The Life of Sloth

June 2006 - Posts

• Winter 2006 Season - Day Eight (The one-piece ski suits are back!)

  While up at Coronet today, there we were quietly having lunch, when I spotted this out of the corner of my eye: We have a winner! To be honest I was absolutely astounded when I saw this beauty. A work of art. One-piece Hello Kitty ski suit in hot pink? Crazy headgear? Blades? Genius, utter genius. Really wished I'd got a photo of the back too. And there were plenty more where that came from. But as luck (or fate) would have it, after taking that shot, my camera gave me the old "Lens Error" rubbish and refused to take any more pics. Hardly surprising though if you'd seen how bright this couple were. I did get a couple of pics on covert camera phone though so will put them up shortly. Sarah-Jaye had a full day off at last, so came out riding with me (or rather the other way round). After some early mistakes, made a lot of improvement over the afternoon - I'll have her pulling bs5's by the end of the season . Finally had some fresh snow last night, continuing through today and tonight hopefully. Not the big dump we need, but it's a start. No more riding till Saturday's all-day lesson for this Sloth. p.s. got a one-piece in the post today, proper 80s one, not quite bright enough though. Still, was only all of £3.20 inc. postage! Posted Jun 29 2006, 09:41 AM by le_sloth with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Winter 2006

• Winter 2006 Season - Day Seven (A brief lick of the Coronet)

  Nothing to see here - please move along. Nothing much to tell really - no new snow for a while, but it holding up nicely - on-piste is quite soft in places, but there are a few icy bits here and there (hence it being called Concrete Peak sometimes.) Still, was worth getting myself up there in the middle of getting some work done for 8 runs or so. Great to be able to do that! Posted Jun 27 2006, 03:24 PM by le_sloth with no comments

• Winter 2006 Season - Day Six (Remarkables' Opening Day)

  Not been out riding for a few days as the weather hasn't been too good - poor vis up on Coronet. Great then to wake up to bluebird this morning for the opening day of the Remarkables. The drive up is a lot longer than going up to Coronet (takes about 35mins from our house) and you've just got to ignore the FEAR that lives all the way up the track you've got to drive on (13km, plenty ice, no crash barriers, big drops, hairpins. Not going to be doing that with a hangover). The neige wasn't quite as good as it had been made out to be - although there was powder all over the place, there were rocks just hiding under the surface. Managed to take a nice chunk out of my board right down to the metal on my 2nd run, so decided to stick to on-piste till the next dump (Tuesday apparently ). Runs up there aren't anywhere near as long as I thought they'd be - makes Coronet seem huge! Still, they hadn't opened up the Shadow Basin Chair yet which opens up a whole load more (think chutes, chutes and more chutes!). Quite a few people hiking up already despite the rocks (which are the sort that would cut through steel!) - definately plenty of terrain to explore once mr dumpy farms out some more. Spent the rest of the day hitting the same bits again and again, practising fs180s, nose grabs and the like (pleased to say I've stopped all the landing on my *** and have been nailing prob. 90% of them ). Practise makes perfect. Sarah-Jaye finished early so managed to get out riding for the first time this season (work and weather have screwed up previous opportunities). There's work to do but looking promising. Right it's time for booze and dinner now. Have put some more pics up here. Posted Jun 24 2006, 06:06 PM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Winter 2006

• Missing: Have you seen our Jarmarl?

  Has anyone seen this (admittedly, rather seedy-looking) man? Last seen several weeks ago wearing a pink suit and shouting obscenities at a traffic warden (despite being parked on a red route in rush hour and causing a 2 mile tailback). Goes by the names Jarmal Jermaine, Jamroll, Jamaly-Wally, James Gemmel. If you've seen him, please lettuce snow. Posted Jun 22 2006, 07:20 AM by le_sloth with 1 comment(s)

• Winter 2006 Season - Day Five (Happy Birthday to me)

  Somehow or other I'm 23 today. OK, that isn't strictly true, as many of you will know. The body is 31 but the mind continues to be 23 or so until such time as is deemed necessary to move on. Was a bit of a Slothful morning - the usual rude awakening at 7am to drive Sarah-Jaye into town to get the bus, but this was much better cos it came with presents too . At long long last I got a new watch - nice bit of Nixon Gauge action thankyou please. Not to be worn out riding or anytime where vast quantities of beverages will be consumed. Un autre beanie pour ma tete, a Jamie Oliver book to try to get my cooking mojo back and a selection of English confectionery rounded it off nicely. Have got to get some new bouncy bits on the back end of the voiture sooner or later cos is making a bit of noise when there's a few of us in there - not gonna be cheap but needs farming out all the same. So went round town getting quotes on that gubbins. Had to take my board pants back after only a couple days use cos someone can't stitch. This is really getting to sound like a Bobanory isn't it? Oh yeh so the riding today was a bit softer than yesterday, vis was great and managed to land a few jumps here and there and throw bits of switch in now and then. Plenty to work on, plenty of time to do so. Off out bowling in a bit, followed by a variety of local ales at pubs with open fires. Have the feeling it may be a big one. Finally, there I was just unloading my board from the car this evening and thought to myself "I love this ***". Why the hell didn't I do this years ago? Still, at only 23 I have many many years ahead... Posted Jun 20 2006, 04:09 PM by le_sloth with 6 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Winter 2006

• Winter 2006 Season - Day Four

  I must stay in and work, not go riding every day. I must stay in and work, not go riding every day. I must stay in and work, not go riding every day. I must stay in and work, not go riding every day. I must stay in and work, not go riding every day. Yeh but no but yeh but it was all blue skies out there this morning so I had to just go up there didn't I? Had been pretty cold overnight so wasn't the pow I was hoping for (though was still some to be found if you knew where to look). They opened up the Greengates Express lift today so there was plenty more to explore over the left side on the area. Definately want to avoid ending up on top of the frozen lake though - might not be frozen enough yet! Signed myself up for a course as well - need to improve quite a few things about my riding while I'm here. Feel as though I've been riding the same way for the last couple of years and doing too much carving straight down rather than looking for t'other things to hit. So here it is: 6 SATURDAY PROGRAMME – Coronet Peak Instructor level training of the highest quality. Take a quantum leap ahead of the rest and have fun doing it! Ideal CSI and pre stage one instructor exam training. Trainers draw on a wealth of knowledge to challenge and inspire you to peak performance. Ability levels: 5-6 (See Ability Guide) Start Date: 1st July 2006. 9am - 4pm every Saturday. And no, I'm not planning on being an instructor! Some people do this as the start to that though. Sarah-Jaye has been working quite a lot lately - busy up there in snowsports as everyone is wanting lessons and stuff. She's getting her first day riding tomorrow (Wednesday) with yet more new kit (helmet, goggles and wristguards - loads of people wear them here). Her discounts are pretty good too - Adidas Yodai's with 2 spare lenses for £48 thankyou please. Been playing around with my bindings too. Have removed the fairly pointless "removable heel gasket" on them so the highback actually sits where it should do now. If you can do it, rotate your 'backs so they are parallel with the board edge - much more comfy and responsive in turns. That's my tip of the day. Have added a few more pics to me Flickr Posted Jun 19 2006, 07:01 PM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Winter 2006

• Winter 2006 Season - Day Three

  Snow, snow and more snow! Was falling really heavily down here this morning, just before we were planning to head up. Chains on from right at the bottom of the Coronet road this time, so quite a slow drive up. Myself, Jon and Gareth (of GoneBoarding fame) headed up there for 5 or 6 runs anyway, but conditions got worse and worse - total white-out down to about 50m visibility, then a nice bit of iceblasting to the face after lunch. Seems the guy playing the saxophone was trying to scare the snow away or something but not having much luck. Hope it clears 2moro cos there's gonna be a lot of pow to play with up there! Posted Jun 18 2006, 04:20 PM by le_sloth with no comments

• Winter 2006 Season - Day Two

  OK, first off I don't reckon I'm gonna get round to doing a post for every day I go up there this season, but you never know... Anyway, woke up this morning, took Sarah-Jaye off to get the bus up to work and weather was looking pretty grim. Had been raining all night and was thick cloud everywhere by the time the sun came up. So I got a couple of hours' work done and kept up to date with the webcams. By half 11 it was clearing up, so thought I'd give it a go for the afternoon - definately made the right choice there!! Got up top around 12:30 just as it was clearing - within half an hour it was blue skies...and nearing knee-deep powder!!! Been riding the same bit all afternoon - untracked, deep and light. Just what i was after. Found this sweet run with a nice natural hit at the end - even managed to get the method dialled right in. Day 2 and I'm already riding better than before! Had just started dumping again as lifts shut down so looking good for the weekend too. Reckon it's gonna be proper busy 2moro tho so I'm gonna get some work done (finding that is getting increasingly difficult to do and it's only day 2!) No pics today cos didn't take camera up but will do next time. p.s. Couldn't find you guys anywhere? Were you on another lift? Posted Jun 16 2006, 06:12 PM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Winter 2006

• Winter 2006 Season - Day One

  Day one of the season - went up to Coronet Peak this morning. Loved it!  After a 14 month break from riding, got champagne on the lift (not just for me, bcos we'd almost made the first lift!), strapped in and rode off. Like riding a bike, hadn't forgotten a thing. New boots and bindings are loving it and being loved. Neige was great considering there was nowt only a week ago (plenty more coming in 2nite/next few days  ) It's great - can do all that and back in time for half a day's work. Didn't want to overcook it on the first day! Here's some pics so far p.s. Snowchains. Not loving them at all. Gonna pick a hitchhiker up every day so they can do them  Posted Jun 15 2006, 02:16 PM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Winter 2006

• A new look for GnarlyBoarders

  Another season starts, so a bit of a new look was called for. What was there for the last couple of months was just how this thing looks out of the box, so needed a bit of customising. If you have any problems e.g. it looking very messy and confused, just hit F5 / Refresh to reload all the new bits. This should sort things out. There are a few bits still with the old colours on that I still need to sort out (e.g. the menu on the left I can see right now while editing this post) - I will sort these shortly. Anything else though, please reply to this post to let me know. So, what do you think of the new look? Better/worse/average? I'm no designer, so it is nothing special, but some of you out there are, so you can always offer some guidance! The GnarlyBoarders logo up the top there is one thing that could do with some improvement for instance. I was thinking of running a competition to design a new one. All ideas welcome anyway - it's your site as much as mine! Well, Mr Dumpy has been shitting all over the mountains here since last night - long overdue as well - they were supposed to open yesterday but couldn't. Fingers crossed for later this week... Posted Jun 11 2006, 12:13 PM by le_sloth with 7 comment(s) Filed under: Site Announcements

• The SnowParkNZ Season Pass scam

  Arsebiscuits! Said bothered Sloth as he left the Rattlesnake bar last night. Had been there at the SnowParkNZ opening party where there were plenty of freebies on offer - buy more booze, get more chances to win. Well, it got to midnight and had accumulated quite a few tickets, waiting for the big prize of a season pass ($1200 ish - sweet). After a few more tequilas the MC got round to pulling the ticket from the bucket. And there it was - ticket 97C!!! Holy crapola! It's me! Sloth goes running up to front to claim his prize...then "Sorry mate, that's the wrong 97C - yours has diamonds on it, this one has nothing else on it." Erm, that's not right, they all have symbols on them! Well, he was having none of it, so drew another number out and surprise surprise it was a mate of theirs at the bar who won.  So at least that wasn't fixed then. Bothered Sloth won a hangover instead. Genius. Posted Jun 09 2006, 09:50 AM by le_sloth with 2 comment(s)

• We Built This City : The Original Video

  I've just watched the original we built this city video. Funny, I'd never actually seen it despite having co-produced, co-directed and co-starred in our own Fancy That version. I'll leave y'all to decide which one's best, but to be honest I think they should have consulted us first to make it for them! Although it was quite a long time ago now so I was probably up in the loft playing Lego at the time. P.S. In other news, the new improved and customised version of this site is coming soon. My web design skills are not the best, but it's a start. Will be running a GnarlyBoarders logo competition soon as well, so get your crayons ready (not pink crayons thankyou please). Posted Jun 09 2006, 09:37 AM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: Fancy That Productions

• Napoleon Dynamite: Still a hero

  ok, it's been a while since I've seen it now, but Bodders just sent me a link to this bit from Napoleon Dynamite. Still genius. Love his work. Posted Jun 07 2006, 08:38 PM by le_sloth with 3 comment(s)