One Hard Point anyone?

This is at the get in to the Wiaroa in the Hunua Ranges just to the south of Auckland. 30m high, never been run. In flood. And there is a line, a nice tongue dead centre. Errrrr, right.

I'll give you one hard point - and one and a half if you hammer of it!!!

Snowboarding - Mt Ruapehu

This weekend i went snowboarding. It was awesome. It was organised by the social club from work (thanks Nicola and Celeste). We stayed in a town called Ohakune which is on the southern side of Mt Ruapehu. A five hour drive from Auckland is all it takes!!! All it takes eh? The drive is epic!!! Roads in NZ are not the best!!!

Now i can't snowboard, or ski, infact the only thing i know how to do in snow (besides right my name in it on the way back from the pub using certain bodily functions) is make snowballs. For this reason i thought i had best book a lesson or two.

The gear was hired, the lesson was booked, i hit the slopes!!! Well the learner slope. A few blasts (read crashes) later i was standing in line for the snow school and before i knew it the lesson had begun. All the basics were covered. And then we were let loose on the slopes. Well i stayed on the beginner slope. But all was cool. Such good fun. I seem to be quite good at going super fast downhill. Awesome. Oh, and it was suprisingly hard work. I was shattered by the end of day one. Although this could be to with having to walk to the top of the slope each time having not quite mastered the drag lift!!!

The View from the top - Mt Taranaki

The saturday night was pretty epic too. Tri-nations rugby, beer, food, dancing. It certainly made for a few painkillers the next morning. Ah a nice hangover, just what you need for learning to snowboard with!!!!

With the head a bit fuzzy i hit the slopes again on sunday. This time i took the 'next step' lesson. This was supposed to get me turning and carving. Hmmmmm. Well i can turn well one the heel side of the board, but going the other way is somewhat problematic. I just seem to end up pointing down hill and gathering alot of speed. By this point i am going way to fast to turn. All good fun though - but perhaps not the best technique. Lesson over, and after a few more practice runs i was growing in confidence so i decided to hit the higher slopes. Although i stayed on the beginner runs, it was a bit steeper and the drag lift was a smidge more aggressive. Yet more walking up the slope!!! I was definately improving in the speed department - by now i could go super fast!!!!

The slopes

Anyway, it was a awesome weekend. And i am definately going to do it again!!!