New Zealand Snowpark

July 1, 2007 on 3:55 pm | In Skiing |

I have just traveled from Scotland to the other side of the world, landing in Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand about 7 days ago. It is definitely about 5 days as trying to put a definite number on the days would be impossible. I left Scotland on a Tuesday and after two twelve hour flights, arrived in New Zealand on a Thursday.

My brain has managed to get around the missing time way better than my body which is still very confused. As well as being day when it should be night and night when it should be day, meaning that cravings for spaghetti bolognaise breakfasts are not unusual, it is now approaching winter down here. The day before I left Scotland I was surfing at Sandend on the Moray coast. The weather was warm(ish), the sun was out, the beach was serene and I had a great time on my new long board. There was a real summer feel in the air added to even more by the smell of our bbq’in sausages, which we shared among our surf crew of 5 or 6 people.

Two(ish) days later and we found ourselves looking at the waves on the beach in New Brighton just north of Christchurch contemplating a quick morning surf. The only thing was, the temperature was now 2 degrees, there was snow on the ground and the beach was covered in frost. We decided to take a stroll instead, stopping on the way to buy some sausages to cook inside and eat for breakfast in front of the fire. It all felt very strange.

We spent a few days in Christchurch then got on the road down to Wanaka, our home for the next couple of months. We have come down here for the New Zealand snow season, to train and compete in the snowboard contests down here. There are two big ones, The Burton New Zealand Open and The New Zealand World Cup, both in August, as well as the Cardrona Games.

The majority of the international snowboard World Cup Riders are coming down for the contests and have started to arrive here this week. There will be some amazing riding and what looks like Olympic level fields so there is all to ride for.

We went up to the Snowpark resort this week to check out the conditions and get our snow feet back into action. They have an  impressive set up there and have built all the features into the earth. They have numerous jumps and a two large half pipes all built into the ground so that when it gets cold enough they just have to make enough man made snow to cover the ground and they whole park is up and running.

The actual slope is only around 400m long so it just goes to chow what is possible in a small space if you can make snow. They also use the jumps and corners they have built into the earth as a bike park in the summer, with a downhill mountain biking track from the resort down to the valley floor.

It also goes to show what would be possible in Scotland with a bit of snow making!!! With a bit of luck all the jumps and pipe will be covered and open by next week and we can get our training under way.

Lesley McKenna
http://www.chunkyknit.com
Professional snowboarder, film maker and ambassador for Visitscotland. All sorts of outdoor sports from skiing to mountain biking and now mixes her time on the Snowboard World Cup Tour with time in Scotland doing these sports.