So with exams over, along with the classic photo shoot with 5 very happy qualified ski instructors, it was time to get on with our goals for the next two weeks. The main call was more ski tuition evolved around off piste, the club fields along with some carving to keep eurostar Alice happy. We first had a nice Tai dinner in the city to say farewell to our Viking star Sophia, as she dashed to the sun before returning to her busy life of study and work (that involves just 4 hours sleep a night, fuelled by a diet of hearty soup and a few apples). Credit to you girl, I hope you get the rewards at the end. Bon voyage.

We did manage to sneak in one last powder day for Sophia in NZ. The truth be have it, we could have been in any place on earth as we couldn’t see our hands in front of us. The trusty Andrew and Jason followed me as I loitered around ski patrollers with intent. Before long I had us on an undercover mission to bluff face. After traversing over and falling into 1 metre high wind drifts I managed to guide us smoothly along the endless track to bluff face. Well there were a few times I came off the edge of the track dropping onto the 37 degree slope bellow. Once there we used the trust rock lanterns to guide us down the beast. The snow was that awesome, we had to repeat the task again. The focus of the day was to trust your leader and feel with your feet.

Tuesday was a bluebird with more fresh powder. The departure was slightly delayed as the weary bodies slowly pilled in and the farewell hugs to Sophia concluded. The consequence of our lateness became an important lesson, that even in small town NZ there are still powder hounds out there (at least 10 of them, mostly ski school). The 5 minute late departure cost us dearly. As we rode the T bar the virgin powder slopes of Big Mama where being scarred with skis and boards. I scanned right as the valley was filled with echoes of joy as 1,2,3,4 people slashed their way down bluff face in just a few turns. Even Uli, the mountain manager, was out for first turns, which I haven’t seen in my 15 years on the mountain. I locked into damage control mode looking for hidden spots to get the crew freshies.

This sounds easy but in NZ you need to consider the snow underneath plus what effect the sun,temperature change and wind have had (this of course starts days before, watching weather cycles analysing ski area reports etc, to just make the decision of what mountain to hit up). We made it to the top and, to the crew’s surprise, I hand signal in the opposite direction to the chosen big muma to bluff face. Subtle signals must be used to avoid other powder hounds following those of us in the know and  who have the trained eye. Confused, my well trained crew follow me like sheep. We lost the punters and arrived at bluff face with still only 4 tracks. I point out big muma now tracked out ( at least 30 tracks ). Bluff face was like soft butter, you could just relax and slarve out your turns with speeds near 60mph. One would have to revert back in time to say it was Primo! This wasn’t enough, we enjoyed the 2 mile long powder run of dome ridge, which ended in scree running to finish, as the approaching spring had left the snow line 50 metres above the road. This is another classic kiwi art form where one must dig his heals in and run down the hill and if things start to turn to custard you just have to run faster in the fine rock dust that is rolling with you like a mini avalanche. I was down in seconds to hitch a ride back up the hill to retrieve our trusty van to return all to the slopes. On my return I was met by a group all dressed in brown (they all were covered in rock dust/mud as they hadn’t sussed out the art of scree running as yet). Of course Nick was the muddiest, so he had to strip down to his undies before entering the van. Up the top it was time for some snow angels to wash the clothes before returning to the conventional slopes where we became Gorillas in the mist as the fog rolled in and we had about 3 metres vis. Did I mention that when I say “follow me if you like”, but I’m on a mission and conventional slopes have nothing in common. With this in mind I lead us to some great chutes which lit the way like street lamps on a foggy night down the slopes. Once out of the chutes, it was up to the sheep to trust that my turns would lead them back to the lifts and I was now the mobile lantern for reference.

On Wednesday it was time for a rest, some uni sorting for Alice and some work at Porters for Jase. ( He is now employed part time in the ski school at Porters.) Well done Jase, not bad for an Aussie. Meanwhile the boyz hit up the burn. We were sorted out by the snow gods again, with some great freshies on classic NZ big face wind buff.

We slayed a couple of runs down Hamilton face, before a lesson on chute skiing. A few melt downs, sweat, ice cream heads from tumbles and some sluff riding ( mini avalanches), the boys were starting to get the hang of the variable/challenging/character building conditions, while confined to a narrow few metres between the cliff bands. Well done lads.

On Thursday we took the chance to go the the wildlife park and see some kiwis in full swing, if you know what I mean…. This was followed by a trip to the city centre historic buildings where Sir Rutherford discovered the process of radiation. Funny enough the kiwis to this day are nuclear free and surfed him out to the USA where he became an all-time legend. This was not the purpose of the visit, it was to get fresh fudge.

The next day we braved the 100km/hr winds and snow for a couple of hours of piste skiing training, before returning home to make some of the worlds biggest sushi rolls for Dig’s birthday the next day. This would set us up with the time for another powder day. We had yet another dump…

4:34am the world and life as we know it changed by an act of nature that hits the area on a regular basis (once every 1000 years). A grade 7.1 earthquake. It lasted about 45 seconds. In respect to all concerned I will conclude this without detail other than everyone is safe and not one death in the entire area that was effected. I have done my upmost to protect all students and my family for the future after shock. I am confident that all students are safe and that there is no need for any concern or change of travel plans. Please feel free to call me on 006433184812 for any concerns.

The skiing plans halted and Jase had a birthday of a lifetime with homemade sushi lamb chops, home grown from my ranch (2 acre hobby farm), and my wild venison, pork and lamb sausages. To top it off they bet the South Africans at rugby and kiwis in netball.

We had a chill day on Sunday as the winds where reaching over 100mph on the mountains and enjoyed the life of Aftershocks and pool.

That’s it from me – time to get this to the pigeon, as the power is flickering, the wind howling, the rain pouring down and the Aftershocks jingling. Life sure does feel real and NONSTOP at the moment!

Jase

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Week 8 mainly involved some pretty intense preparation for the following week’s exams, working on personal skiing, demo turns and doing mock lessons etc. We still managed to find time for a few other activities, such as real live teaching with real live kids. Jason decided it would be fun to walk halfway down the steepest run on the mountain, Bluff Face, after his ski had had enough and abandoned him. They set their merry ways, with the ski sliding down to the bottom of the mountain and Jason walking down the mountain. Jason B that was.

On Thursday, I had my first ever white birthday. Normally when my birthday comes around, I would be sitting outside basking in the glorious sunshine (well, as sunny as England ever gets in August) so it felt quite surreal to be heading out skiing. Somebody up there must like me, as we were blessed with an awesome powder day. Sophia even decided to join in the festivities by creating another divot in Bluff Face. Between the five of us, we have terrorised the poor run with all of our head butts into the mountain. After bluff, we ventured down an amazing run of Dome Ridge, a gem off the side of the mountain. Even an idiotic case of vertigo on my behalf could not ruin what turned out to be an amazing run in perfect conditions.

The evening saw a triple celebration of joy: a house-warming party for some of the staff at Porters, my birthday and another member of staff’s birthday. Some visitors from Franz Josef – the guides for our glacier trip during the first week– introduced us to an evil drinking game, guaranteed to get anyone foolish enough to take part well into the party spirit!

Suddenly that was it. The preparation was over and the nerves started to set in (for me at least). The exams were upon us! They started off gently with an introduction on Sunday evening in Methven.  Most of the candidates seemed to be still at school – even Alice felt old, and as for Andrew….

Monday and Tuesday involved further guidance from the examiners on our personal skiing, plus a full recap of the lesson progressions. We managed to do all of this while trying not to be killed by errant, out of control riders that frequent Mount Hutt.  Sophia decided that if you can’t fight them; join them, so she decided to fall over in front of all the examiners and the entire delegation. When I say fall, what I actually mean is that she simply stopped and plonked herself on top of some poor unsuspecting member of her group.

Fortunately, the weather was holding up quite nicely and as Wednesday approached, things started to get serious as we were assessed on personal skiing and wedge demo turns.  And then on Thursday it was the main event – the teaching assessment.  The restaurant was the scene for some bizarre rituals as people were nervously going over their lessons, making sure nothing had been missed out. Mount Hutt decided to have the last laugh and we had to teach in howling winds and heavy snow.

As the morning progressed, the weather took a turn for the worse and the later classes were held in near blizzard conditions.  Just to add to that, Jason had a few minutes of mild panic when his skis went missing.  They were eventually located in the ski rental shop where some kid had “returned” them.

By 2 pm, everyone had finished and we adjourned to Methven for a few beers while we awaited thepresentation of results in the evening.. We all passed and there was even top marks in the teaching for Sophia and Alice; testament to them and Jase’s fantastic guidance, as these were the only tens in the entire exam. We were joined by a few of the staff from Porters and so we had a few more beers to celebrate!

All this time, with Beth due to give birth at any moment, Jase was never far from the phone, receiving regular updates.  During the evening, he was told to stay away but, at about 11 pm, things changed and so we all piled into the bus for a rapid drive back home.  Rumours that this scuppered Andrew’s plans for the evening may be slightly exaggerated.

Back in the Springfield Hotel, Jason decided that he should uphold the tradition of the new instructors’ nude run.  Fortunately, the pub was closed and none of us were awake to see this (he probably wasn’t fully cognisant either) but his clothes were found abandoned in the hallway – and we won’t mention what he did for an encore.

Friday, and indeed most of the weekend, was spent recovering and waiting for news from Jase.  After a long labour, Jack Porter Collins was born at 6 pm.  Congratulations to Jase and Beth – and to all of us.  What an awesome week!

Stay tuned for the next blog, coming soon…

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Tuesday saw the start of ‘boot-camp’, the two week build up to our examinations. Jase upped the intensity, and we set to work writing up lessons, practicing our demo turns and improving our personal skiing. Under Jase’s guidance, we all improved leaps and bounds, getting prepared for the exams.

We still found time to teach real lessons, honing in on the soft skills required to teach enjoyable and productive lessons. Also on the agenda was a day teaching mock lessons at the pub, making fool of ourselves as we went around singing the famous bear-hunt song (a routine made up by the NonStop crew last year teaching kids to get familiar with skiing on the flat).

After an exhausting week, in which our skiing and teaching skills improved no-end, we were full value for a lazy weekend, although we still managed to find energy to play football and have several late nights. Jason even summoned up enough energy to go up to Porters and teach on Sunday, while everyone else was having a well deserved lie-in, well rested ahead of a tough final week before the exams.

Here’s some footage of the crew honing their carving skills:

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Being a ski instructor from the states, I’ve had my share of night skiing from California to Pennsylvania and a dozen states in between, but nothing could prepare me for a night on Broken River ski area in New Zealand.

Problem: ski area is 1000 meters out of reach in remote and steep terrain.

American solution: Tax the populace, spend years studying and weighing options, years to construct bridges, roads, guard rails and 2000 pages of regulations.

Kiwi solution: Take a day off, jump in your 4×4 all terrain vehicle and drive up the bloody hill.

I’m not kidding you! This is what happened! We were 5 deep in Jason’s 4×4 flying over boulders, blasting thru raging rivers and loving it! That’s right….my short 5 day trip to New Zealand to ski was more than just a ski trip -it was an amazing adventure! This was just the beginning. We park in what I can only describe as a clearing in woods and post-hole through the meter deep snow to a plywood make-shift mechanical device that uses old skis as brakes. Of course there is no supervision around; its ride at your own risk and did I mention that it’s getting dark? The plywood box only takes us a short distance to where  you have to hike another couple of hundred meters (with skis slung across shoulder) up steep, narrow and icy stairs to the ski area.

Alright so we are here, but where? Where are we?! Where is the ski slope and where are the lights? Jase says, “There it is mate.” pointing straight ahead to a 70′s style rope-tow with 3,4 no more than 6 light bulbs strung overhead to guide your way up the mountain. Are you kidding me?! What about the slopes? Aren’t they going to light the slopes? Jason replies, “Oh no mate. That’s it.”

At this point the tow rope is blasting skiers up the hill, but I sense something is different. Something is askew. This is not your daddy’s tow rope. This is tow rope 101 Kiwi style. To make it more challenging, you must wear a harness with a metal hook attached called a nutcracker. With the skills and timing of a professional boxer delivering a one two knock-out punch, you are expected to 1) grab the rope with one hand and 2) at the right time flip this nutcracker up and around the rope with the other. This must be done quickly or the rope will pull your fingers through crushing pulleys and possibly severe one or two fingers along the way. Needless to say I watched a few others before I tried my hand at it and after two failed attempts, I was successfully screaming up the mountain into the dark of night.

The nutcracker only works as long as you are applying pressure to keep it closed, so you can imagine how tired and strained your arms and hands get just trying to survive the way up. To add more adventure to your ride, the Kiwis have put in a midway station where skiers and boarders are jumping off the tow and more adventurously jumping on. One can not see this area of carnage until one is upon it. So there I am shooting up the mountain in the dark with achy arms. I can’t see anything, but I can hear a volunteer director of traffic shouting commands, “Ok jump in there mate….no too late jump off! Ok ready? GO…GO….GO!” by this time I’m coming over the ridge and it’s too late. I decide to give my best Kiwi impersonation by throwing an elbow to the ribs of the on-coming boarder and yelling, “Get out the way mate!”

Alas I make it to the summit and immediately lock eyes with a Kiwi that gives me the biggest smile as if to say that I’m a part of the few that made it. He gives a wink and plunges into the abbess of darkness. After standing there for a few minutes, my eyes adjust to the dim lit slope and a whole world comes into focus. It is beautiful. The slope is steep and deep and skiers and boarders alike are shredding down the hill in a dance like rhythm. I turn my skis downhill and proceed to whoop and yell in ecstasy at every turn.

We skied a good two hours into the night, enjoying the next run more than the last. I found myself in conversation with various skiers that night expressing to them that this could never happen in America. Then it dawned on me that this had happened in America, albeit 70 years ago. I’m from Aspen where conveyance is a given and pampering is expected and I often wonder what it was like in those early years of Aspen when things where simpler and die hard conditions ruled the town. Thanks to my Kiwi friends, now I know. I’m not saying that New Zealand is destined to turn into an Aspen, but if you drive up the mountain and you see a valet parking sign, then you know that you’ve missed the ADVENTURE!

Kevin McDonald
Aspen ski instructor

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The week started with Porters being closed for two days, due to strong winds and avalanche danger. Instead we headed out to Mount Cheeseman (that’s actually the name of the mountain, and not just us being funny). While waiting for the mountain to open, Alice and Sophia engaged in a game of Extreme Ping Pong (playing with full ski equipment, including helmets and goggles) hitting the ball 72 times in a row! Amazed by our achievement, we ventured onto the mountain to conquer Short Turns. Impressed by our skills, Jase turned up the heat by creating another Powder 8 competition which we won (we are tempted to say of course!). Nick had at this time already given up due to his ankle injury, which he got by falling down the last two steps of the stairs. Epic, Nick! Tuesday was also a closed day in Porters and us girls decided to go to Christchurch for some shopping. We are not really sure what the guys did, but they looked well-rested.

Wednesday the skies cleared and the winds settled down to let Porters open again. Busses with hundreds of school kids arrived early for a taste of the snow and life as a skier. We were thrown right into it again and with our instructor jackets on, we paired up with real instructors and got to teach. We don’t know how it happened, but somehow Sophia ended up with her own group of teenage boys. Epic! Alice and Nick were actively catching their students to stop them from hitting the fence. Only one little tiny mini note to that, they both had students three times their size putting their strength to the test!

Thursday we paired up with each other to teach a group. Sophia & Andrew, Nick & Jason together and Alice went for a free ski. While Jason was playing “head, shoulders, knees and toes” with his part of the group, Nick was constantly running after his kids to stop them from hitting the fence. Andrew and Sophia had the slightly more distracted kids and they both looked like they had been through a marathon at the end of it. But everyone was still smiling.

In the evening we prepared for the epic night, “Aspen Extreme” night, themed around the 1993 ski movie. Everyone rocked their best retro gear (including one-piece suits) and joined the shots-rewarded movie quiz. Not more shall be said about this night, other than this: Alice ended up packed into a snowboard bag she had just won for best cougar outfit.

Nick’s friend Kevin arrived Friday from Aspen only 24hours after Aspen Extreme night and unfortunately missed out, but more than made up for it with great Cougar/Ski-instructor stories at the dinner table.

Saturday, a day we had all waited for. The All Blacks were meeting the Wallabies (translated, New Zealand vs. Australia in Rugby) in Christchurch. More than 20 Porters staff and skiers had tickets and the tone was set for a great night! We started by eating Chinese (quite unrelated really, but very tasty), and then we took our seats. Although Munchkin was hoping for a miracle, the All Blacks won 20-10 and it was exciting to see them in action, especially the Haka at the beginning. Unfortunately they had their backs against us while they did it, but that didn’t seem to bother the girls too much.

On Sunday night everyone slowly recovering from the rugby night. It rained in Springfield all day, and snowing on the mountain. The guys headed to Broken River for a night ski in the powder while the girls stayed in, to lick their battle wounds from a tough week. Ready for another one, bring it on!

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Following some more work on our personal skiing on Monday, we visited Broken River, another local ski field, on Tuesday.  The weather in the morning did us no favours. The snow felt awesome but, after a couple of runs skiing by touch in zero visibility, we decided to take refuge in the lunch hut.  This isn’t as basic as it sounds – lots of space, warm, free tea and coffee, cooking facilities etc. – and friendly locals.

Shortly after lunch, the clouds lifted almost instantaneously, a big cheer went up, and everyone (all 30 of us) rushed out to enjoy the fresh tracks in dry powder in bright sunshine.

On Wednesday, we experienced our first lessons from the other side of the fence.  Sophia got a head start on the rest of us as she was allocated to an early lesson, shadowing Swedish instructor Andreas, and being given plenty of opportunity for some hands on experience.  Unfortunately, the expected busloads of children from local schools failed to appear, the rest of us still got the chance to observe another beginners’ lesson, with occasional opportunities to pitch in and help the slower learners along – a valuable experience.

During a brief free skiing session, Sophia took over from Alice and attacked Bluff Face again – with her face:  Bluff Face 1 Alice & Sophia 2.

On Thursday, the group split up, with the girls deciding to work further on their personal skiing at Porters, while the guys went off to Craigieburn Valley ski field.  We were joined by Martin (2009 Nonstopper, now working at Porters, aka God).  Although it hadn’t snowed for a couple of days, we still found plenty of fresh tracks, and the terrain and weather were both awesome. Check it out in the video below:

Then on Friday morning, the busloads of schoolchildren did turn up and we each had a class to follow and get involved in.  For a couple of us, that wasn’t enough and we stayed on to give a few more hints (hopefully not too misguided) after the lessons were over and the real instructors had gone on to their next lessons.

Friday afternoon was another session on personal ski development.  After a few weeks of frustration as we all had our tried and tested (?) techniques dismantled and reconstructed, we’re now beginning to see the benefits.

In the evening, we all celebrated “UK Day”.  Under God’s guidance, the British staff at Porters decided that we ought to have a national day to celebrate and 30^th July was chosen, as the day England won the ’66 World Cup – not such a popular choice with the Welsh and Scots, but still.  Jason, our resident Aussie, celebrated more than most – which was just as well as he didn’t have much to celebrate on Saturday night!

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After an in-weekend, we were all itching to go skiing again and see whether our skis had survived our first attempt at tuning them. Monday saw us each receive hour-long private lessons from our magnificent teacher, Jase. We all felt our skiing come along leaps and bounds, and we also had a chance to rip up the slopes of Porters. To Alice and Jason, this meant swapping skis, with a different make of skis on each foot and then act surprised when it went a bit pear-shaped. After a hard day’s skiing, it was time for the weekly staff night at Springfield Pub. Although it couldn’t match the excitement of the horse-rapping the week before, a good time was had by all, especially Alice. Fortunately for some, Porters was closed the next day, giving people a chance to nurse their hangovers and catch a bit more sleep. However, there was no rest for the wicked, as we had a very productive day doing some indoor lessons. I mean that quite literally, as we took it in turns to teach each other how to ski on the carpets of Springfield Pub. This proved to be the first of two ways we discovered this week in how to make a fool of ourselves in front of large groups of people.

After the anguish of a closed day on Tuesday, we received just reward in an amazing powder day at Porters. After several warm-up runs to rediscover how to ‘pow-pow’, we decided to head up to Bluff Face, the steepest run on the mountain. It was at this point that the clouds mercifully gave us a break for a while, leaving us with a perfect powder run and a chance for Alice to get acquainted with the snow. In return for the crater left in her wake, she received a rather large face full of snow. Round 1: Bluff-face 1, Alice 0. After the exhilaration of the perfect run, I was brought back down to earth with a bump, when the lift stopped and I stupidly dropped my pole. Penalty: a round of Pimm’s for the girls. After lunch, we took Bluff-face a step further, and undertook a twenty minute hike to get to the top of Allison’s peak. Another glorious powder run ensued, giving Alice another chance to get cosy with the snow. This time, Alice was prepared for the onslaught and responded with a fantastic head butt. Round 2: Bluff-face 1, Alice 1. As it was a tie, victory was handed to Alice for KO’ing the mountain with a slap and a head butt. To be continued…?

With all of the fresh powder falling around us, the timing of the avalanche course on Thursday was perfect. We learnt how to use transceivers, running around the top of the mountain trying to recover a buried transceiver. Jason’s transceiver somehow ended up a metre and a half under the snow after somebody dug a hole down to China in order to ‘simulate a real-life situation’. I wonder why he is now plotting against me now…? After skiing around looking at safe-spots, potential avalanche slopes and the effects of wind, we dug holes where we analysed different layers of snow. We all went away with a good understanding of avalanches, which will serve us well in the future.

On Friday, we made our way down south, to Lake Tekapo and the nearby ski fields. First up was round-hill and our first encounter with the dreaded nutcracker lifts. These lifts are basically rope tows which we attach ourselves to using harnesses and a metallic device called a nutcracker. As if this was not tough enough to master, we decided to make our first attempt on the longest and steepest one in the world. Several attempts later, we were all up, although we were too exhausted to make a decent attempt of what was a difficult run, especially in flat light. Full credit goes to Andrew who decided once was not enough and went back up with Jase while the rest of us decided to hone our café-skiing skills. After we all tired ourselves out, we headed into Lake Tekapo, where we saw a magnificent turquoise lake and bore witness to a phenomenal sunset. Not content with what was already a great day, we discovered our second way of making fools of ourselves in front of large groups of people at the backpackers lodge. This came in the form of a board game called Cranium. The highlights included Sophia, Jason and Jase bouncing around pretending to be Telletubies and Jase trying to demonstrate Hot Pants by stripping down to his underwear and pretending to be a woman. Andrew and Jason eventually prevailed, winning the game and we finally decided to head to bed to catch some rest ahead of what proved to be our best skiing day of the trip so far.

There were a few weary eyes as we took the long access road and a few were feeling a bit cranky from the early start. After a few minutes that was all forgotten about while we skied down never-ending fresh tracks, having the time of our lives. Inspired by the movie ‘Aspen Extreme’, we held a powder-8’s competition (two skiers skiing one-behind the other, forming figure-of-eights). Jase and Andrew won after myself and Jason stopped to watch and applaud Sophia’s epic crash during her and Alice’s attempt. As the runs on-piste started to get clogged up by other skiers, snowboarders and a random snow-tricyclist (what is that about, anyway?), we decided to push the boundaries (don’t worry NONSTOP, it is perfectly legal in New Zealand!) and found endless fresh tracks which we willingly indulged in. After what was unanimously agreed had been our best powder day, we went back to the metropolis of Springfield to watch the rugby, where the Aussies, much to Jason’s delight, smashed the Springboks.

Sunday was a rest day, which meant a much deserved lie-in and a bit of free time. The guys decided to have a ski tuning session, talk about the rugby and generally relax while the girls went off to Christchurch to have a manicure and pedicure. All they really cared about though were the massage chairs. I could swear they were recruited in Christchurch as salesmen judging by the way they were drooling over them! A nice relaxed day was the perfect way to recover from a hectic but amazing week in New Zealand, although we still found a way to make further fools of ourselves by playing another round of Cranium in Springfield Pub!

Until next time
Nick

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So on to week 2 we go. Apologies for the delay but the fun and frivolity of life on the hill drew my attention away from the thing I was meant to be doing.

Week 2 brought us to the introduction of the 4 progressions of skiing. A topic that will consume our lives as ski instructors in the same way preschool teachers are consumed by nursery rhymes.

After a run through from Splinter (our trainer Jason) we were thrown in to the deep end to teach a part of the progression to possibly the most immature and infantile students we could find… each other. From the kea bird to the wedge we all took our place and for a first attempt it was quite impressive, a testiment to the guidance we are receiving.

With these new skills firmly ingrained in our minds some suddenly found mountain lifes simple tasks a little difficult, with Alice forgetting how to work the zip on her jacket. After about 3-4 minutes of watching her struggle with the zip showing the same hopelessness a dementia patient shows eating soup with a fork she finally gained some assistance and we were able to hit the hill again.

Free skiing was the flavour for later in the week and there was some good lines to be had within porters. There was also some time for drinking games with the porters staff and locals and for the girls a trip to Christchurch for a shopping adventure was in order.

We are not all certain why but nicks tag of ‘aspen’ was requested to be changed to ‘extreme’. A title we have not seen him fulfil as yet. But in good faith we have all complied and the expectation has been set that the ‘extreme is yet to come from him. Although in our hearts and minds he is still ‘Aspen Boy’ and always will be.

New Zealand instructor course blogs are clearly like buses… we’ve just got another one through from the famous “Aspen Boy”. Watch this space, we’ll put it up as soon as we’ve got some pictures to go with it.

In the mean time, if you’ve got any comments for our NZ NONSTOPers, go wild below…

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The first week was a week of many firsts. We all met for the first time on Sunday, having woken Alice up from a 40 hour slumber, and got ready for the first day of skiing on Monday. During the first few days nicknames were quickly established. First and foremost Hooda, as in who the “Hooda **** is Alice”. This has also become the motivational team roar from Jase, our instructor. Nick was named Aspen by Sophia (a moment of pure genius) – we’re not sure why because he hasn’t mentioned it once. At all. Ever. And he doesn’t have an Aspen t-shirt at all. Seriously. Jason started out as Nasoj (that was him trying to spell his own name backwards) but he quickly became known as Munchkin (just look at him!)  Andrew and Sophia have acquired the most original nicknames of all; Andrew and Sophia. ACE!

On the slopes, we have been learning the 4 movements of skiing, which has helped us understand technique, balance, positioning and coordination in greater detail. The weather has been up and down, as we’ve basked in sunshine on the slopes, along with character building breezes, aka gale force winds, with the added luxury of flying ice. The variation of runs at Porters keeps the skiing interesting, with gentle runs to work on our technique and steeper more challenging runs to enjoy out of lesson time. Jase has already kindly called in a favour with Mother Nature to bring us two non visibility days – not being unable to tell if you’re skiing up or down the mountain definitely tests your balance, as if the frisky t-bars aren’t enough. Having only been skiing for a week we’re starting to get to know most of the Porters ski area, as well as the staff and instructors. They rock the pub every Monday (the pub we live above) so we’re there a lot, chilling, drinking, eating and playing pool.

This weekend we decided to go on a road trip to the Franz Josef Glacier where it rains 220 days a year. We drove across the Alps to the west coast where the rainforest meets the ocean. When we arrived at the lodge, some of the guys chose to take a dip in the hot tub, whilst the wiser of the group (us) sat by the fire with a G&T watching NZ beat South Africa in the rugby. Luckily we had a clear and sunny day to enjoy the 2km walk to the base of the glacier and the hike up the ice. We got to walk across the ice and in the crevasses, where we saw the famous blue ice and the layers showing its formation.  After a beautiful drive back to Springfield, we are now ready for another week of skiing.

That’s it from Alice and Sophia (Hooda and Sophia). Tune in next week for another interesting, but not as entertaining, blog. (It’s Munchkin’s turn) x

P.S check the ‘Nonstop NZ 2010’ Facebook group for a video of the glacier trip: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=308368961452#!/video/video.php?v=10150241431815721&oid=308368961452

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These were ‘snow caves’ that sleep between two and three people and are far more comfortable than they may sound!  They’re hard work to build but if you do it right you’ll end up with a surprisingly warm shelter with a flat ‘bed’ and space at the front to undress/dress. There were eleven of us, including our guide and instructor Dave Richards, so there were four caves  in total.

Once the caves were built – just before it turned dark! – we built a fire and had a supper of sandwiches, fruit and s’morgs (marshmallow, chocolate & biscuit contraptions popular with Canadians).

My beers were too cold to be enjoyed much but thankfully Wouter had brought some whisky that kept us warm. It was snowing hard so when the fire had burnt down we retreated to our snow shelters and with tired muscles quickly and easily fell asleep.

In the morning we woke to 20cm of fresh powder and so skied or rode fresh powder to our breakfast at the mountain base area!

Our Winter Camping experience is preceded by an indoor training session so that everyone knows how to create the perfect shelter, and all equipment is provided. This experience is available on our 11-week Ski Instructor courses or snowboard instructor courses