WORLD SNOWBOARD CHAMPS

This trip ticked off many firsts for me. I had never been to a World Snowboard Champs and I had also never been to Quebec, Canada. I was travelling with the NZ Snowboard Team and we got put up in Quebec City for the week. 

It was an early start to a long day of travelling | DIA Terminal Building

We were put up at HOTEL PUR for the week. Beautiful modern design.

The first thing I noticed driving into Quebec City was the inherent history and rich culture that is often unseen in North America. Quebec City is a European settlement with French being the 1st Language. I was fortunate that most people are also fluent in English, as my French crash course wasn't going well.

The first day we took the opportunity to explore the city and to inspect the slopestyle course at Stoneham Mountain Resort. It truly was a small field but the course was looking pretty good. The only issue was that it had been raining all day at the mountain but the temperature was forecasted to drop down to -25 celsius. This meant LOTS and LOTS of ICE!

Stef Zeestraten and I took the opportunity to explore the Old area of the city that night. There are fortifications around this area dating back to 1694. It truly was a small taste of Europe right in the heart of Canada. 

Porte. St Jean Gate.

The next morning we headed back up to Stoneham for the first day of practice. We had 2 hours on the course and I just took my time making sure I got used to the course while staying in one piece. There was an issue with the top of the course so it was changed overnight. Stef and I both put down some solid runs so it was a good first day!

View of the Slopestyle course. (Note the distance between the top rails and the first jump YIKES!)

The second day of practice was even more fun. The course was less icy and the sun was out. I had a good day and landed an even better run. They changed the course up and put an extra rail at the bottom. The course was flowing a lot better and I had started getting used to jumps that were a far cry from Breckenridge Jumps. 

I had Qualifiers the next day and the weather wasn't so great. They cancelled the Girls in the morning but the wind managed to die down for the Guys. I crashed a front 10 on my first run so decided to play it safe on run 2 with a front 7. I had to wait nervously on the bubble in 5th in my heat but managed to make the top 20 semifinals. I was pretty stoked because I had never made it to semifinals in a World Cup Slopestyle. Stef also managed to make it through to semis.

I woke up to this view for finals day.

Due to the cancellation of the girls the organisers were forced to turn Mens Semifinals into a straight final. I had a good practice but unfortunately I couldn't quite put a run together. Speed became an issue for everyone, which was a bummer. I finished up 19th and Stef also unable to land his ideal run finished 15th. I was gutted I couldn't land a run but it turned out to be my best result ever!

We scored tickets to the Fashion Show. Not a bad way to unwind after a busy week.

We had a typical early departure the next day but the one thing we hadn't checked out yet was the nightlife in Quebec. Always a must in any new city! We started things off with the fashion Jam where everyone was hanging out. A few drinks later and all things fashion related were coming to a close.

We became a herd of sheep strolling through the streets of Quebec until someone managed to lead us to  a nightclub in the heart of the city. I didn't expect much as Breckenridge didn't really have nightclubs but man was I wrong! This club had 3 floors and it was PUMPING!

Good times with good friends. 

Back to Hotel Pur for a few hours sleep and then it was straight to Montreal Airport for another long day of travel. 

Next trip on the roster is RUSSIA. Watch this space.

BIG Architecture!

Here are a few photo snaps/CAD renders of only two of the projects that Danish architects BIG have designed. These guys have come up with some pretty crazy architecture. Go have a geeze on there website http://big.dk/ for some more crazy buildings/mega structures!

Here is a photo of an apartment building facade. Those little needle like things are the balconies!

The following shots are of an approved project for a deserted island in the Caspian sea. They are building 7 buildings that will create a 100% sustainable eco community. The scale of this project is a bit mind boggling so definitely one to google to get your head around it.

The buildings when viewed from a distance are supposed to resemble the seven most important mountain peaks of Azerbaijan. (somewhere between west asia and east europe.)


Just another photo of 'Zira' island.

Enjoy.

Goodbye Mt Hutt for another year.....

Summer awaits us down on the plains. Winter storm finally clears on the drive DOWN the hill. Closing day to everyones surprise was mid winter conditions with heavy snow falling all day. Didn't make it too easy to see where you were going but everyone was in high spirits. Runs of the day were when the Summit 6 finally opened at 3 and it was freshies top to bottom for an hour. Big park was going off with POW POW hand rails and drifty knuckles straight into powder!

Last run of the day was in the completely UN cut Mt Hutt Halfpipe. Had to happen. The lifties out of complete boredom had built a giant igloo which 30 or so of them all packed into it to celebrate the season.

New = IN..... Old = BROKEN

Usually getting a new cellphone wouldn't be a big deal but when you've nutured your shitty out-of-date cellphone for 4 years its certainly a changing of the times! Paying far less then what I did 4 years ago I now upgrade from a 0.1MPixel camera to a 2M one. I can now see the beauty of advancement in technology! Haha

Scattered OLD cellphone parts. It just wouldn't go!

Blasting Snow Clouds - Shot by Riley Bathurst.

Also check out yet another 'Riley Bathurst' NZsnowboard.com photo story. This time round there's none of that text splattered around the shots. The Black and White shots just speak for themselves!

Check it.

http://www.nzsnowboard.com/articles/628/oct_15th_09__mt_hutt_in_black_and_white

Jnr Snowboard Nationals... Done and Dusted!

Jnr Snowboard Nationals went down from Mon-Fri at Cardrona with my sister and I having a crack at all 5 comps (GS, Dual GS, BoarderX, Slopestyle, and Halfpipe). The racing was kind of a bit of fun with no race boards or lycra necessary!

Day 1

GS went down with a leg burner of a course. Slope course had softened up by noon so some laps were taken. First hit on the 3rd I managed to send it 3/4 of the way down the landing where I managed to get ice burn on the fore head and completely fll my goggles up with snow! That was with 3 speed checks going in so was a pretty slow 60 footer.

I ended up getting 2nd in the GS. Benji 'Racing Boy' Sutherland took out the win. The man is pretty much unstoppable when it comes to racing.

Day 2

BoarderX was on today in the morning. The early starts can get to ya with practice starting at 8:30 in the am. The U19 division was a bit empty this year with a straight final running after the time trials. I came away with another 2nd again. Another fun day but still amping for Slopestyle tomorrow!

Boarder X final Photo: Andy Woods

But lil' Jess had the chance to throw it all down in the slopestyle today with Girls finals running along with Slope Pre qualifiers. She took the smaller Jib-stacked side of the course while the other girls were busting out straight airs on the big line. The judges saw it straight giving Jess the win! So Stoked for lil Sis! She threw down some SW 50s, half cab, front 1, front lips, and 50-50 front 1s. She just looked like she was chilling. haha.

Jess claiming top spot on podium!

Day 3 = My favourite one!

Slopestyle DAY!

Mute Back 5 on the third table.

The older boys/men got to run in the arvo which was pretty dam good considering the course had barely softened by noon. The goal was to stay on ya feet with cheese grater landings for pretty much the entire day. After some mellow straight airs it was all go. I cranked out my run a few times working on getting the 3rd jump dialed. Back 5's were feeling the most solid with a back 7 to butt not really feeling the money. I was shredding sum laps with Alex Harper. I dropped into the course first for the U19s with a fully stomped run. Jump line was SW bk 5, front 7, back 5. Second run I kept it the same but with a back 9 on the third. Ended up getting a bit lost in the air and scoring a sweet tripod out on the landing. Still managed to score higher than my first run and giving me the WIN! Some Finnish guy took 2nd and he was throwing down some cab 5s and front 7s.

Melon back 9 on the third.

1st place = t shirt + torpedo 7 sticker.

I dont think I have ever been that tired after a comp.... I also dont think I have ever landed that many tricks in a row with two crashes for the whole day. Dad was shouting the beers afterwards......... as he did after pretty much everyday of competition!

Here's a link of an article written on NZsnowboard.com. It was nice to see some coverage of the event.

http://www.nzsnowboard.com/news/1607/international_competitors_put_a_world_perspective_on_junior_kiwi_riders

Day 4:


Double comp day with Parallel GS in the morning and sum superpipe in the arvo.

I felt like I got to experience racing properly for the first time ever. Clipping these little rubber gate markers and sucking up these pro bumps, which actually got me on my first run. The bump ended up claiming a lot of riders.

Superpipe was suprisingly super after riding in a regular sized half pipe for most of the season. I was pretty chill about it as my legs felt like jelly from two many days competing. Some USA riders were ripping with back 2 back 7s, 5s mctwists and cripplers.

I ended up getting 2nd in the PGS and 4th in pipe.

They also awarded the most well-rounded riders with myself getting the award for best male snowboarder. A pretty dam good end to the last Jnr Nats for me and also for Jess who claimed fame in the chicks slopestyle.

Here's another article on NZsnowboard.com of the overall rankings after 4 days of competition.

http://www.nzsnowboard.com/news/1609/riders_finish_season_on_a_high_with_the_junior_nationals
Finally a big shout out to my spono's....... BURTON, ANON, Cheapskates, Mt Hutt, and MUM and DAD for hooking up a roof over our heads for the week as well as petrol, food and generally just being there to cheer Jess and I along!

An Architectural Project.

Here's a couple of images that I made up super quick in photoshop. prob didnt come out as sweet as I wanted but ya get the idea..... haha.

The basic Idea behind these images is a 'screen wall' in cathedral square that meshes together the surrounding building facades when someone looks through the vertical openings. A fun little project that has developed from an original concept located down High St.

Another Weekend at Hutt.....

This weekend was slush fest at Mt Hutt with the park being battered by the wind earlier on the week. No Big Jump...... so it was back to the simple things in life. Moguls, windlips, snowmaker cones, mini park jibs and jumps, rope ollies and straight lines. Sunday was supposed to be a sweet half day shredding but ended up blowing up the radiator in the truck. Still ended up shredding for a few hrs with Dad and AA coming to the rescue.



Here's an aerial photo of Mt Hutt current. Check out the pipe and the nice last booter that the park crew has delivered us this season.
Methven Big air is gonna go off this sat. I think I'm gonna strap in and give it a go. And then Jnr Nationals the following week. Im gonna be cranking a serious amound of redbull for that sort of shit! haha

My good mate Riley Bathurst also put together this sweet wakeboard vid. Its on facebook and I have no idea if this link will work but give it a crack!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=134469828196

Peace