The worst thing to come after the rain is the cold weather, and we got it… well, we got it half way up the mountain. We drove up the Remarkables road, through the fog and we were able to rise above the clouds. The sun was out and the snow was spring slushy. We uploaded on the first chair and talked about how it was going to be an amazing day. 


Photo by Vanessa Chan

    We were so stoked, but as we got closer to the top of the first chair, it occurred to me that the snow at the top of the mountain where the jumps are might be frozen. And, unfortunately, I was right. On the second chair, the familiar sound of metal edges against ice began to become louder and louder. Then, as we got to the jumps I saw the bamboo sticks in an X shape in front of the lips of the jumps. Don't be fooled by the footprints that make the snow look soft. Those prints were probably made when it was raining. Believe me, the jumps were completely frozen over.


Photo by Vanessa Chan

    So we had no choice but to go back down to the baby park and play in the soft snow. It was actually super fun, nothing was photo worthy but sometimes, you just gotta ride for fun.
    At Remarkables there are these tunnels dug out of snow for ski school kids. They’re pretty cool and actually super fun to ride through. Duncan found one he wanted to wall ride the archway of the exit. I thought it would make a cool photo if I rode through the tunnel at the same time. Duncan almost killed 3 kids on his first attempt and got this photo on the second try. It was really hard to get the timing right for me to be riding out of the tunnel at the same time as he was riding the roof. Sorry it’s not perfect but at least no one was hurt in the making of this photo. 


Photo by Vanessa Chan
Riders: top Duncan Mainland, bottom Geoff Brown
    After we got this photo, we decided to check out the top of the mountain again. The snow had somewhat softened up, so Vanessa switched her camera from photo mode to video mode and we played on the jibs for the rest of the day. It wasn’t the most epic day, but we made the most of it.


Photo by Vanessa Chan

    A little side note, we finally got out of our stinky, cramped basement studio. We just moved into this small cozy 2 bedroom condo in Wanaka. Rob moved in with us and we’re loving this place. It has everything we need, even a kids swing set in the backyard. Pretty awesome!


Photo by Vanessa Chan