Part three of the New Zealand summer trip. A big mountain event, the earthquake and Export 22 - a colorful mix of summery winter activities on the other side of the world. As every year, the Big Mountain Chill Series attracts the entire New Zealand freeski scene from their home resorts to rock the varied terrain in the Clubfields in Canterbury. The snow conditions are once again not really great, but the level of riding on offer certainly doesn't suffer!
Whether at the riders meeting or at the announcement of the qualifying results, the first foreign language of this contest is definitely German. In addition to us, there are two other German-speaking crews at the start: the Snowsick team led by Fabian Lentsch and the Cursor ski team.
After almost all Austrians (and a few Germans) made it through qualifying, some had to pay tribute to the high risk and tough snow conditions in the final. While Johannes and I fell in the final, Mr. Cursor Florian Hüttenbrenner managed an amazing straight line through a very narrow gully. This is only possible on self-made skis (www.cursor-skis.at). But the judges want to see a bit more than just the speed of light, so Fabian Lentsch, who came third with a clean line, and Ferdinand Winter from the Cursor ski team, who had to settle for second place with a breathtaking 360 over a cliff. Seb Zink in third place among the snowboarders and Sophia Mitteregger and Birgit Ertl in third and second place among the ski girls complete the Austrian dominance! For the entire duration of the contest, we stayed together with the Cursors in the beautiful Castle Hill Village, where we once again devoted our free time primarily to cross-country golf and rabbit hunting. The latter even provided us with a delicious dinner on one occasion. We should also briefly mention that the successful huntsmen shot the hare with the car door as they drove past.
All the highlights of the contest
K2 Big Mountain Chill Series - Craigieburn 2010 from Licence 2 CHILL on Vimeo.
The monster earthquake - 7.4 according to Richter
A few days later, as we enjoy the evening snowfall all the way down to Castle Hill, we have no idea that it's going to get really shaky that very night. 7.4 after Richter, about 50 kilometers away from the epicenter, the wooden hut in Castle Hill remains undamaged. Team Cursor finds a suitable explanation for this: "wood house is good house" - period! So we set off, still full of anticipation, into a truly fantastic morning, as if nothing had happened. Today's destination is Mt Olympus. In the hope of finding functioning lifts and plenty of powder snow. 7.4 after Richter, not much further from the epicenter, we observe lots of slab cracks and fresh avalanche cones in the entire Craigieburn Range. The lifts remain undamaged, but all the new powder is already at our feet in the valley in the form of slabs - triggered by the earthquake. We are all the more pleased that the summit slope of Mt Olympus has not gone down, but is waiting for us with plenty of powder snow.
Export 33
In the days that followed, we surfed a little along the coast off Christchurch and saw a few parts of the country that, unlike Castle Hill, were not spared by the quake. Once again, we realize that we simply have no defense against the forces of nature. We spend the last week of the trip at Mt Ruapehu, which is why we have to take the ferry to the North Island of New Zealand. Export 33 is the name of the New Zealand brewery that sponsors the annual "Xtreme" at Mt Ruapehu. This year, the financial contribution has been increased once again, which is why the winner will receive 10,000 US dollars and all other participants will receive free food, drinks and, of course, Export 33 beer at every opportunity. So it's no wonder that the entire NZ contest entourage is once again gathering in the quiet little village of National Park. All in all, you can concentrate 100% on riding, which in my case means 7th place in this FWQ 3-star contest. Eric still gets plenty of ranking points for his tenth place and Fabian Lentsch once again proves his great talent with second place. The 17-year-old has already filled up his travel fund for next winter. After the contest, most of the participants set off directly for Auckland. Almost all of them have to hand in their rental cars, catch flights or simply want to attend the unofficial after-party. So a cheerful convoy forms for the drive north, which takes several hours. On board: plenty of Export 33 beer!
