There may be 4 seasons of the year but it’s likely you’ll only have 1 as your favourite. Whether it’s the blossoms of spring or the ambers of autumn, there’s something special about each of them. But what if you could spend an entire year in just your favourite?! What if your season never had to end?
We wanted to know what it would be like to globe trot your way to having 12 months of snow…and ultimately 12 months of snow sports. So we’ve asked two friends; Joanna and Ellie, about their travels from one hemisphere to another – a season in France to one in New Zealand and what kind of things they’ve been getting up to.
1. What were the main differences you found between a season in France and New Zealand?
(Joanna)
You can’t ignore the fact that the snow is a lot better in France, and the ski area is a lot bigger. But there is a lot of exploring to do in New Zealand, and the smaller ski area definitely makes you try a lot of new things. A season in New Zealand is less of a bubble than France is, it’s more like real life – you have to pay rent, buy your own food etc, plus everyone doesn’t leave at the end of the season, which is nice as you can just continue into summer.
(Ellie)
The mountains and the snow; so quite a lot! In France we lived up on the mountain, whereas here in NZ you drive for at least 30 minutes to get up there. It’s meant I’ve appreciated powder days here in NZ way more because they are rarer than in France and you have to put the effort in to get up there for the snow. In terms of lifestyle, après isn’t such a thing in NZ, but you get used to it and Queenstown definitely isn’t boring.
2. Having nearly a full year of boarding, how much have you improved?
(J)
I think I’ve improved a fair
bit! I decided to start snowboarding after a season of skiing in France where I
didn’t improve loads and wanted to try something new. So now I’ve done a season
of snowboarding in France and in NZ I’ve definitely become a lot more
confident.
(E)
I feel like I improved a
lot in France, which is easy to say as I only had about 10 days of snowboarding
behind me when the season started. It helped that we had great snow and I went
out on the mountain with some nutters who pushed me to be a little more
adventurous and boosted my confidence. My confidence was maybe a little too
high, and within two weeks of being NZ I had fallen off a box, bashed my knee
and had an epic bruise the length of my shin. I still went up the mountain a
lot, but I wouldn’t say I improved much after that.
3. What has been the most exhilarating thing you’ve got up to recently?
(J)
My best day
in New Zealand (and life) has to be my day heli skiing. I managed to jump on a
trip for free and had a lot of fun on the best snow I’d seen all season in the
middle of nowhere.
(E)
My crazy but lovely friend
Michelle is leaving Queenstown soon, and has a list of things she’d like to do.
She managed to convince me to hike the Routeburn Track with her in one day.
This is a 32km walk that people usually take two or three days to do. The
feeling once we’d done it though was AMAZING, and the views were definitely
worth it.
4. What made you decide to head to NZ?
(J)
As much as I love Meribel, I
wanted to explore a bit further and for someone becoming obsessed with
mountains, NZ seemed like a good place to go!
(E)
I didn’t want the winter to end. I spent a lot of time in Meribel speaking to people who had lived in Queenstown last year; they inspired me and helped me figure a few things out.
5. Name your top 3 experiences of the year.
(J)
My top 3 experiences of this
year would be my day heli skiing, any day with a fresh layer of snow in France
(there were quite a lot this season) and doing a skydive from 15,000ft over
Queenstown.
(E)
Seeing Mt Cook for the first
time, and spending a few days in the national park there. It’s a pretty epic
mountain and is the perfect, pointy peak. Meeting a koala in Sydney (I got too
emotional and ended up crying!). Snowboarding Coronet Peak in a bikini to
celebrate a 12th consecutive month on snow!
6. What would your advice be to someone looking to follow in your footsteps and get 12 months of snow?
(J)
My advice would be to not
expect the same from a season in New Zealand as a season in Europe. The ski
area is very different (not necessarily worse) and I definitely tried a lot of
new things in New Zealand. Moving to New Zealand does take a bit of hard work
setting yourself up as you’ll most likely only find a job and somewhere to live
once you get here. You’ll be living in a town with plenty of shops and bars
etc. and not up the mountain.
(E)
Be prepared to hike a
little. Unless you’re in resorts which are high enough to open early and stay
open late in the season, then you’ll find the months of May and November to be
challenging in finding the snow. We were lucky to have both an early and late
season snowfall at Coronet Peak, and so walked up to clock the month. Admittedly
we only managed one day on both of those months, but it still counts!
7. Have you missed the heat at all during your year of winter?
(J)
I have missed the heat a
lot! And I’m excited for summer to properly hit here in Queenstown, we’ve had a
few hot days so far but it’s still been a bit rainy. After not snowboarding for
a couple of months now though I am starting to miss that too…
(E)
Not too much. We’ve had so
many bluebird days up the mountain over the past year, that although it may be
cold I have still seen lots of the sun.
8. Is there anything you would change about the last 12 months?
(J)
I wouldn’t change anything!
(E)
Ooh tricky, but not really.
Ultimately I’m happy with where I’m at and excited for what I have planned for
this year (Japan…!?)
9. How has your equipment held up being used so frequently?
(J)
I only bought a snowboard
for my season in NZ, I just rented one in France, so it’s held up fine so far
and hopefully will last into a few more seasons to come…
(E)
Not so well, but I’m going
to use most of it for at least another season. My ski pants are all kinds of
colours from sun fade and are pretty ripped. It’s probably my goggles that have
fared the worst. I threw them under the tables at the Ronnie one too many times,
and now they make seeing pretty interesting…
10. What is the best thing you’ve learnt this year?
(J)
I started trying a few
things in the park while in France and a bit more in NZ which has been fun, but
I think just learning to board in general and especially finally learning how
to manage getting through powder – and digging yourself out of it!
(E)
If you want to go somewhere
or do something, make it happen. I find it’s way better to regret doing
something rather than wondering what I could have done. (Is that a little too
deep?!)
Wow, so not jealous haha