Finally time to ride. We left Queenstown toward the Remarkables ski field. In New Zealand, they’re not called mountains or resorts; instead, they’re called ski fields. Anyways, I was surprised to find out that the Remarkables’ base was only about 15 minutes drive from Queenstown. Once at the base, we shot a few photos then drove up the dirt road to the top of mountain. What you see in the photo is the backside of Remarkables, the ski field is on the other side.
Photo by Vanessa Chan
Just like all the other ski field roads in New Zealand, the drive up Remarkables is on the edge of the mountain with a sheer cliff drop on one side. Our poor little Wingroad worked hard to bring us up the long, curvy bumpy dirt road and bottomed out a few times (if you've been following the blogs, you'd know that the wingroad is the name of our car).
Once at the top, we threw on our gear and went to guest relations to meet the media co-ordinator, Ross Lawrence. After a friendly chat, he supplied us with some passes. Thank you very much, now lets ride.
Duncan had this cool idea about some green-screen effect and convinced me to ride around in an all yellow suit. So I guess it’s more of a yellow screen than green. I felt kind of stupid riding around all day like big bird, but hopefully the final product will look pretty cool. We’re trying to make a crazy effect where a starry galaxy style logo of our camp is in the silhouette of a snowboarder riding around. By the way, it’s called High Five Camp. Check out the website at highfivecamp.com
Photo by Vanessa Chan
Rider: Geoff Brown
We spent most of our day ridding the stash. For those who don’t know, the Stash is a jib run at Remarkables where everything is made of logs and cement. It’s got a real natural/urban feel to it. The wood is surprisingly slippery and you can even boardslide it without really worrying about catching an edge. And the cement doesn’t destroy your board. It’s really cool.
Photo by Vanessa Chan
Rider: Geoff Brown
We checked out the park for a few runs and scoped some good lines for when it snows. We’re pretty excited to get into the groove of riding. But we’ve got skydiving tomorrow so the groove will have to wait.
Photo by Vanessa Chan
Rider: Duncan Mainland
After a long day of riding, Destination Queenstown hooked us up with some R&R at the Onsen Hot Pools. These are semi-outdoor heated tubs that look out over the mountains and are filled with alpine spring water from Queenstown’s mountains. It’s really an amazing place with a spectacular view.
Photo by Vanessa Chan
So three dudes and one girl piled into this small tub where we sat and let our muscles relax.
Photo by Vanessa Chan
The water is changed frequently so there’s no grime or hot tub foam
and apparently the temperature is adjusted everyday to match the
outside weather. The spring water felt nice and clean, so we just
chilled out and watched the sun go down over the mountains. It was a
great way to end the day.
Photo by Vanessa Chan