Welcome to Peak Leaders

New Zealand – Helicopters and Hangovers
31/08/2010

A couple of weeks on and the guys have partied hard but skied and snowboarded even harder, in an effort to get themselves in-shape for the level 2. Training has been really intense and although Queenstown has an abundance of activities that trainees can take-part in on their days off, they've often chosen to kick-back and relax at the hotel. The weather here has been far more temperamental since I last  blogged; a number of storms have come-in from the Tasmin Sea and left us with powder and generally much better snow conditions. 

Only last weekend the trainees were being shuttled by helicopters to the top of the Harris Mountain range for a day of shredding untouched powder. Unfortunately the weather closed-in a bit but there were still some great stashes of powder to be ridden and the Helicopter pilot wasn't shy of showing-off his skills. 

So far this week all of the trainees have handed-in their ILM assignments and the skiers have begun their level 2 examination, with the snowboarders due to start on Friday. A special mention must go to Lettice and Fay who both passed their level 1 assessment last week, both girls showed a great deal of determination over the past few weeks and have really raised their game.

Tom

New Zealand – Burton New Zealand Open 2010
14/08/2010

 It's not all work on the instructor course in New Zealand and as a self-confessed snowboard addict I was very keen to get the Snowboard trainees across to Cardrona for the final of the Burton New Zealand Open Halfpipe finals. Although Shaun White was absent this year we were treated to an unbelievable final with some of the Worlds top riders throwing-down tricks that I'd only ever seen on TV. Not only was the final spectacular but when we arrived there was 30cm of fresh powder covering the off-piste, so the guys had a lot fun slashing the morning away before spending 3 hours watching the action. It must be said that Cardrona is a wicked resort with a vast array of wide-open slopes and well worth the visit; all-in-all yesterday was one of the highlights of the season. Below are some of the photos that I took of the action:

(Hana and Fay watch as snowboarding legend JJ Thomas throws a 14ft high 1080 spin)

New Zealand – Relentless
13/08/2010

Conditions at the moment are perfect; temperatures have fallen and the Queenstown area had 30cm of fresh snow at the end of last weekend, all of the guys have been feeling the benefits of these conditions and the groups’ confidence is high.