or just your own mind like most of us) to want to push the boundaries of what most resorts offer, even big ones like Argentina’s Cerro Catedral Cathedral Mountain - named for the granite spires that dot the range.

Let’s face it, while Epic and Ikon passes and the like have made skiing actually way cheaper per day if you go more days, the flipside of that is surprise surprise - way more people do go more.

Resorts everywhere are getting busier and busier, so heading out the sides makes more and more sense.

With that in mind, we showed you several of Australia’s best side options last year, from Hotham to Perisher and Thredbo.

Now it’s time to check out some southern winter side country options a little further afield.

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The further along the ridge you go the less competition for great lines like this © Owain Price

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CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA: INFLATION THEORY #101

If you want a great ski tune here track down our mate & local freeskee boss Lauti,aka Lautaro Spilj. He can be hard to catch up to though. © Owain Price

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But first, an economics lesson. Argentina is back to being excellent value for foreigners bearing wads of USD bills to change on the black market - known locally as the ‘blue dollar’ rate.

Thanks mainly to government incompetence, inflation is running at over 100% annually. Yes, Argentina manages to achieve Australia’s yearly inflation on a monthly basis, 7.7%+ a month.

Sure, there are external factors like Putin’s war on Ukraine, and a drought, but neighbouring Brazil had virtually no inflation last year. Here’s the thing, simply printing money doesn’t actually work.

Meanwhile the multiple official dollar exchange rates lag far behind. So anyone who can in Argentina wants to offload their increasingly worthless pesos for USD cash at the first opportunity. Like holding the lid on a pressure cooker, the government tries to keep things under control, but inevitably pressure builds and it all goes boom again.

Bad for them, good for the cashed up visitor. Just while I was there for 10 days last July, the ‘blue’ rate blew out from 220 to 320 pesos to the dollar, while the official rate only moved from 125 to 127.

A handy little 45%+ change that made lift passes about US$25 / A$38 a day, right in the middle of peak high season.

The resort village was packed with tourists from all over South America, also taking advantage.

There were even lots of Bolivians, who I had never encountered there in the preceding 20 seasons.

Apart from great steak and red wine at bargain rates, some ski gear that had been imported at official import rates was also super cheap at street rates. Yet paying with a credit card meant paying the official rate - or well over 100% more.

Late last year the government introduced a better rate for foreign credit card payments, the ‘Tarjeta Dolar’ (‘Card Dollar’), which appears as a credit transaction after the original one on your card statement. Good to know, and use if you have no alternative, but it is still cheaper using ‘blue’ USD cash rates. More so when there is a rapid blow out of those anytime you are there. So just take plenty of US$50 and $100 notes, as smaller bills don’t get the same rates. Forget Aussie or Kiwi cash, you won’t get anywhere near as good a rate for them.

Just beware of scammers..

In tourist areas most shops and restaurants announce their dollar rate openly, which should be close to the going street rate and you can always offer to offload more when paying a bill. The rates are published daily in mainstream media, so they are no secret. It’s all almost enough to stop you complaining about our Reserve Bank’s next interest rate hike. Things could be worse!

So yes, cry for me Argentina indeed. Sadly but inevitably, with a presidential election happening late this year, things will just blow out more as the government prints even more money in an attempt to hang on to power.

When I first went to Argentina backpacking in 1978, you needed wads of pesos to buy anything.

Forty five years & a couple of new currency resets later, it’s deja vu. Enough inflation theory #101, suffice to say it is very affordable. Let’s get back to where you want to go once you get here.

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SHORT BACK & SIDES: LA LAGUNA Imagine Blue Lake chutes being a 20-minute hike from the top of the Freedom Chair in Guthega and you get an idea how accessible the main bowl at La Laguna is.

Yes, it’s usually only an easy 20-30-minute hike from the top of Del Bosque double chair (the furthest left lift on the trail map, above the Amancay Gondola from the base next to the carpark) to the saddle. This is also the dog-leg of the failed poma lift installation.

There’s an avi beacon check point at the start of the route out, which, unless you are first after a fresh dump, is usually well defined by a mix of bootpacking boarders and skinning or hiking skiers.

worth making. Especially at my fitness level/age.

Some of the best lines are pretty much straight on over and down through the shadiest chutes just right of the middle of the previous photo. These face due south, holding and keeping quality snow even when it has crudded out elsewhere. It’s a short but steep plunge to the frozen lake below, then a scoot out over the lake, with more nice lines tucked in over the roll on the runout.

Returning to the Blue Lake analogy, last time I was out here our back country guru in Jindy, Steve ‘Crazy’ Leeder, was sending me shots of his latest Blue Lake mission, so they are in my library jumbled up together on the phone. When I scroll back through from some angles I get confused - Blue

That combo makes for a funky track - being on skis I prefer just to scoot up the boot track for 20 metres or so above the beacon check entry point, then put the skis back on and ski and skate along to the corner, then bootpack round the corner, ski down the following dip, which often has a little cornice built up to drop off, and then bootpack up from there. It’s hardly worth putting skins on. You can see the line of the lift towers still standing in the images here. They tried firing it up for a few years after the 2006 summer installation.

Locals, me included, would start to get excited at the prepatory work which would happen late winter/early spring. Tracks would be set, fencing set up for a liftline, warning signs requiring helmets go up and more. The motor even sputtered into life and the bullwheel cranked a couple of times as a test.

Someone once told me they rode it, but I didn't believe them. I was skiing almost every day those seasons, and I only ever saw a couple of patrollers and mountain workers actually ride it, and that only for an hour or so till something invevitably stopped proceedings. A mate in Ski Patrol told me the original summer installation was just dodgy, with no supervision, so the fail was inevitable. Eventually, they gave up. The bullwheel at the dogleg fell off, and the towers collapsed in the Patagonian breeze a few years later.

Which on balance was no loss. Had it ever worked, this whole massive glacial cirque bowl would have been in-bounds terrain subject to much more traffic.

There are plenty of awesome lines just from the saddle level. As you can see in the opening spread photo, the upper area is mostly mellower, so the additional 40 minutes or so bootpack to the ridgeline spires is not neccessarily a trade-off 62

quad bike or skidoo guests up to at night. A short uphill hike here brings you to a track to skate and ski around back under the gondola to the base.

Occasionally, like last July, the lower gondola line offers a direct option, but it’s riddled with lenga stumps and logs, so don’t do it unless there’s a lot of snow. Catedral is the only resort I know where they block off ski access to their main access gondola.

Yes, even when the snow is perfect they fence it off so you have to scramble around to the exits from the beginner’s zone at the bottom, a pointless waste of time. The endless lines of pedestrians are more the priority.

A new quad chair from the middle of the base area will offer an alternative ski back to the centre of the resort this winter, with finally some missing link snowmaking from 1200m down to the base. But that will mean several lift rides to get back around to the side country.

So on balance, be wary about skiing back to the base - cut high and lap La Laguna is the smarter option. Save the base run till the end of the day if the snow is good. You can sometimes ski on down the zig zag access track line all the way to the lower car park. Being in Argentina means you could get lucky. One great powder day, the waiter’s union decided to picket the mountain access road - like it was the tourists’ fault their wages weren’t good. Not the best way to improve your tips, but the result was an empty mountain and heli-quality hot laps all day on the gondola for me.

Lake is pretty cool too. But Blue Lake tops out at the top, whereas as you can see the scooped out cirque is only about half the 450-500m vert on offer here.

Past the lake the runout mostly faces North East, so it can get an ugly suncrust. But instead of just following the traverse track out there are some more southerly aspect tree lines between big lenga trees, which are perfect until you hit the colihue caña (cane). This non-hollow, springy native bamboo that grows to 6m or more is a nightmare to get tangled up in and bash out of, especially on the sides of the steep creek lines here.Hitting the start of the bamboo is your sign to cut sharp left to get back to the lift before it gets thicker.

If snow is good at lower levels you can also ski on down and pick up the zig-zag dirt access road at La Cueva (The Cave), a restaurant experience they

Generally though, after a lap or three in the main bowl, it’s time to check out further afield.

Heading higher from La Laguna saddle to the ridgeline opens up lots of opportunities. Go out along the ridge – either ski down to the lake first and skin up, or ski and hike along the top to past the main Laguna cirque. Far fewer people make the extra effort, and the runs between massive granite pillars with a view back down to Barioche and Lakes Nahuel Huapi and Gutierrez are as good as it gets.

For mine, Catedral has the best views of any resort on the planet and they only get better further out. This is just the Northern end of Patagonia, it’s basically wild mountains for another 2,000km south from here, not to mention 5,000km north When the snow is good, it’s very tempting to continue on down into the trees, which, unless you really know it well, will lead you into a vortex of bamboo-cane bashing hell.

Better to cut hard left high enough to make it around to the regular Laguna runout line by

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IN PATAGONIA #1

keeping above the top of the forest. Even after popping out past these big rock pillars we made it back to the traverse line to the lift with no uphilling.

Just where the main runout track takes a signposted left at the trees you can go straight, then right, and grab an unskied section of south facing perfectly spaced lenga trees. Then a hard left should pop you out at a snowbridge just above the bottom of the double chair. Assuming the snowbridges are OK - be wary of those even on the main track out, and always pay attention as you ride the lift up above the creek line before heading out. There are loads of natural features out here, including cliff drops, so sessioning some is another option.

To make an even bigger day of it, skinning & skating all the way along the ridge brings you to the ‘Burnt Forest’, left over from a 1980s bushfire.

It’s not often skiable, but when it is you will come out on the track from the Catedral car park to Refugio Frey (see following feature). This will leave an hour plus hike back to the carpark, involving a creek crossing or two.

La Laguna is not patrolled or avalanche controlled, but people often act as if it is. The avi control point is a reminder to be more cautious, be equipped, and use common sense. The trickiest part for less experienced is usually the get out line and those creek crossings. Though it often gets popular, there is plenty of space. When it’s cruddy round the sunny side I have often found myself alone in good snow in the shade, for far less effort.

It all adds up to arguably be the best bang-forbuck side country in the Southern Hemisphere.

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BETWEEN A ROCK & A SOFT PLACE

Nic gets inspired © Owain Price

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OVER & OUT: THE VAN TITER VALLEY For something wilder, drop over the back from Catedral into the Van Titer valley. Van Titer is a bit gnarlier and a real ‘day out’.

It’s also accessed with a 20 minute hike. However, this one is much scarier and not for the faint hearted because the slope you walk across is usually sheet ice. Avalanches are also common on the line in too, which is over the back after scooting down the ridgeline skier’s left off the Nubes Chair, or a short bootpack up and over above the Lenga chair.

Wind loaded slabs are a regular feature where it drops straight down to the Rucaco Valley 1,000 vertical metres or so below. Several people have died there over the years. Obviously you need to know what you’re doing, current conditions, and at the least be with someone who has been there before (on good days, there is usually a decent amount of people heading out there so striking up a conversation to ask for directions isn’t difficult).

Plenty of rewards await in the Van Titer valley, just take care on the way out there © Nic Lawrence

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Getting a good local guide is the smart ploy for visitors keen on the experience. They will find you the best lines and get you there and back as safely as possible. There are definitely some serious lines with big consequences when you get into Van Titer proper, but also some more mellow bowls to ski.

It’s usually going to be a full day tour, because there is a decent amount of skinning/climbing involved

to access the best slopes, plus you have to skin up and out to exit back down through Catedral. You don’t want to be caught out if it socks in that’s for sure. On good days the views are amazing out to Tronador, at 3,334m the highest peak in the region, and beyond to the volcanoes on the Chilean side of the Andes.

- Nic Lawrence

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IN PATAGONIA #2 REFUGIOS RULE! SO MUCH TASTY TERRAIN. TOO MUCH FOR A DAY TRIP IN FACT. WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF THERE WAS A FRIENDLY MANAGER OPERATED REFUGIO WHERE YOU COULD GET A BUNK, A BEER OR VINO AND A FEED, TO GET AT IT CLOSER AND FOR LONGER. DO A WHERE’S WALLY, AND SEE IF YOU CAN SPOT THE LEGENDARY REFUGIO FREY HERE. THEN READ ON AS NIC LAWRENCE, ROBI COOPER & OWAIN PRICE HAVE THE DOWNLOW ON FREY, PLUS THE EQUALLY WORTH VISITING REFUGIOS JAKOB & LOPEZ.

Can you spot Refugio Frey? © Owain Price

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THE BASICS ON BARILOCHE’S MOUNTAIN REFUGIOS Refugio Frey is the most popular and best known in a chain of mountain refuges (hostels) in the spectacular Andes ranges behind Bariloche. The refugios are built, owned and operated by the Club Andino Bariloche (CAB), which was founded back in 1931. As you can see, they knew a thing or two about picking locations.

They all offer basic accommodation, meals (either individually or as a package with breakfast or breakfast and dinner included), and kitchen facilities if you prefer to cook your own food (a small kitchen use fee applies in that case).

You can even camp for free right outside too if your budget is really tight. A small bathroom facility fee applies, and there are space limits.

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The CAB refugios are by far the simplest and best way to get into more of the unlimited back country skiing on offer here. It’s a system familiar to anyone who has skied Europe.

It could have been done in Australia too, we had the basics in place in the 1950s. Especially Albina Hut on the Main Range, which would have converted perfectly into a staffed refugio and helped with a lot of other problems from waste to rescues if done properly. Dream on, it didn’t meet the NWPS definition of heritage, unlike feral horses, and they took Albina out as some sort of blight on the ‘pristine environment’. So it’s snowcampers only and hope they poo tube out. Given the sheer volume of horse shit on the Main Range nowadays, quite literally, it actually probably hardly matters if you do or don’t

with your own doo doo. But here the numbers now would be overwhelming anyway, so forget it.

Meanwhile in Patagonia from spring to autumn hikers can trek around to one or more refugios and do some amazing circuits. In winter and spring, several stay open for ski touring, offering perfect bases to get into this magnificent terrain – sure, there are penty of higher mountains on the planet, but very few areas with so many magnificent alpine lakes, never mind the beautiful lenga and coihue (Antarctic Beech) forests. And it’s all pretty much pristine, apart from the refugios which blend into and get completely dwarfed by their surroundings. - OP See our Snow More info box up for links and useful contacts at the end of this feature.

Heading out at an early (Argy time) 10am. © Nic Lawrence

REFUGIO FREY If you have done any research on back country skiing in Patagonia at all, Refugio Frey is the one that you’ll read the most about on the internet. That’s for two key reasons. First is the setting and skiing, with the most stunning backdrop, salivating couloirs and striking rock spires of all the refugios in the region.

Second is proximity, it’s the closest refugio to the largest ski resort in South America, Cerro Catedral outside Bariloche.

Refugio Frey sits at 1,700m, at the head of a glacial cirque lake. That’s about 50m or so above the treeline here.

The summit of the Torre Principal reaches 2,415m, the skiable bit 2,250m or so. The normal winter snowline is around 1,150-1,200m, so you can make descents of well over 1,000m vertical when conditions are good. Most people who make the effort to get out here will spend most of their time in the chutes and bowls above the refugio.

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IN PATAGONIA #2

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Torre Principale reaches 2,415m. Dropping in from the top of the chute at the base at around 2,250m gives you 750m drop back to the lake at the bottom. With 45cm of fresh that’s pretty sweet. © Nic Lawrence

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IN PATAGONIA #2

“IN WINTER THE WALK UP IS DEATH ITSELF” Despite the general difficulties of South America (transport, inflation, accommodation, food, water etc), especially when travelling with ski gear, the access to backcountry skiing is surprisingly good and relatively simple in the Andes. I spent three months in the mountains around Bariloche in Argentinian Patagonia, and was seriously impressed.

However, it’s not exactly easy to find information on the different places to go ski touring around Bariloche. On purpose perhaps? The locals quite enjoy keeping the tourists in the resorts I think.

In late July two yanks (Caleb Fields and Toby Aberman), two Aussies (Will Nelson and Carla Golde) and I decided we had to check out what all the fuss about Refugio Frey was. I’d only met Will and Carla the day before, at the bottom of La Laguna basin, Cerro Catedral’s side country favourite. Will’s long bleach blonde locks from his surfing days gave him away, and they were dead keen to join us. I was glad for the company of a couple of like-minded Australasians for the following day.

By this time I’d been in Bariloche for about a month, so had talked to enough people to know there were a couple of options for getting to Frey: over the top of Cerro Catedral and down through Van Titer valley, or walking up the track from the bottom of Cerro Catedral carpark. Touring down through Van Titer would’ve been more fun and quicker, but due to recent snowfall and the fact that none of us had ever been to Frey before, we opted for the safe option and chose to skin/walk the track.

Caleb had run the track in the summer and said it would be 2.5-3 hours of skinning with the fresh snow. Wrong. Very wrong. A big dump of snow the day before meant we could skin, but it was not easy. It took a few of us nearly five hours to skin up to Frey along the track (the first half was very undulating, not easy skinning at all), and a couple of us nearly secen hours. Safe to say the refugio was a welcome sight at the end of the first day. The cover on the lower section is on and off through winter normally, it’s actually quicker when you can hike a good chunk of the way, especially the first few kilometres from the car park start point at the base of Cerro Catedral.

If you can, I’d recommend accessing Frey via Van Titer valley. It’s what the locals who know do. Local legend ski guide/instructor Daniel Olivieri (he was on Argentina’s Interski Demo Team for years), who grew up here, says, “In winter the walk up is death itself! Going via the top, as well a good ski down, it doesn’t take more than three hours to do a couple of great runs before you get to Refugio Frey.”

If only we knew.. However, when we eventually arrived at Frey, I was awestruck. The spires at the end of the valley are huge, the chutes and couloirs are epic and everywhere, and the refugio itself is cute as anything.

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We were lucky in that we were the only ones staying in the refugio for three nights. There were some Chilean dudes braving the cold and saving money by camping next to the refugio, so the big bunkroom was all ours (yes there is only one BIG bunk room, for 30-40 people.

The hut manager, Para, was a great dude, and we opted for the full board option, which includes a bunk, breakfast and dinner cooked for you, all for only about US$30. You have to pay in cash at Refugio Frey, so bring plenty of pesos.

It’s a proper hut, so no phone signal. You have to walk through the snow to the toilet, and only the kitchen/dining room is heated.

However, being able to buy food and alcohol out here is pretty cool, although I brought my own lunches and snacks to avoid a bill at the end (by the way, thanks Caleb for fronting me that extra cash, I’ll pay you back one day, I swear.)

The first evening over dinner Para told us heading up to Torre Principale was the best option the next day. I wasn’t about to argue with him. We woke up at 8am, had toast, dulce de leche and coffee for breakfast (it’s no luxury hotel) and we were skinning by 10am. Not exactly strenuous, but hey, this is Argentina.

Across the lagoon, up a couple of steep sections of skin track and along a ridge. Only two hours later we were at the top of Principale and GODDAMN it was epic!

Will and I decided to bootpack the last 20 metres of a nice steep chute so we could say we skied

from the very top. Everyone else dropped in just below, and I can safely say it was one of the best runs in my time in South America.

The south facing aspect meant it had had no sun on it, so the snow was light, untracked and about 45cm deep. If you turned hard enough, you could eat snow like the cookie monster which, well, if you call yourself a skier, you should be trying to gobble up faster than Popeye before a boxing match.

After a 45 minute skin back to the Refugio for late lunch, we headed back out to try to ski another face straight down the end of the lagoon opposite the refugio in the late afternoon/evening.

However, this one was slick, wind packed and not much fun. We skinned and bootpacked for over an hour, but ended up pulling the pin due to the conditions and heading back to the refugio about 6pm just as the sun set.

The next day was another Principale day. We managed a couple of laps this time. We also found some great rocks to jump off for a bit more fun.

Sadly, next day we had to leave. While the option of going up and out via the Van Titer valley was open to us, we decided to head back down the track as wind had turned the face of the skin track into a sheet of ice.

Good option, because it only took us 2.5 hours on the way down, including some fun tree skiing just under the refugio. Tree skiing is on and off here, but when it’s on it can be magic.- Nic Lawrence Above: Shady hiking accesses some great snow © Nic Lawrence

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IN PATAGONIA #2

THE LOCAL’S NOT SO LITTLE SECRET: REFUGIO JAKOB

THIS CLASSIC DRONE VIEW FROM LOCAL VIDEOGRAPHER BIANCA FIDANI SHOWS JUST HOW ALONE YOU ARE AT JAKOB, AND THE EXTENT OF THE TERRAIN ON OFFER — FROM MELLOW LINES BEHIND THE LODGE IF IT SOCKS IN TO FULL TILT STEEP SHOTS. NIC LAWRENCE CHECKED IT OUT. 76

Refugio Jakob is still pretty much the local’s secret among Bariloche’s backcountry ski community. If you like avoiding crowds, this is the winter refugio for you. In August and September the more famous and closer Refugio Frey can start to get pretty crowded (with loud Yanks mostly), but Jakob nearly always remains pretty quiet.

Refugio Jakob (its full name is Refugio San Martin, but it sits at the head of Laguna Jakob and that’s what everybody calls it) is more difficult to access than Frey, so you have to be keen to ski there, and fit. You can ski off the back of Catedral for starters, or walk up a valley track. The track is 18km long so you better have your walking legs ready!

Most of the winter it’s a mixture of walking, skinning and bootpacking. It takes reasonably fit people 7-7.5 hours going up, and around five hours going down, conditions dependent of course.

In mid-August I was lucky enough to hook up with local long-term expat Aussie tradie Robi Cooper, who knew the hut managers, Fran and Lula, were going out to Jakob for their next 10 day stint.

Robi has lived in Bariloche on and off since the 1970s, and most of his kids were born here. One of his toughest but most fun jobs in recent years has been helping rebuild the refugio at Jakob after the historic original building was burnt down in July 2017 by self-declared mapuche activists.

Outraged locals rallied in support of the Club Andino and refugio concessionaire Claudio Fidani, and it was rebuilt new in less than a year, no mean feat given the location and climate.

I had just got back from a week spent exploring some other smaller mountains, so only had a couple hours on a Friday afternoon to get organised. Thank goodness you can buy food at these refugios, it makes life a lot easier..

Next morning we were riding up Nubes chairlift at Cerro Catedral, then bootpack traversing a 200m icy face – look down and you’ll wish you hadn’t – towards the Van Titer valley. Instead of dropping there we continued bootpacking/rock scrambling along the ridge, until we got to a point where we could put our skis on. The local knowledge of Fran and Lula was invaluable. Someone new to the area would have no idea where the best point to stop walking and start skiing is.

We ski traversed a face down into the next valley, skinned up to the head of the valley, then over the next ridge and down to the lagoon where Refugio Jakob sits proudly. All up it took us about four hours from the top of the chair.

Refugio Jakob is an incredibly nice backcountry hut. After the fire, it has been rebuilt with proper four-person bunkrooms, as well as some bigger ones, and even a couple of private double bedrooms. Plus an inside toilet –luxury! The dining room and kitchen is massive, with great views of the surrounding mountains you’ll be skiing the next day.

The following day, we skinned up a pretty mellow valley to lookers left of the refugio and were greeted with blue skies and some lovely spring snow. The avalanche danger was pretty high (I actually got stuck in a slow wet slide the day before on the final ski traverse down to the refugio that dragged me 20 metres before I managed to ski out of it), so we took it easy. Regardless, the skiing was awesome with about 10cm of new snow on top of a smooth windpacked layer – no complaining from me!

After putting in the initial skin track (cheers Fran), we could lap the face in about 50 minutes, so four laps later I was buggered. Robert had to head back to town later that day, so he walked out the valley track and I settled in with Fran and Lula to wait out a three day storm in the refugio, which carried with it the hope of an absolute smorgasbord of powder when it resided. Apart from a few quick one-hour skins to keep cabin fever at bay, we couldn’t do much the next three days as the storm took hold.

The wind absolutely howled and the visibility was basically zero. Fran, Lula and I were the only ones in the hut (it sleeps 70), so it was big and quite cold. I also came down with a tummy bug (which I later found out was a virus I had contracted days before from the water in Catedral), so basically I just moped around the refugio playing board games, reading and eating. Or in my case, watching Fran and Lula eat while I sat there clutching my stomach as it cramped.

On the sixth day, regardless of how I felt, I needed to move. There was no snow falling now but the wind hadn’t subsided like originally forecast. To add insult to injury, instead of wet dream-inducing fluffy dry powder, the snow was wet, heavy and severely wind affected.

I got halfway up the valley we had skied on the second day and my body couldn’t hack it due to a severe lack of energy, so I had to turn around and ski back to the refugio. I was gutted – all that waiting for this? Average snow and empty legs was not what I had been anticipating.

The next day I decided I had to get out. The wind was still howling, I’d been at Jakob for a week, half of which had been spent inside with a stomach virus, and I still felt crap. I was gutted because Fran and I had scoped out some big lines to ski when the weather cleared, but the previous day made me realise I just couldn’t hack it until I got better, so I opted for the lonely 18km skin/walk out down the valley by myself.

If you want remote skiing and less people, then Refugio Jakob is your place. It is not quite as ‘epic’

as Frey, nor as easily accessed, but if you spend time there and get good conditions the lines are just as big and gnarly, and there are some easier faces to ski too if conditions are bad.

As with all these places, the options are endless, you could tour for weeks and never ski the same line twice.

The walk itself was long, much longer than the Frey track in terms of distance, but beautiful. It follows a river and has some amazing forest in the upper and lower parts (the middle parts are full of the nightmare bamboo, which is not particularly interesting nor great for skinning/walking).

Above: Jakob is as good as it gets in the refugios here: four bunk rooms, spacious dining/living area and a classic stove with the pava (kettle) always on for that next round of yerba maté, the Argentinian national drink. They rent sleeping bags if you don’t have your own. © Bianca Fidani

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IN PATAGONIA #2

START ON THE BUS GUS: REFUGIO LOPEZ CERRO LOPEZ IS A 2,075M BIG MOUNTAIN CLASSIC WITH AMAZING BACKCOUNTRY SKIING JUST A 45-MINUTE BUS RIDE PLUS A HIKE AND SKIN UP FROM BUSTLING BARILOCHE.

© Ramiro Calvo

The lights of the city (it has 120,000+ permanent inhabitants and 25,000+ tourist beds) are spectacular from up here.

Day trips are feasible, but it’s far better to stay up at Refugio Lopez on the tree line at 1620m. Nic Lawrence checked it out as the last of his Patagonia refugio ski missions.

Local guide Ramiro Calvo supplied the shot opposite – he can safely show you the best of it, or anywhere in the region for that matter. They get big avalanches up here and conditions change quickly, so having a guide with decades of experience is gold.

I was never particularly enamored with the idea of ski touring at Cerro Lopez. It’s so close to the main road out from Bariloche that I thought Refugio Lopez would be crowded. In addition, Cerro Lopez itself 78

is a big open slab of a peak that wasn’t the most impressive of the almost unlimited options across the Andes skyline when I looked out the back of Cerro Catedral each day dreaming of my next touring trip. So it wasn’t until near the end of my trip, on 11 September, that I finally decided to visit, more out of an “I should at least take a look” attitude than really being all that excited. Boy was that attitude misguided!

through the native beach trees to Refugio Lopez, which sits on a rock bench at 1,620m with amazing views over the lakes and mountains. The lodge can sleep up to 100.

Cerro Lopez is great. There is a scattering of terrain to suit anyone and everyone, with multiple faces, spines, basins, rollers and chutes of all aspects and angles.

After a quick bite to eat we emptied our packs of overnight gear for the skin up the face above the refugio. That took another 2.5 hours, arriving at the top greeted by a billowing westerly wind. Luckily we were on the lee side, but it still made the last 15 minutes of skinning interesting with dry windblown snow landing on a slick raincrust underneath.

After catching the bus to Colonia Suiza, my flatmate Caleb and I met an American couple, Chris and Sarah, at the trailhead, and we all started up the track with skis strapped to our backs. It’s a steep uphill, but not much distance, and after an hour or so we could put skins on. From there it was another hour skinning

Chris and Sarah pointed out a steep spine under some big rocks about 300m along the top ridge to looker’s left, so we took our skis off and bootpacked the lee side of the ridgeline to reach the spine.

By this time the wind was howling, so it was good to get under the rocks.

There was some banter about who got to ski the spine. Chris graciously skied the chute to skier’s left of the spine, leaving Sarah to rip the spine.

up the other side of the little basin we had skied into and down a different valley to the one where Refugio Lopez is located.

However, just before she dropped in she made a last minute decision to ski the chute as well, because it looked like there was more windblown snow in there.

Unfortunately the rain crust underneath meant she came unstuck and bounced her way down the chute.

That meant I ended up being able to ski the spine and I didn’t hesitate.

I was having stomach problems by this stage, thanks to the virus from Refugio Jakob two weeks before, that hadn’t completely gone away, so I skied down the main face to the refugio while the others skinned up for some more lines. I was gutted, but I had nothing in the tank. We stayed that night in Lopez. I had my Radix Nutrition freeze-dried meals which have been a blessing on this trip when I need nutrient filled meals I can trust.

The snow was part windblown, part windpacked on top of a raincrust, but it was steep and deep enough to turn pretty hard. It sluffed quite a bit and I nearly came unstuck on my last turn when my sluff caught up to me and took out my uphill leg but I held it together and skied out the bottom pretty happy.

Caleb followed with a nice line down the side of the main chute, and by this time the others wanted to skin

The others had spag bol from the refugio (the refugios normally operate with both included simple meals or use of kitchen options), and after a few beers we were in our sleeping bags by 10pm.

The next morning I woke up feeling worse than the day before, so I sat in the refugio contemplating my

rotten luck while the others did another lap up to the top of Cerro Lopez.

We skied and hiked out the trail just after lunch and finished the day with a BBQ sandwich from Colonia Suiza (which was bloody fantastic I should add).

I got home gutted with myself for not being able to ski as much as I normally would, but also at how I hadn’t gone to Cerro Lopez earlier. The place is so easily accessed and has amazing skiing.

It doesn’t get as much publicity as its sister Refugio Frey because it’s not as picturesque, or accessible heading out from the resort at Cerro Catedral, but the skiing is arguably more varied, and you also have fantastic views of the lake and Bariloche itself, not to mention cellphone reception. Next time I’m in Bariloche this is the first place I will be returning to. I left way too much of it unskied on this trip!

PATAGONIA REFUGIOS MISSING LINKS, GUIDES, CONTACTS, AND MORE REFUGIO FREY refugiofreybariloche.com As the closest and best known, Frey is the busiest, monitor numbers on the website and book your slot as early as you can - monitor the weather on Windy.app for your best shot at reasonable conditions.

REFUGIO JAKOB refugiojakob.com.ar The furthest to get to, and least busy normally, great to plan a few days here therefore. If it socks in, you can access mellow terrain right behind the refugio.

REFUGIO LOPEZ Privately operated, email cerrolopezbariloche@gmail.com or try whatsapp +54 294 434-1194 MOUNTAIN GUIDE: Ramiro Calvo is a local legend, ski or splitboard , he knows everywhere to go around here; message his insta @ramiro.calvo

Ride the bus, hike the forest track, skin from the snowline to reach lonely Lopez, with huge terrain options above. © Nic Lawrence

INSTRUCTOR/GUIDE: Dani Olivieri is a former interski team member, grew up here dolivieri_ski@ hotmail.com

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OUR BIG PHAT

CANADA FAMILY ROADIE PACKING TWO ADULT ‘KIDS’, PARENTS & 4 SNOWBOARDS IN A 27-FOOT RV WITH A MONTH TO EXLPORE THE BEST OF BC & ALBERTA RIDING SOUNDS LIKE A PHAT PLAN TO US. JOEL OWERS REPORTS ON THEIR ‘BIG BERTHA’ EXPERIENCE. In the early hours of a warm, picturesque summer morning, my sister and I were on edge with a mix of nervous excitement, dread and a profound sense of awe. Months of meticulous planning (mostly from our parents) and long hours at work had coalesced to this one morning, and this one month which lay ahead of us.

Above: on the snow road © Joel & Mrs Owers.

Opposite: Adding more to Revelstoke’s already impressive 1,710m vertical. © Joel Owers

It was our first time flying by ourselves overseas and also the furtherest we’d be away from our home in Australia. Had we packed everything we needed?

Were our bags under the weight limit?

What awaits us in this infamous, but to us as yet unseen land called Canada?

On the 10th of January 2023 we embarked from Sydney Airport and were bound for Vancouver and the entrance to some of the most impressive terrain we as a family have ever witnessed, and had the pleasure of riding down. (Check snowaction.com.au for the ‘Meet the Japowers’ feature from the families’ 2019 Japan motorhome trip).

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OUR BIG PHAT CANADA FAMILY ROADIE

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Ok, that’s not Joel in the pic - Sis missed the shot, it’s Kai White, but you get the picture what they got up to at Revelstoke © Hywel Williams / Revelstoke SNOWACTION.COM.AU

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OUR BIG PHAT CANADA FAMILY ROADIE

We met our parents at the Vancouver Airport and they introduced us to the latest member of the family, Big Bertha. A 27 foot long Ford F450 RV that would laboriously trek through the numerous high mountain passes and classic North American farmlands in search of the deep and steep terrain the Pacific North West is known for.

in, then we’d session whatever groomers we could find out the backside of the resort, then cruise the cat track that lapped around the resort in the afternoon.

It was a hard place to leave, especially so early on.

The first leg of the journey saw us hug the Canadian American border and head further inland. A below average snowfall in the past few weeks had Dad and I obsessively analysing any snow reports that we could get our hands on. They often revealed an unfortunate truth. Masses of snow storms from the Pacific were smashing California and all but missing BC. We often joked about crossing the border to get down to the States to chase the pow, but we quickly extinguished these ideas as we had to keep our sights on Canada. We couldn’t get too greedy.

Not far over yonder however was a small town called Nelson where we set our sights next. We definitely felt deep in the Canadian country now.

This small but vibrant town nestled in a valley had a seemingly small resort to its name, White Water.

So we made our start on the Powder Highway in the Kootenay Rockies. Just as well. This collection of resorts and landscapes quickly became our favourite. Red Mountain we instantly fell in love with.

Our first chair lift up (aptly named the Motherlode), took us above the Kootenay Sea and set the tone for the snowboarding we were about to do. Steep.

One morning the clouds lifted and revealed stunning and intimidating mountain faces that only the most experienced and gutsy riders (mostly the locals) could go down. It seemed the further we moved towards the Rockies, the more awe inspiring the mountains became.

Easily the most intimidating chairlift we had ridden, it took us to an amphitheatre of powder-laden terrain that had me drooling at the possibilities. To our left was a vast wall of tight, snow covered trees that towered over us. Below us, a steep rock garden bomb line right in view of the powder hounds riding the chair up.Big, open tree lines were also to our right, but they were overlooked by a series of cliff lines and drops further along the bowl that I had my eye on. You could spend a week here and still find fun lines down this one small part of the resort.

While only getting small top ups of snow (below 10cm), Red made up for that in terrain variety. The morning we would spend getting our first pow laps 84

While only really packing three lifts and a few classic Canadian log cabins at its base, the terrain is impressive. Bad weather and small snow falls cut our days on the mountain short. However, it didn't stop our appreciation for this resort.

Our first sight of the Rockies was truly memorable.

The mountains so far were beautiful, and had a somewhat peaceful look about them. They were like rolling waves capped in dark green pines with heavy frosted snow on their branches. While still miles above Australian standards, they weren’t the tall rocky peaks that we had seen in the movies.

Until one long arching bend in the road revealed the majesty of the Rockies. Still a fair way off, we could see just how tall and how, rocky these faces were.

We had a sense that the two resorts we had ridden before was just Canada’s way of testing the waters with us.

Dad took us to his former home of Fernie. A place he used to work in the 90s. The town is a classic ski

town, but also offered a lot of art and local culture on the down days that we didn't spend riding.

The days we did spend riding were in Fernie’s famous Five Bowls.

Fernie was one of the bigger resorts we visited and comfortably sat in our Top 3. It offered steep, long and sometimes technical terrain. And, for the first time this trip, deep snow.

Some runs had me chasing my own sluff as it hurtled down the mountain, while others I lazily meandered through tall pines trees that eventually would have me end up on a nice groomed run to open into some carves before heading back up for more. This mountain offered a lot of variety, from local culture and night life to heart pounding adrenaline runs. It was a mountain I can definitely see myself following in my Dad’s footsteps to for longer in the future.

But the road beckoned us north, following the long arm of the Rockies. A quick day at Lake Louise had our jaws almost to our bindings as we couldn’t believe the views while we hurtled down some firm, hard packed groomers in the morning light. We didnt spend a lot of time here, but the views were like being trapped in a screensaver.

By now we had spent two weeks on the road. Two weeks in a van with temperatures sometimes getting to -16C (which isn’t that cold for Canada, as a taxi driver told us one night, so we were lucky). We craved some form of civilisation and mostly I craved to interact with someone other than my sister, and I’m sure she felt the same way about me.

Left to right: Shady steeps beckon off the Motherlode triple chair at Red Mountain; Like riding in a screensaver at Lake Louise © Joel Owers. Steep and deep trees, Revelstoke © Hywel Williams / Revelstoke

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OUR BIG PHAT CANADA FAMILY ROADIE

This craving took us to Revelstoke where we met up with some family friends who happily shared their hospitality with us.

My dads’s long time friend showed us the local resort which we subsequently got a bit lost in as it was a white out day.

The two gondola rides plus a chairlift did imply we were very high up from the valley floor. The next day these assumptions were proved correct as a picture perfect, blue sky day unfolded. And man did we feel high up.

The lifts just kept going up and up and it felt insane to us that after two runs we needed to go in and have a coffee and some food.

Revelstoke offered up a unique blend of everything we had just experienced. The gnarly terrain of Red and White Water, the variety of Fernie and the beauty from Lake Louise.

A 15km cat track that dropped almost all the way to the valley floor. When Dad and I first did this run we promptly ordered a large steak and washed it down with some beer until our legs regained some sort of feeling. This whole time my mind was spinning with ideas of the backcountry that I caught glimpses of as we rode down.

Not too far away from the view from the Sub Peak one of the most devastating avalanches in Canadian history claimed the lives of seven people, including legendary snowboarder Craig Kelly. His influence was felt as we rode down some of these mountains.

Even though we were still in bounds, the ever looming presence of these backcountry faces left an impression on me and my family. Future trips to this amazing town and incredible resort are definitely on the cards.

But it didnt just stop at the top chair. No, a short 45 minute hike to the Sub Peak for the experienced riders added around 100m of vertical (to what is already North America’s biggest at 1,710m), and breathtaking views of the backcountry.

Revelstoke marked a halfway point in our journey, but it didn't let us out easily. A storm was setting in and dad was stopped on one of the mountain passes by a highway patrol lady. She mentioned that a few cars and trucks have had some accidents on the pass up ahead. Dozens of cars and ice truckers now qeued up behind Big Bertha. All behind a bunch of crazy Australians who didn't know the road like the Canadians do.

We hesitantly watched the locals drop the backside bowl as we strapped ourselves in for some untouched windblown but deep powder. The next part of the descent felt like a marathon for my legs.

Once the highway patrol let us through, dad’s true prowess in handling a wide 6 ton vehicle were put to the test. While Canadians might of called us slow or safe, dad called it “not breaking our bond.”

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We got through unscathed.

With the Rockies behind us, we headed back towards the coast, stopping briefly at a few resorts like Sun Peaks, but unfortunately the snow storms didn’t follow us.

On Friday, 10th of February 2023, we awoke from one final sleep in Big Bertha, somewhere on the outskirts of Vancouver near an industrial area. It was cold, but we were used to that. It was cramped, but we were used to that. My clothes were laying around a lot of the van, but we were used to that.

Dad had driven long hours to get to many places, mum somehow managed to cook brilliant meals even when temperatures plummeted. We had all grown accustomed to the slow pace van life offered us and the somewhat nomadic powder infused lifestyle that we were living. Soon enough work would return and we’d be busy planning our next trip somewhere. It was an upsetting goodbye to hand Big Bertha’s keys back to the RV rental.

I spent the long flight home marinating memories of the epic journey that we embarked on exactly one month before. And looking forward to a warmer life back home.

Above: Most families would struggle to live in a motorhome for a month in summer, never mind trekking through a Canadian winter, but the Owers collectively did it - well done crew © Owers family archives

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go next level AT whistler

For most of us, help to ski the steep comes in very handy.

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SKIING OR RIDING IN A RUT (FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING THAT IS)? WHY NOT TAKE THINGS NEXT LEVEL AT WHISTLER - WHETHER YOU’RE AN INSTRUCTOR UPPING THEIR QUALIFICATIONS OR AN AVERAGE JOE/JOELENE WHO WANTS TO BE BETTER, IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS AT WHISTLER WILL HELP, SAYS TRENT ABBERFIELD. SNOWACTION.COM.AU 89 SNOWACTION.COM.AU

GO NEXT LEVEL AT WHISTLER

Short or long Improvement Programs will do just that improve your skills & enjoyment levels

As an Australian trained Ski Instructor, I decided to take my skiing and instruction to the next level and go to Whistler for three weeks. The course I chose was YES tours Level Two course. I was expecting a step up in terrain and skiing, what I was presented with was everything I expected and more.

Did I mention a step up?

I have been to Whistler multiple times before, but this is my first trip as an instructor. It’s huge! Just so big.

The mountains are steeper, longer and the terrain is everything I had hoped it to be. Going to Whistler Peak on a bluebird day is a magic every skier should experience at least once in their lifetime.

The views are glorious. With the Level 2 group you can expect to be challenged. Peak to West Bowl was a heart stopper that’s for sure. The feeling of pure joy and exhilaration experienced by the students was amazing, huge smiles all round.

Steep drop in, followed by bumps. Lots of bumps.

Upping your skills here is the ultimate thrill. The stoke level throughout the three weeks has been at a record high!

The Trainer Meesh was amazing, imparting his decades of knowledge upon us. Taking us on a tour of Whistler Mountain’s best on and off-piste terrain.

Honing skills, both existing and newly acquired.

Tweaking a bit here and a leg there. Leaving us drained but happy at the end of the week.

YES organise après events throughout the duration of the course to help you unwind and meet your course mates in a less formal setting. These are catered events and are part of the price, and fun, but 90

just an aside for me. It’s the magic of Whistler and Blackcomb mountain tied together by the Peak to Creek Gondola, allowing an endless palate for your skiing creativity, that has my full attention. The first two days on snow were powder days, with 15-20 cms of fresh dry powder, giving a pow starved Aussie a brief taste of the elusive light fluffy stuff.

This was during spring break in March. I had been told horror stories of lift lines halfway down the village and long waits. They were wrong, all of them. It’s been a brilliant few weeks here. Queues are not longer than you wait for Halley’s Comet at Falls Creek, the runs are not crowded, and if you’re a more advanced skier then they are non-existent.

Expect high prices here, and remember to tip your instructor, tipping here is everywhere.

As the days are warming up the bottom of the mountain is slushy spring snow, but the upper levels have held up brilliantly, with overnight freezes and the groomers working overtime. If you want some super-fast groomed snow, try Ptarmigan, or Dave Murray Downhill on Whistler, or head straight up to Jersey Cream or 7th Heaven in the morning and let those skis fly. I sure have been. If you have skinnier skis, bring them to enjoy the groomers at their best.

YES Improvement organise everything accommodation, training with top level CSIA Instructors, après, everything. It’s a fantastic experience and PJ O’Heney and his YES crew are brilliant at what they do. They have decades of experience. They run Level One and Two instructor’s courses through the Canadian winter.

But for recreational skiers and boarders just wanting to have a great time and up their skills in the process,

their classic five days Ski Improvement courses go from $800 CAD for the instruction component.

Epic Australia Pass holders get 10 days combined at Whistler, Vail and Beaver Creek, so you could use those all at Whistler and do 2 x improvement programs if you want. There are a handful of blackout dates, check the detail: epicaustraliapass. com.au/passes/epic-australia-pass-2022-faqs If you want to learn how to go faster, higher, bumpier and just have more fun on the mountains, come check these courses out here at Whistler. I am so glad I did! I have gone faster and steeper than ever before here, with the help of not only my instructors here but also the other people on the course. Will, Bianca, Hugo, and Luci, thank you for making an older skier feel what it’s like to ski young again! Do yourself a favour and come over next season and have a ski with YES, you won’t be disappointed.

Footnote: everybody on my course passed their CSIA Level 2 exams!

Tip: stop over in Vancouver and go check out the local hills there as well. Cypress, Grouse and Seymour are all loads of fun and can be skied at night. Go see a Canucks game at Rogers Arena too, if you want to watch something that makes footy (AFL or NRL) look like a teddy bear’s picnic.

More info: yesimprovement.com *NB: The author paid for all his travel & the YES program. If you’re heading to Falls this winter why not request a lesson with him? fallscreek.com.au/lessons-programs

JUST SAY YES! The longest running provider of ski & snowboard instructor courses in the world.

Our team will develop your skills through personalized tips and feedback to help you improve faster.

The famous IMPROVEMENT COURSES target those who are intermediate level or higher, to take your skills, technique and confidence to greater heights. Whistler, Niseko, Wanaka options.

The awesome SKI AND SNOWBOARD INSTRUCTOR TRAINING PROGRAMS in Whistler offer a variety of 11, 7 and 4 week programs that run throughout the season (Nov – April). check the full story at www.yestours.com SNOWACTION.COM.AU

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WHY THE HELI NOT, GIRLS? SURE, IT MAY NOT BE QUITE AS IMPORTANT AS HAVING FEMALE POLITICAL LEADERS, CEOS, OR EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK, ETC. BUT WHAT ABOUT EQUAL HELI SKI TIME, WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN VERY MALE DOMINATED? FORTUNATELY, THE TIDE IS TURNING, WITH PLENTY OF GREAT WAYS FOR MORE LADIES TO ENJOY IT, SAYS OUR FEATURES EDITOR BRONWEN GORA, WHO HAS DONE MORE THAN HER BIT FOR THE CAUSE, FROM NZ TO THE HIMALAYAS.

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Not much in skiing comes close to the buzz of heli skiing!

CMH run women’s only Intro to Heli Weeks, book early © Craig McGee/CMH

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WHY THE HELI NOT, GIRLS?

There’s no denying helicopter skiing is predominantly a man’s world. The scarcity of women guests in heli ski lodges is a renowned phenomenon. But as in many areas of life and sport, the tables are slowly turning.

From New Zealand to Canada, growing numbers of women are harnessing their mojo and discovering the joys of helicoptering to remote alpine summits and skiing perfect untracked powder snow for days on end. Yet despite a notable rise in women heli skiers over the last two decades, their overall participation in the sport remains stubbornly low.

Heli ski operators told Snow Action the number one reason was an often-baseless lack of confidence – the worry that “they will hold up or slow down the rest of the group” or that “they won’t be able to handle it”, says Rob Weingust, from Northern Escape Heli Skiing in Terrace, BC. But any woman with intermediate skiing or boarding ability or above – a requirement listed by virtually every heli ski operator for all guests, male or female, has no reason for concern.

“I think that there is a common misconception that in order to heli ski you need to be an expert skier or snowboarder,” says Ben Duthie, marketing manager at Bella Coola Heli Sports,“this is just not true.”

First tracks Take the case of Stephanie Kennedy. The former Sydney journalist is a perfect example of a woman who signed up for her first trip 25 years ago after hearing two Thredbo skiers rave about “how incredible heli skiing was” and “the amazing powder snow”. At the time Ms Kennedy was an intermediate skier who had never skied deep powder. She had no one to go with either – her female skier friends being “at the stage of marriage and families”.

Regardless, she picked up the phone to Travelplan, the Australian agent for Canadian Mountain Holidays/CMH Heli-Skiing & Summer Adventures, and booked herself into a week at one of the operator’s 11 remote mountain lodges.

The thought of being helicoptered to perfect untracked slopes multiple times a day while staying in a luxury alpine lodge simply sounded too good an opportunity to miss.

The rest is history: Kennedy is a CMH heli skiing devotee with over 20 trips under her belt, equating to about 2.8 million vertical heli skiing feet.

“It was meant to be a one-off, the ski trip of a lifetime,” she says of that inaugural trip.

“I was nervous about the helicopter crashing and worried about avalanches and I’d never skied powder. I fell over a lot on that first day, but I just kept getting up and giving it a go.”

Kennedy has seen the gender balance in CMH’s lodges shift markedly since that initial 1998 trip, mostly in the last 10 to 12 years.

“When I first went, there were three women on the trip out of 44 lodge guests,” she says. “Today, although there are variations, at least one third of the lodge guests are women. There are more women coming with partners or with their husbands too, whereas on my first trip I met only one couple.”

A big plus, and possible attraction for women to the sport, is the notable rise in female heli ski guides, Kennedy believes. “I think women like to see other women doing things and excelling in an industry.

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IT’S YOUR TIME TO FLY LADIES! HELI HAS BEEN MALE DOMINATED FOR FAR TOO LONG, LEADING HELISKI OPERATORS LIKE BELLA COOLA HELISPORTS ARE WORKING TO CHANGE THAT. THEY NEED YOU TO COME SEE WHAT YOU’VE BEEN MISSING OUT ON ..

© Guy Fattal / Bella Coola Heli Sports

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WHY THE HELI NOT, GIRLS?

Women like to see other women out there and ski with other women.” In her experience, and contrary to what many women may fear, mixed ski groups always work well. “There’s less adrenaline running through the group,” she says. “There’s less competition, and the women support each other, and it actually seems to make everyone more supportive of each other.”

An added bonus has been a wealth of global friendships. “Heli skiing guests at CMH are international, so now I’ve got lifelong friends from all over the world - a lovely couple from Paris, a woman who lives in Washington DC, a couple from Japan.”

Toby Withers, owner of Travelplan Ski Holidays, can only wish he had more clients like Kennedy.

Travelplan is Australia’s sole booking agent for CMH, the longest established and largest heliski operator in the world, and Australian heli skiers are among their keenest customers, ranking as CMH’s second largest market, outnumbering those from every country except for the US. “The proportion of Australian women booking CMH trips seems to average around 15%,” he says. “We would like it to be closer to 30%.” Of those women who do book to heli ski with CMH, about a third book for one week only, compared to 20% of men.

Even so, fluctuations do occur. In 2019, women made up a quarter of the Australian contingent.

Battling misconceptions The struggle is real. Heli ski operators, as well as female heli guides who spoke to Snow Action, were more than keen to dispel misconceptions women 96

may have about heli skiing. They are doing all they can to encourage more women to the sport. As for now, many in the industry are simply exasperated over the dearth of competent women skiers and boarders capable of heli skiing signing up for what is often a life-changing, mind-blowing experience.

“I think that what holds a lot of people back from experiencing this life-altering sport for the first time is fear of the unknown,” says Ben Duthie from Bella Coola Heli-Sports.

For women though, Northern Escape Heli Skiing’s Rob Weingust is positive that lack of confidence is the number one culprit. “The male to female ratio in all our programs/lodges is so disproportionate,” he laments. “It’s too bad as we would love to host more women!”

It’s not for lack of trying either, as Northern Escape’s owners have been attempting to encourage women “for years”. But numbers have grown only slightly, representing just 5% to 10% of NE Heli Skiing’s overall business. “We do have women come with their husbands or families and we get the odd dadand-daughter trip,” Weingust says. “This season we even had a mum-and-daughter group come heli skiing - but that is extremely rare.”

Some operators are tackling the issue head-on and those that aren’t are preparing to do so. CMH is large enough to have the economy of scale to fill a women’s-only Powder Intro week each season.

Next year’s takes place at CMH’s Bugaboos Lodge. In New Zealand, Southern Lakes Heli Ski is in the throes of organising its second annual Women’s Weekend, which will introduce women to heli-accessed ski touring possibilities as well as helicopter skiing.

Operators now moving in this direction include Canada’s Bella Coola Heli Sports, which in coming seasons plans to host female-focused workshops and women specific weeks, while in Alaska, Majestic Heli Ski’s general manager Kari Rowley is looking to develop women’s clinics and working with her team’s three female heli ski guides to make it happen.

One of these, Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) qualified heli ski guide Sara Lundy, is witness to the power of women’s-only groups when it comes to trying a new skill on the mountain for the first time.

Local ladies from Christchurch & Methven are booking trips together to spectacular terrain like this © Kevin Boekholt

17 MOUNTAIN RANGES OVER 800 RUNS DAILY RUNS & PRIVATE CHARTERS

QUEENSTOWN & WANAKA +64 3 442 6222 info@southernlakesheliski.com www.southernlakesheliski.com

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WHY THE HELI NOT, GIRLS?

“These movies and photographs do not set the appropriate expectations about what heli skiing truly is,” Duthie says. “In contrast it is an adaptable sport.

We tailor it to people’s skill levels and the desires of each specific group. That is the beauty of having a helicopter and 3.55 million acres of terrain. We can access terrain ranging from mellow, wideopen glaciers to steep tight trees and everything in between.”

As a heli ski guide, Ms Lundy could not agree more.

“Most of what folks see of heli sking is from the movies, social media and the like, where heli skiing is portrayed as happening in big, steep committing terrain,” she says. “That is not necessarily the case.

We ski a lot of moderate terrain, customized to the conditions and what is most fun for the skiers.”

Several operators, including Bella Coola and Majestic Heli Ski, are making a point of hiring more female guides, which in turn appears to be helping draw more women to the sport.

“I’ve found that many of the women that I backcountry ski guide are more likely to give it a try in women specific groups,” she says.

“I suspect the same would be true for heli skiing.

Yet there are not many women specific heli opportunities, and I suspect that if there were we’d have takers.”

Bella Coola is also tackling the issue via its advertising, ensuring imagery in brochures, websites and such depict the operation as a welcoming place, not just for women, but anyone. “Until recently the majority of media produced on heli skiing only featured men in the visuals,” Duthie says.

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“Bella Coola Heli Sports has made a conscious effort to shift our marketing collateral to feature gender and racially diverse imagery in order to ensure that everyone who wants to heli ski feels welcome with us.”

There is no doubt, too, says Duthie that some women as well as men are buying into an intimidating image of the sport thanks to the plethora of movies and images of professional skiers and snowboarders being “helicoptered to high places then descending steep slopes at extreme speeds, dropping cliffs and riding spines over no-fall zones”.

While entertaining for viewers, such visuals create big headaches for heli ski operators.

“With more female guides on our team, more women will have role models to inspire them to pursue education and to spend more time in the backcountry,” says Duthie.

A heli guide since 2007, Lundy had not guided with another female heli ski guide until coming to work for Majestic. “But I am seeing more and more women interested in joining as skiers and guides,” she says.

The fact that there are now two other female guides with her at Majestic Heli Ski is a great step in the direction of encouraging more women to try the sport.

The great hope of course is that with such changes afoot – more female guides, women-only heli ski packages and more balanced marketing – it will

help diminish whatever reasons keep those women capable of heli skiing from giving it a try, whether it be lack of confidence, fear of the unknown, or not knowing what to expect.

Being at the coal face, Lundy sees firsthand the propensity for women new to heli skiing to doubt their ability to carve tracks through the fresh, fluffy powder-filled slope laid out before them when they are more than capable of doing so.

“The women I heli ski guide typically underestimate their abilities more than many of the men,” she says.

“And then at the end of the day – after they have actually done it - they seem especially excited, proud and accomplished.”

Even Majestic Heli Ski’s general manager Kari Rowley says when she took the job and went heli skiing for the first time she was “scared as hell” – and, she later learned, with no reason.

“I was scared that I would get hurt, scared of holding people back,” she admits. “But every single time it has been the most amazing experience of my life.”

Of course, a lot of obvious reasons prevent women from heli skiing she adds. “When a woman becomes a mother for instance things change,” Ms Rowley says. “They aren’t as willing to put themselves at risk because it’s not all about them anymore. My opinion is that most men don’t operate the same.

Hate to be that blunt, and again, it’s just my opinion.”

Other societal reasons have clearly resulted in heli skiing becoming a male-dominated sport. There is no denying, for instance, that the majority of heli ski clientele hold senior management roles or similarly high paid jobs and thus have the funds to pay for a sport that easily costs upwards of $1000 a day. Or are tradies from downunder. “Statistically speaking, more men than women hold these positions,” says Bella Coola’s Duthie. “But as this gap closes, and we see a more refined gender balance in the workplace, I think that we will see a culture shift, and more women in leadership will feel empowered to experience trips like heli-skiing with other women.”

Similarly, Rob Weingust points to social networks.

“Men simply tend to have more friends with the time, money and ability to heli ski. Most guys at Northern

Escape come with one to ten buddies on a ‘boy’s trip’,” he says. “But it’s probably the case that many women with the ability to go heliskiing don’t have one or more friends who could join them.”

“It is also about financial priorities. Heliskiing is expensive, so many women who have the means probably end up choosing another type of girl’s trip.”

Operators are at pains to communicate that the sport does not involve jumping out of helicopters and tearing off into the distance either. Rather, heli skiing takes place in orderly groups led by highly trained professional mountain guides who watch over and tell the group exactly where to ski.

“Of course, some women may perceive heli skiing as too risky even when in reality it’s a very safe sport,” Weingust says. “There seem to be more men who tolerate risk of more extreme sports.”

Opposite: The Tasman Glacier is the easiest intro to plane/ heli accessed skiing © Alpine Guides ; In the chopper at Southern Lakes Heliski © Camilla Rutherford Above: Happy times shared © Guy Fattal Bell Coola Heliskiing

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WHY THE HELI NOT, GIRLS?

HELISKI / BOARD KNOW MORE Southern Lakes Heliski southernlakesheliski.com/home Check the site for more on their next Women’s Weekend and meantime just get some of your girlfriends together and do a day from Queenstown or Wanaka with them anytime.

Alpine Guides The glacier is the easiest intro & most popular already with women. · Tasman Glacier: alpineguides.co.nz/skithe-glaciers · Mt Cook Heliski: mtcookheliski.co.nz · Methven Heliski: methvenheli.co.nz

Male vs female mindset is probably to blame in other ways too. “Many women seem to worry about holding back, or slowing the rest of the group down, and therefore won’t go on a heliskiing holiday. But there are slow male heliskiers and they don’t seem to worry or even care about holding up others if they are not good or fast enough.”

Doing it for themselves Women in the industry – both mountain guides and operators - are targeting their own gender.

Across the Tasman in New Zealand, adventure sport lover and heli skier Cassie Kennedy has taken the reins of Southern Lakes Heliski’s Women’s Weekend, which debuted in 2022.

The concept was initially devised to break down the stigma among women that they needed to be experts to enjoy what heli skiing had to offer and show them it was perfectly possible for them to heli into spectacular and otherwise inaccessible terrain to enjoy untouched pristine snow with their friends.

This coming season the event will be even bigger and better Cassie says.

“We will be utilising a local resort for a training day for both freeriding and ski touring before an evening discussion, and celebrating women in the mountains,” she says. “The second day is for heliskiing and boarding and heli touring.”

As a sports fanatic, as well as an action sports photographer, Cassie says she often witnesses the gender imbalance in outdoor sports.“It’s something I’m passionate about changing,” she says.

While Southern Lakes Heliski does not keep official statistics on the gender of its guests, men make up 70% of the operation’s social media following.

Start in NZ New Zealand is easily the closest and most affordable option for most women who want to have a go at heli from Australia. The Tasman Glacier offers the mellowest introduction amid incredible scenery, from Mt Cook Village, or with flights included from Queenstown & Wanaka. It has by 100

far the best female patronage of any plane or heli accessed ski operation we talked to for this feature Arthur McBride is GM at Alpine Guides, who run Mt Cook Heliskiing, Ski The Tasman and Methven Heliskiing. “Anecdotally for heliskiing, testosterone dominates, it’s easily 80/20 male/female” he says.

“But on our glacier skiing operation it is more of a 50/50 split.”

Selkirk-Tangiers Heli-skiing From single day to multi-day packages available from their base just putside Revelstoke so easily combineable with holidays there selkirk-tangiers.com CMH - Canadian Mountain Heli-skiing They run women’s weeks every season, ask for details/book with travelplan.com.au/ destinations/cmh-heli-skiing Bella Coola Heli Sports bellacoolaheliskiing.com

Methven Heliskiing, based near Mt Hutt and Christchurch, has been making inroads with the local famale market.

Northern Escape Heli Skiing neheliskiing.com

“Methven Heli has been popular with women only groups recently, especially Christchurch and Methven locals” says their Director Kevin Boekholt, (who is also father to our sometime Kiwi Editor and freeski gun contributor Kenji Boekholt).

Majestic Heliskiing, Alaska With a female GM & 3 female guides they offer plenty for women majesticheliski.com

Kevin has also been running annual Greenland heli trips for many years, which defy the normal trend.

“We certainly have more women in Greenland, as it is small group heliskiing in an amazing landscape. It is a special place and couples particularly like being able to share the experience together. It’s more about the adventure so sharing this with a partner is special.”

It’s your time to fly!

Whatever has been done to encourage women to heli ski, there still appears a lot to do. Ben Duthie believes operators will only see real change when the number of female heli skiers reaches critical mass. This is the missing link, the secret that will finally “make more women comfortable and excited about purchasing a trip as a small group” instead of fearing that if they do so alone, they may end up skiing with a group of strangers, all of whom are men.

“The more women that continue to heli ski will result in more women wanting to heli ski. It’s the snowball effect that we’re waiting for. Pun intended.”

Over to you sisters, it’s your time to fly!

Yes you can: happy times on Southern Lakes Heliski’s Women’s Weekend © Victoria Wells / Camilla Rutherford

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Selkirk Tangiers Heliskiing 40+ years of experience 500,000 acres of terrain with 400+ runs

BOOK NOW! reservations@selkirk-tangiers.com 1.800.663.7080 102

GUIDING WITH PASSION AND PURPOSE

© Tom Poole Photography

BY CECELIA MORTENSON

Flowing through the high mountains of the wild has long captivated me. One of my favourite ways to do this is heliskiing rugged peaks, vast glaciers and the forests of the Selkirk and Monashee mountains around my hometown, Revelstoke BC. My best days always include a great group of skiers and riders also out living their best lives. I think this is one piece of the conversation I don’t often hear about: the relational piece of a perfect day powder skiing.

The old adage: “no friends on a powder day” lends flat in my world. Up there, deep in the mountains, there’s plenty of powder to share. And it’s the ecstatic smiles, hoots of joy, moments of awe and knowledge that your team is sharing this experience that truly make a great day.

There is no denying the real hazard while skiing avalanche terrain. I try to train my groups to work together in our pre-trip backcountry safety training. To support each other out on the powder fields - whether it’s recovering from a fall, searching for a lost ski or skiing through trees. And in that extremely rare event of an avalanche, it’s your team that will rescue you. Not only does this approach allow us to move more safely through the mountains, but it’s simply more fun when it’s a shared experience.

Women get this and seek it out. However, I think many men and other gender fluid folk are also yearning for the same experience: an unforgettable day or week in the high mountains, riding aesthetic terrain in fabulous snow with a team that has their back. A team that can share those bright smiles and experiences and where former strangers become lifelong friends and ski buddies.

People also want to learn, build their confidence and find that flow of movement in their bodies. A typical day in the mountains allows for this. This is one of my largest motivators as a Mountain Guide: to help people move through the

mountains in a way that is fulfilling and safe.

To this end I’m involved with a wide range of programs over the years. · InspiringGirls.org provides tuition free transformational adventure, art and science based programs for 16-17 year old girls*. · OpenMountains.com is dedicated to creating more inclusive mountain culture and spaces for mountain adventures. · AscendAethletics.com that believes in empowering women through athletics. I had the chance to support a team of Afghan young women climbing in the Panshir Valley. · ThwaitesGlacier.org which is an international collaboration to study the most unstable glaciers in Western Antarctica. · SIOOS (https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIIOS/#:~:text=What%20 is%20The%20SIIOS%20Project,of%20different%20planets%20 and%20moons)which uses a Sub-glacial lake in NW Greenland as an analogue to studying Europam, the icy moon of Jupiter.

As one of the worlds few female Internationally certified Mountain Gudies, and the 9th in Canada, I try to use my skills, experience and position of power to help influence the outdoor industry and society at large in my own small way. I believe that bringing people into the mountains and supporting their learning process is one of the most powerful ways to do this.

Whether it’s working with scientists studying polar ice on our planet (or in outer space), leading empowerment courses or working with guests dreaming to explore wild spaces within the majestic mountains of my backyard, I always try to create an inclusive place where we can thrive, learn and experience these powerful places. selkirk-tangiers.com SNOWACTION.COM.AU

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50 YEARS OF AUSSIES TO ASPEN ASPEN SNOWMASS HAS BEEN #1 FOR AUSSIES HEADING TO AMERICA FOR A LONG TIME. WE ARE THEIR #1 SOURCE OF INTERNATIONAL SKIERS TOO. FROM CELEBRITIES AND BILLIONAIRES TO REGULAR SNOW HOLIDAY TRAVELLERS, IT OCCUPIES A UNIQUE PLACE IN OUR SKI HEARTS. THE REASON FOR THAT HAS A LOT TO DO WITH ONE MAN, DAVID WITHERS, WHO PUT IT ON THE ITINERARY OF HIS NASCENT TRAVELPLAN SKI HOLIDAYS BUSINESS BACK IN THE 1972-73 SEASON. FROM A TRIAL TOUR BACK THEN, OVER 26,000 HAPPY CLIENTS HAVE FOLLOWED. TO SHOW THEIR THANKS, THE CITY OF ASPEN PROCLAIMED A ‘DAVID WITHERS APPRECIATION DAY’ ON HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY ON FEBRUARY 23RD. 104

David Withers started taking Aussies to Aspen when the Daffy ruled, 50 years on it’s our number #1 destination in America © Oliver Sutro & Matt Power / Aspen Ski Co

Fifty years ago there were basically two main types of international snow travel: the working holiday for the impecunious, with Europe, especially Austria, the favoured destination; or, for the better off, tours to Europe or North America, often accompanied by tour hosts. NZ was barely on the radar, Japow not invented. Catering to the latter group, Wither’s knew he had to meet his client’s high expectations.

After three years of European tours he took a punt on the USA, with a trip to Aspen and Vail spending a week at each resort.

Vail was the cheaper option then, with more modern accommodation, but from the get go the feedback was the clients preferred Aspen, which had had a 20 year head start on Vail as a ski resort and benefited then (and now) from being an original historic town, not being 100% purpose built.

Travelplan added Steamboat as a third option not long after, but more and more clients just preferred Aspen. And preferred to stay there for their whole trip, rather than have to pack and travel between resorts.

That preference for the longer stay has become the hallmark of Aussie snow travel to a lot of places now.

Early on, the accommodation operators and the lift company started to appreciate that fact. Compared to the local market who, however well-heeled,

tended to come for just a few nights, it became obvious to smarter hotel and apartment operators that instead of having gaps in their bookings they could fill up for longer with the ever growing numbers of Aussie guests. The popular and ideally located - next to the gondola on Aspen Mountain -North of Nell apartments are a good example.

Withers was proactive in suggesting ways to maximise that to benefit the operators and the clients.

Which was pretty much the start of the now widely accepted and hugely popular long stay discounts.

Pay 10, stay 14 nights, etc. Plus the lift company came to the party with some great longer stay deals, which now run up to the SKI30 pass for 30 days skiing at Aspen Snowmass’ 4 mountains, plus a bonus 2 days in 2023 season at Thredbo.

The need to secure flights meant earlier booking was always a feature, and not surprisingly the best deals became linked to Early Bird cut off dates, which is still the case today. The whole ‘Early Bird’ ski holiday deals concept really began with Travelplan at Aspen all those years ago, and continues today, spread widely across the industry.

Post the Covid hiatus, demand is strong - right back to pre-pandemic levels, Withers reports. But airfare gouging played havoc with bookings last season.

Business class fares were up to five times as much

as previously, and economy fares also much higher.

As airline capacity rebounds and demand spreads, hopefully the situation will improve for winter 202324. More than ever, booking early will help.

Wither’s success was based on an amazing work ethic. I know; he contracted my design business to do their snow brochures for several years 20 odd years ago, and the 3AM phone calls when he remembered an extra deal or something to include were frequent. He was ever the perfectionist.

The City of Aspen and the Aspen Ski Co. put on a much deserved big celebratory bash for him in February - they have received over 26,000 direct clients from Travelplan bookings.

We wish him all the best and hope he keeps traveling to Aspen for many years to come. Son Toby now runs the business, but I’m sure dad still has the odd bit of advice for him.

Our advice is, to paraphrase the legendary Warren Miller, every year you don’t go skiing you’ll be a year older when you do.

Ditto for going to Aspen - you really should go check it out. — Owain Price More at Travelplan.com.au SNOWACTION.COM.AU

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There’s simply nowhere else like Utah. From mesmerizing hoodoo formations to towering rock arches to world-famous, powder-packed peaks to steep and deep canyons, it’s the sort of place you’d expect to have to travel to the ends of the Earth to find. Yet it couldn’t be easier to get to. Skiers know this better than anyone. The new international airport that’s 10 minutes from exciting downtown Salt Lake City delivers you to a skier’s paradise that’s home to 15 major ski resort destinations, 10 of which are within a one-hour drive from the airport!

Three of those downhill ski resorts (the appropriately named Powder Mountain and Snowbasin, plus Nordic Valley) are reached through the historic railway hub of Ogden. The city manages to mix rustic ruggedness with hip urbanity, nowhere more so than on the vibrant

25th Street, an eclectic main street scene that you won’t find in any other ski town. The magical time warp effect of this Old West town that has become new again adds an unbeatable element to any ski vacation.

Further south, Brian Head Resort is perfectly positioned to catch a full nine metres of annual snowfall. With a base elevation that’s the highest in all of Utah, you know the dry, light snow that Utah is famous for abounds at Brian Head. The mountain’s 71 runs are split evenly between beginner, intermediate and expert terrain, so there’s something for everyone at Brian’s Head.

P

HEBER VALLEY

IT’S TIME YOU DISCOVERED HEBER VALLEY, UTAH Located less than an hour from the Salt Lake City International Airport and only 15 minutes from the iconic Park City, sits the burgeoning town of Heber Valley, Utah. Former site of the 2002 Winter Olympics biathlon and cross-country ski events, home to three expansive state parks with miles of trails, and surrounded by mountain vistas, this quaint valley has become a distinguished destination for outdoor adventure. Summer provides hiking, biking, fishing, camping, river rafting, and ziplining. Winter offers snowshoeing, snowmobiling, skiing, dog sledding, and ice fishing–along with one of the world’s most amazing Ice Castles experiences. Come enjoy one of Mother Nature’s favorite destinations!

BRIAN HEAD

BRIAN HEAD–UTAH’S FAMILY-FRIENDLY SKI PLAYGROUND Brian Head Resort is an unforgettable winter getaway. Located just 90 minutes of Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks, here’s a one-ofa-kind ski destination with short lift lines and Utah’s highest base elevation; all within a three-hour drive of the glamor of Las Vegas.

Brian Head is a laid-back western town with easy access to snowmobiling, ice skating and snowshoeing. Being close to multiple national parks makes it easy to extend your vacation, packing your itinerary with extraordinary sites and experiences.

Plan your trip at brianhead.com 106

Discover the diverse dining, lodging, activities, events, and attractions in this alpine town. Here, we’ve coined the phrase “après all day” as the culture and lifestyle of Heber Valley invites guests to explore more, whether that be on a snowmobile or mountain bike, spa day or midday cocktails. With so much to do, see, taste, and experience, a visit to this beautiful mountain town leaves you longing for more.

The cool temps and dry warmth of summer is a perfect blend for golf by day and stargazing by night. And known as a true winter wonderland, the valley becomes a skier’s paradise during the winter months. With the new Mayflower Mountain Resort opening in winter 2024/25, Heber Valley, Utah is becoming a top ski destination for many around the world. Now is the perfect time to plan a visit and discover Heber Valley for your next vacation, work trip, family reunion, or important destination meeting and event.

SKI UTAH Take me to bottomless powder and endless après. Take me to big mountains and big smiles. Take me to places made for photographs. Take me to making memories with my friends and family. Take me to 10 resorts less than an hour’s drive from Salt Lake City International airport. Take me to The Greatest Snow on Earth®. Take me to Utah.

PARK CITY

Home to two world-class ski resorts, Deer Valley, and Park City Mountain, and the Sundance Film Festival, Park City is a charming historic town with award-winning restaurants, a vibrant nightlife, unique art galleries, a variety of shopping, and some of the most ambitious sustainability goals of any mountain town. Guests can experience an array of activities including snowmobiling, dogsledding, wellness activities, bobsledding at the Utah Olympic Park, and a progressive snow playground at Woodward Park City.

Located just 35 minutes from Salt Lake City International Airport, your dream winter holiday has never been closer.

SALT LAKE

Salt Lake is a premier ski destination boasting unparalleled access to world-class skiing and snowboarding.

With four ski resorts located just a short drive from downtown, you’ll dive into over 500 inches of annual snowfall, varied terrain, and stunning mountain views. But Salt Lake is more than just a winter sports paradise-it's also a vibrant urban center with an exciting culinary and cultural scene, making it the perfect destination for those looking to combine outdoor adventure with city exploration.

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WIN A 10-DAY ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME IN UTAH PLUS SHARE IN A SNOW PRIZE POOL VALUED AT $30,000+ WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO SNOW ACTION

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• VISIT SALT LAKE – Two-day ski pass for Salt Lakes 4 resorts, and two nights’ accommodation (lodging to be confirmed).

• VISIT PARK CITY – Two nights’ accommodation at the YotelPad Park City + Park City Mountain two-day lift ticket.

• HEBER VALLEY – Two-night stay at the Zermatt Resort, Sundance Ski Tickets, Utah Crater, Solider Hollow – Snowshoeing or CrossCountry Skiing or Tubing and Ice Castles.

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Lonely on the only black run at Harrachov

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all quieter (& cheaper!) on the eastern front LIKE THE SOUND OF EMPTY BLACK RUNS, A$50 DAY PASSES, A$10 BEER & FOOT LONG SAUSAGE LUNCHES, PLUS CHARACTER AND HISTORY IN SPADES? THEN READ ON, DAVE WINDSOR HAS A THIRSTY SKIER’S GUIDE TO SKIING THE CZECH REPUBLIC AND A BIT OF NEIGHBOURING POLAND TOO. The ‘Giant Mountains’ that divide the regions of Bohemia, Czechia and Silesia, Poland (Krkonoše in Czech or Karkonosze in Polish) are giant by name, but not by nature - when compared to the Alps, Rockies or Andes.

The topography and views of and from them are comparable to Victoria – serene, picturesque, rural and max out at 1,603 metres. Unlike Victoria, they are home to scores of ski areas, and they certainly make the most of what mother nature has provided.

Last visit in 2020, a lack of snow had us skiing Austria instead. This time, leaving in mid-January with my Polish-Aussie mates Andrzej and Marek, I thought we might suffer a similar fate. But the cold and snow finally arrived. Our Eastern Euro roadie was saved by 40-90cm of natural snow,,which had lifts, snow guns and runs firing – particularly on the Czech side of the border.

From Andrzej’s delightful holiday house in the forest above the Polish tourist town of Szklarska Paręba, the Czech border was just 15 minutes away. Handy!

We bundled into his trusty Skoda Octavia and headed north, south, west and east, hitting seven ski areas (One Polish and six Czech), driving about 750 kilometres direct to and fro, plus a few hundred sightseeing kilometres too.

“The resorts in Czechia are very well appointed, staff are sympathetic and they have plenty to offer,” says Marek, “I advise everyone to ski in Czech.”

The language barrier was a little challenging. But a smile, my Polish mates and google translate helped.

Consistently freezing temps kept the snow as crisp, stable and chalky as anywhere I have ever skied.

Hourly to multi-ride to multi-day tickets are available at most areas, and some even have weird point

systems that I didn’t bother with. Buying/topping up online can save you a few bucks, so it’s worth doing a bit of research before heading out.

Getting around was extremely easy once we navigated our way through the frozen narrow streets of Szklarska and hit the open roads. All roads were cleared, well signed, and in excellent condition, leading directly to slopeside car parks of varying size and condition. Some are free, or otherwise cheap at A$5-7 per day.

Skiing aside, we also took in the sites, visiting terrific towns and cities such as Görlitz in Germany, Jelenia Gora and Wrocław in Poland, and the Czech capital Prague.

Prague is the prime reason the skiing in these parts is so plentiful. It’s an easy two-three-hour drive via the quick D10 Motorway (130km/h limit) to get to the foothills. Plenty of billboards promote the coaches to and from Prague for day trippers and holiday makers to hit the likes of Harrachov, Rokytnice, Černá Hora-Pec and Špindlerův Mlýn.

If you’re not as lucky to have a mate with a car and holiday home then there is tons of accommodation in Poland’s Sklarska area for rent, including a brand spanking new Radisson.

Alternatively, you could lodge across the border in neighbouring Harrachov, Czechia, which not only has its own ski area but sits at the crossroads between Prague (two hours south) and the dozens of ski areas in this neck of the woods.

Hiring a car is best to explore at your own pace.

Take in the sights on weekends when ski fields tend to be crowded. Aussies can stay 90 days in 180 in Schengen area countries, driving passport free across the borders just like the locals.

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ALL QUIETER (& CHEAPER!) ON THE EASTERN FRONT

Spruce lined runs at Ski & Sun, Świeradów Zdrój

HARRACHOV With a five-hour ticket in hand, CZK 930 (A$55), we had ample time to kick off the roadie. Two nondetachable four seaters serve the four long runs off the 1,022m Čertova Hora summit, plus a couple of surface tows for a pair of beginner runs. The main choice ‘Blue’, ‘Red I & II’, and ‘Black’.

Plenty of snow and excellent grooming had us doing lap after uncluttered lap. The solitary ‘Black’ run was the winner (and best black for the trip too).

At 1,259m long through 300m, it boasted a max gradient of 65%. The straight, wide pitch ironed out the wrinkles and tested our legs, nerve and stamina.

“This is an excellent run,” says Marek, “it gives us all the information of what we are doing wrong.”

The snack shop at the bottom serves kranskies and shots of Pear Williams; the one at the top serves the Italian favourite, Bombardino topped with whipped cream, whilst kicking back on the sun lounges.

The adjacent ‘Blue’ & ’Red’ runs are longer winding routes sweeping left, right, left, right - you get the picture - leading into a tricky left to right cambered plateau that delivers us back to the bottom of the quad. Three-quarters down Red II (which reminded me of Buller’s Bourke Street) are a couple of charming pit stops to augment the lively base in town, where we enjoyed our first of many cheeky Czech beers at an average price of about $5 for a 400ml glass. Harrachov kicked our roadie off to a perfect start.

More info: skiareal.com

SKI & SUN, ŚWIERADÓW ZDRÓJ The only Polish hill we managed to hit was the charming one and a half run Ski&Sun Świeradów Zdrój, located in a quaint old spa town. Despite being a one-trick pony this hill typifies the region.

Easy access, great car-park, decent facilities, heaps of snow making (42 guns), excellent grooming and good fun.

The peak is only 1,060m and the 2.5km long run is a combination red-blue, through 443 vertical metres.

The 8-seat gondola cabins can transport 2,400 112

Gondola at Černá Hora – Pec.

MUSTANG BAR HAD US LOUNGING IN THE SETTING SUN DOWNING $3.50 PINTS BEFORE HEADING HOME. punters per hour, the 15-minute round trip had us averaging about four runs per hour. So we opted for the two-hour PLN 90 (A$30) and three-hour PLN 120 (A$40) ticket options. There’s no rush to get there early or ski like a madman – just go do laps.

They also offer a three and five-run ticket, plus day passes, catering to as many budgets and levels of eagerness as possible.

This is a well-polished operation with snow making throughout, a 7,070 per hour lift capacity and plenty of on snow huts for a drink or bite to eat.

Carolina from Poznań gave us an excellent tip, while topping up our glasses with her BYO mulled wine, “Just wait until 5:30 before heading down. At dusk the groomers will be heading up.” We did, getting a corduroy line to the base.

The frozen pines under the summit of Lysá Hora are reminiscent of the snow ghosts at Big White, and provide a splendid backdrop for the start of the fantastic 2.5km #5 run, Red FIS. This is one of the best reds we skied in Czechia and although the Lysá Hora quad was packed for most of the day, we managed to squeeze in half a dozen laps by taking advantage of the singles queue (a four to six-minute wait). On the other side was the equally fun, but shorter #3 - Slalom, which, as its name suggests, is fast, technical, steep in parts and is easily accessed by the quick, uncrowded A3 button lift.

Two little restaurants top and bottom serve hearty homemade staples such as placki (potato cakes) with goulash $13, bigos (hunter’s stew with sausage) $15, and pork chops $16.

To round out the day we checked out the quaint township and impressive 250-year old Uzdrowisko Świeradów Zdrój spa & health resort.

More info: skisun.pl

ROKYNTNICE This Roky well and truly punches above its weight.

Another compact area with only a handful of lifts offering some excellent skiing. There are two areas to ski in Roky, beginner friendly Studenov and sundrenched south facing Horní Domky, which peaks out at 1,315m and offers 14.4km of varying pistes.

Being a larger area and arriving mid-morning we opted for a four hour pass for CZK 780 (A$46), and weren’t disappointed. Long, interesting and challenging runs can be found across the mountain.

Along with seemingly empty horizontally striped mountain lodges dotted throughout.

A top to bottom run of 3km through 650m vert can be had via the blue combo Touristic & Zoomer or interlinking some ripper reds.

SkiBar U Zalomenyho served a mean tea with Božkov ‘grog’ – a very pleasing local gold rum.

Mustang Bar had us lounging in the setting sun downing $3.50 pints before heading home.

Even faster, steeper and narrower is the 962m, 330 vertical metre #4 - Lumberjack. Roky is biggish, cold, has great snow and excellent service. Two thumbs up for this local favourite.

More info: skiareal-rokytnice.cz

ČERNÁ HORA – PEC Best on ground, MVP and our favourite spot by far goes to Černá Hora – Pec pod Sněžkou. Like the other areas, I found it on Google maps and didn’t know what to expect.

Arriving at the enormous gondola station in the town of Janské Lázně and observing surrounding hotels and infrastructure, it was apparent we’d be in for a big day out , for an incredibly cheap CZK 1,160 (A$68, buy online & save).

The quick 8-seat Černohorskÿ Express gondola had us at 1,260m within minutes and we arrived to a hive of activity, replete with Austrian style umbrella bar,

British DJ, riviera inspired sun lounges and a 100% Czech ski-in ski-out bar. The views, forest, snow and overall vibe is second to none.

The runs are long, varied and plentiful speeding us down to four pick up spots. The testy red Andél warmed us up away from the busier morning lifts.

Further down we cruised and carved our way to the 6-seater Hofmanky Express, and the considerably slower 4-seater Protěž, all the while racking up plenty of miles and heaps of vertical.

A big part of the fun for many here are toboggans.

Unlike anything you’d see in nanny state Australia, there’s a 3.5km “sledge track” from top to bottom, through 556 vertical metres on a purpose cut trail.

Although hundreds of sledders cross the pistes at numerous spots there wasn’t a single collision.

Everyone’s allowed to enjoy the mountains, be it on skis, boards, walking, toboggans or best of all, snowcats.

Conditions permitting, two 20 seat bright blue snowcats transport you about 5 km from Černá Hora to neighbouring Pec pod Sněžkou (with a bit of a ski from the first to the second cat). Which opens a total of 32km of runs across the two fantastic areas. Being a very spread out resort with three distinct areas, it was easy to avoid the crowds and rack up laps.

The conditions were Micky Mouse as the Women’s World Cup circuit was here the week before. A high speed detachable quad and a heated six seat express shuttle us to the 1,195m peak in no time.

However, the six-seater wait was reminiscent of a Saturday at the bottom of Heavenly Valley.

Fortunately, a dependable old 2 seater interlinked with a T-bar kept us moving. Hard to say if this was quicker, but it avoided the shoulder-to-shoulder throng. Špindl’s about as posh as Czech skiing gets: slopeside Veuve Clicquot champagne lounge; Audi Quattro bar; and a noticeable amount of fur, smart outfits and new skis & boards. The clincher was the price of lunch: pizzas start at CZK 389 (A$23), burgers at CZK 429 (A$25). It was easily the most expensive place we visited, on an otherwise a super affordable roadie. Still, a 400ml Pilsner Urquell only cost $5, and the car park’s free.

adds a bit of variety. The main game in Svatý Petr is the FIS World Cup black run - punchy, aggressive, exposed. Like the brilliant blacks at Harrachov and Pec, it isn’t over skied and certainly burns your thighs. Špindl deserves the accolades and a longer stay, perhaps combined with a time in Prague.

No doubt plenty drive or catch the bus from there for a romantic getaway, to live the high(ish) life or impress mates. It’s classy, cool and fun to ski.

Weekends best avoided - stay in the city then.

More info: - spindleruv-mlyn.com - gopass.travel

PASEKY NAD JIZEROU

But we came to ski and the skiing was ace. For mine, the 2km long Červená was the best red we’d skied all trip, weaving through 450m vertical at a fast pitch on outstanding cover.

Paseky is tucked away at the end of a couple of narrow valley roads. Our first attempt to ski here was thwarted by an 18-wheeler stuck in the snow, so Andrzej chucked a 3-point u-bolt and we headed to Rokytnice. The next day we tried again and made it.

In Czechia most of the skiing is in the tree line, so runs are beautifully bordered by huge spruce forests. They take advantage of strategically placed outcrops to create numerous intersecting blue, red and black runs funneling down to the bases, which

Paseky is a pocket rocket beginner hill, essentially the Czech version of Baw Baw or Selwyn. Great for beginners and those on a budget — CZK 580 (A$34) for a four hour ticket is bargain basement.

Unlike Baw Baw, parking is free.

Set below Sněžkou (the tallest mountain in Czechia at 1,603m), it offers a spectacular outlook, especially while drinking beers or Bombardinos from any of the numerous sun deck bars dotted across the resort, including the uber cool Ski Bar Kuhstall. Red and blue runs dominate at Pec. It boasts a solitary black run, Hnědy Vrch, a short, sharp and super steep 500m wall of vert that was smashed by the local ski squads and survived by the rest of us.

“This place is the best because of all the variety,” pronounced Marek, “all the runs are quite demanding and good and there are so many different runs that it’s difficult to check them all out in a day.”

Before catching a crowded 30-minute bus back to our car, we down shots of slivovica (plum liquor) at the slope side Penzion Srub Panorama and toast another terrific day, while planning a return visit later in the trip.

More info: skiresort.cz

SPINDLERŮV MLÝN Špindl is the Czech go to. Consecutive winner of the ‘Best Czech Ski Resort Award’, it’s big, brash and somewhat international. It was my 100th career ski area, not bad for someone who started skiing at 31 years of age.

It’s apparent from the town, buildings, lifts, marketing and ski office that they’ve spent plenty of money here. It boasts 27kms of slopes, 6 chair lifts and 11 surface lifts. That is all spread across two to three areas - Svatý Petr-Hromovka, Medvědín-Horní Mísečky-Labská and Stoh. Too much for a day, so better to stay in town a few days and explore each area – next time!“When it’s sunny it tends to be busy over at Medvědín, so I ski here at Svatý Petr,” explained local lifty Piotrek, “you need to see where the crowds are going and then head somewhere else.” Good tip!

We focused on the Svatý Petr area too, as it looked to be the biggest, grabbing a day ticket online for CZK 1,250 (A$73) – one third of Aussie prices, but the most expensive of our trip. Buy online and collect tickets via a vending machine to save a few bucks.

World Cup run at Spindlerův Mlýn, the most international (& upmarket) of the Czech resorts

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ALL QUIETER (& CHEAPER!) ON THE EASTERN FRONT

“I can’t afford to ski at Spindl or Rokytnice,” says Tereza, “but Paseky and Rejdice are really good value and much easier for me”.

The highlight was a half-litre home brew at the very popular Prdek (translation: Fart!).

We enjoyed a coldie with some local characters and one of them put us onto a microbrewery at U Čápa, a tiny neighbouring ski-village 9km by car or 4km on Nordic skis. We opt for the car.

The excellent 12% strength unfiltered Svoteběžník JC pale lager and a generous plate of goulash comes to CZK 244 (A$16) in total!

They claim, “we brew these beers in the traditional artisanal way from water, malt and hops and using brewer’s yeast, Czech beer needs nothing more.”

I’ll drink to that.

More info: - skipaseky.cz - prdek.cz - ucapa.eu

HERLÍKOVICE BUBÁKOV Another day, another 40+ minute drive to another interconnected boutique area.

Herlíkovice & Bubákov is the tale of two sides of a ridge. To the south is the super easy beginner area of Bubákov, with a bunch of T-bars, a non-detachable 4-seater, expansive views and plenty of school kids.

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To the north is a sweet intermediate area served by another solitary 4-seater and T-bar.

Kids under 6 ski free; for up to 12 years old, CZK 500 (A$29)' for up to18 & over 60s CZK 680 (A$40); or adult high season day pass, it's only CZK 850 (A$50).

At the 1,019m summit of the Přední Žalý mountain is Horská bouda a rozhledna Žalý, an outstanding rustic restaurant adorned with taxidermic critters and a 130-year old stone lookout tower adorned with telco dishes. The last time I was here I smashed the most amazing spätzle (as good as any I’d eaten in Austria).

However, since old mate Covid, they’ve opted for a less ambitious menu and I devoured an excellent foot long sausage (klobasa) and a golden 0,5L Klášter Ležák (lager) all for $10.

The hut’s an easy 150m walk from the top of the chair through a flat section of forest and is popular with hikers, skiers and cross-country types alike. If nothing else, lunch at Žalý and a climb up the tower is well worth a trip to Herlíkovice.

More info: - herlikovice.cz - kibubakov.cz - zaly.cz Top left: Heated 6-pac lift, Špindlerův Mlýn. Bottom left: Příchovice village. Right side: Now that’s a beer sampler board!

Hearty food & heartier beers at cheap rates make Poland & Czechia paradise for thirsty skiers. $10 lunch and beer.

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RETURN TO GULMARG

ON HIS THIRD TRIP TO KASHMIR, SAM LEITCH FINDS THE GLORY SKI BUM DAYS ARE OVER, THE CRAZINESS IS NEXT LEVEL, AND MORE THAN EVER, ALWAYS BE COMPETENT, NEVER COMPLACENT - AVALANCHE DEATH AWAITS IF NOT. PUT THAT ASIDE, AND YOU GET THIS..

2023 was a wild year in Gulmarg. January lacked the huge snowfalls that avalanche and flush out the depth hoar in the Alpine. So when it dumped in late January the snowpack had a persistent weak layer. Brian Newman, the snow safety officer for the gondola company, made this info known.

However, Gulmarg operates under a European style model. There are no ropes or patrollers that will stop you venturing out of bounds to get the run of your life.

Or die looking for it.

This page: Sam on the charge © Alex Meinic

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RETURN TO GULMARG

Which is exactly what happened this season.

Although being guided by a registered guide, who expressly told them to stay in his track on the ridgeline, some eastern European clients couldn’t resist and dropped into the steep terrain trap called “Shaggy’s Bowl” The Kashmiri name is “Sheenmai Bowl”, which means Avalanche Bowl. And who is Shaggy? An unfortunate Aussie guy who made an easy mistake in 2008. In the Himalaya, life is cheap, and it’s very easy to underestimate risk.

I made a similar mistake in 2012, but got away from it. Sadly this year the two guys died, and I spoke to an Australian father/son duo from Sydney who were involved in the rescue. They were above on a ridgeline when it occurred. But no-one should have been anywhere near that area that day. They ended up digging out the dead bodies. Welcome to the Himalaya. So I waited. And hung out with Billa Bakshi. Billa is an OG (Original Guide) here, who started Kashmir Heliski. The heli ski didn’t operate this year, but he’ll be back in 2024.

Instead, Billa guided from the gondola and I tagged along with his groups, who tended to be high level Western Europeans. We had a great time, with the backcountry stabilising in mid-February and regular small tops ups of snow up high.

When I first went to Gulmarg, it was quite peaceful.

Most of the sightseeing tourists from Southern India came in summer. Now? Snow selfies are a massive thing on Insta and Tik Tok. Hundreds of sightseeing tourists jostle in the gondola queue with the local Kashmiri guides and western ski bums and guides. As a season pass holder (A$800) I had the privilege of going straight to the front and pushing in with the “guides”. Much to the dismay of day pass holders who had been queuing for hours Accommodation prices have tripled - like $30 a night has become $100 a night at least, and 118

subsequently, there are less ski bums. The Gulmarg village is now a chaotic miasma of rubbish and dog turd on the roads. The walk to the gondola in the morning involves an icy road and endless stoned taxi drivers missing you by 30cm at 70km/h with their hand on the horn. You can grab a tow behind on skis and meet some nice local tourists though. I did. Don’t think they would allow it at home in Hotham.

Once you’re at the top of the gondola, with the village kilometres away and the Himalaya warping your vision, the contrast could not be more insane.

Endless terrain stretches a few kilometres from both sides of the Gondy. With very few cliffed out zones.

A few hundred western skiers and guides ski the giant bowls and ridge lines.

The hundreds of sightseeing tourists sit at the summit, ignoring the Himalaya and dancing on rocks making TikTok videos.

Soldiers with machine guns head off on exercise.

One time I got off and found the sliding door to get outside inexplicably closed. The other way out involved a convoluted walk through a restaurant.

So I opened it. A lifty slammed it shut and glared at me. I opened it again. He slapped me. So I leaned against the wall with my skis and punched him in the forehead. “Why you do that?” he yelled.

Billa got out of the next gondola to find me holding ski poles tip first at the face of the unruly lift operator.

“What the fuck is with this guy?” I asked. Billa just smiled and said, “That’s my cousin and he wants you to walk through his restaurant!”

We made friends after..

More info: kashmirheliski.in Top: Perfect day on the ridge © Laura Novel Right top to bottom: Local colourful food, next gen Indian ski racers © Sam Leitch

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THAT’S

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AOMORI

H � K �O � A Hakkoda is snow monster central! This unique and amazing one ropeway powder paradise offers ridiculous amounts of quality snow and spectacular views over Aomori City to the deep blue bay beyond.

It feels so remote, and you share it with just small groups of fellow Japow lovers and local backcountry enthusiasts. Join them soon and discover what secrets Aomori has to offer.

Thanks to the shinkansen, you can easily be here by lunchtime off an overnight flight into Tokyo.

Beautiful historic onsen surround the mountain, great fresh seafood is a given, and laid back big city shopping is available downtown for down days.

It’s one of my all-time favourites says Owain Price.

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Mt Hakkoda views, snow monsters and deep powder © Hakkoda Ropeway Co Ltd. Aoni Onsen © Aomori Prefectural Government

You will absolutely love uncrowded, unspoilt Aomori Prefecture, the most northerly in Honshu.

Hakkoda is not for everybody. But it is for every powder lover with a sense of adventure and intermediate or better skill levels.

There is no need to be an expert. Marked back country routes with amazing scenery around 5km long offer some mellow grades and steeper options higher up.

But you should definitely seek expert assistance from the excellent local guides to discover the many different routes available.

Some lead down to onsen and/or the road that surrounds the mountain, from where the guides will organise pick-ups.

Check their office at the base of the separate small ski area next to the ropeway.

Here a double chairlift offers a couple of groomed runs, and some short but very sweet powder lines. It’s great for anyone with friends/partners who can’t ski the main Hakkoda runs, or if winds/blizzards shut down the ropeway.

From the top of the ropeway there are a couple of marked routes down you can follow without guides. However, even along these two main routes the tree wells are massive. You need to be aware, be organised, have your safety gear, and don’t go alone.

Always respect the Mt Hakkoda Local Rules, with information on controlled areas, rescue fees etc. available on the link below.

Where to stay at Hakkoda?

A choice of hotels to suit different budgets are right next to the base, with more options scattered around the mountain up to 5 star standard. They mostly run shuttles to the Hakkoda base, plus a JR Rail bus runs from the city and Shin-Aomori shinkansen station.

It is a true get-away-from-it-all experience staying here.

As Honshu’s most northerly prefecture, Aomori is one of the least populated, home to magnificent wild scenery. Hokkaido is just a short shinkansen tunnel ride away, so the snow quality is the same.

Being close to both the Sea of Japan and the Pacific, Hakkoda gets dumped on from all sides, especially from January to mid-March.

After a huge day smashing the powder, the many onsen are the perfect recovery session.

Don’t miss Aoni Onsen in Minami (south Hakkoda). This is famous as the “lamp inn” throughout Japan.

The lamps of the inn are lit as the evening approaches, changing the atmosphere to a magical world. The lamps are the only light source in the inn, so soaking outdoors by lamp light in the hot onsen is a magical experience.

HAKKODA MORE INFO

Hakkoda Ropeway https://hakkoda-ski.com/ Mt Hakkoda Local Rules http://www.hakkoda-ropeway.jp/wp-content/ Aoni Onsen https://aomori-tourism.com/en/spot/detail_35.html 125 SNOWACTION.COM.AU125 SNOWACTION.COM.AU

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AOMORI THAT’S

AOMORI SPRING RESORT Aomori Spring Resort is a ski in/ski out gem with runs to suit all standards, a competition level super pipe, and some of the best beech forest skiing in all Japan between majestic big trees.

It is all accessible from the comfort of the Rockwood Hotel & Spa, which sits like a small cruise ship anchored in the snow at the base of Mt Iwaki.

For families to pow fiends, Aomori Spring should not be missed.

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Awesome tree skiing to long empty groomers to a super pipe, plus a ski in/ski out resort hotel at the base in a wilderness setting are all yours to enjoy at Aomori’s winter jewel © 2017 Aomori Spring / Aomori Prefectural Government

Aomori Spring Resort enjoys a beautiful wilderness setting beneath Mt Iwaki, yet offers full service and comfort to suit all standards so anyone can enjoy the spectacular serenity.

Aomori Prefecture is among the least densely populated in Japan, situated right at the top of Honshu, but with excellent transport connections. It is still off the radar for most international guests.

Don’t ski powder? Don’t worry!

The long groomed runs (up to 3.5km) here are great for learning and progressing on, or getting your kids started on too.

Aomori Spring’s wide open runs provide gentle cruising. The longer runs are accessed by the gondola or express quad chair.

Aomori Spring offers English language ski and snowboard lessons for beginner, intermediate and expert skiers and snowboarders, catering to children and adults of all ages. The focus is on providing a fun and safe learning environment while helping you progress your skiing or snowboarding to the next level.

Do ski powder? Do come here!

Aomori Spring’s beech trees are the bees knees for tree ski aficionados. They hold the snow and are far easier to manouevre around than spindly pines or birches. I spent one of my best days in 20 years of Japow

missions lapping steep and deep birch tree lines just a few minutes skin out from the far left double chair last trip here. It is effectively lift-accessed/assisted back country.

Go even further afield with the local back country guides. Mt Iwaki is the highest mountain in the region, acting as a snow magnet. Enjoy deep, untouched powder and awe-inspiring views over the Sea of Japan.

Half-pipe heaven awaits at the competition level super pipe set up, the largest in the country. This attracts the cream of local and international talent to train and play.

It’s no surprise Japan has such awesome pipe talent when you see facilities like this. The terrain park is great too.

The Rockwood Hotel & Spa is a 188-room onsen hotel offering breathtaking views of the Sea of Japan and the peak of Mount Iwaki, amid 400 hectares of stunning national park.

Enjoy excellent cuisine, comfortable rooms and the indoor/outdoor onsen on site.

Getting to Aomori: It is only 3 hours from Tokyo to Aomori by Shinkansen; or 60 minute fromShin-Hakodate (Hokkaido) to Aomori .

Or fly from Tokyo 70 minutes. Shuttles operate from the aiirport & Shin-Aomori station to Aomori Spring Resort.

AOMORI TOURISM MORE INFO Aomori Tourism https://aomori-tourism.com/en/

AOMORI SPRING RESORT MORE INFO Aomori Spring Resort https://aomorispringski.com The Rockwood Hotel & Spa https://rockwoodhotel.com SNOWACTION.COM.AU SNOWACTION.COM.AU 127127

TO GET THERE

I N F O @ F U T U R E S P O R T. C O M . A U 128

Contact: info@futuresport.com.au

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Photo Credit: Kate Donald

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