The Life of Sloth

June 2007 - Posts

• Rubber Johnny

  So, there we were thinking we'd have a great weekend up at Mt Hutt, riding fresh powder. But what happened? It rained . Constantly. For 36 hours. Now you would've thought, ok, that's great, if it's raining down here in ChCh, it surely must be dumping soft white stuff up in the mountains? Nope, not here. Seems it was a load of warm air coming from the North-West, so the rain spent yesterday stripping all the snow off the mountains. Gutted. So, what does that leave me doing? Watching videos like this, mostly. Nighty-night. Sweet dreams <p><a href="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-1697060846800586471&hl=en-GB">http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-1697060846800586471&hl=en-GB</a></p> View original media here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1697060846800586471 Johnny is a hyperactive, shape-shifting mutant child, kept locked away in a basement. With only his feverish imagination and his terrified dog for company, he finds ways to amuse himself in the dark. [edit:]Saturday afternoon turned out to be blue skies and a very warm 18c (in fact, it was warmer here in ChCh in mid winter than it was in London in mid summer!). So I got Mildred back out of hibernation and went out for a sprint lap round Bottle Lake Forest. Wasn't as dry as I'd thought it might be, got covered in mud - love it! If there's no snow, at least I can still get out mtb'ing. Posted Jun 30 2007, 12:19 PM by le_sloth with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Video, Mt Hutt

• Good weather at last! (Winter Season Day 2)

  Southern Alps from Mt Hutt Originally uploaded by le_sloth. I'd done 6 days riding by this time last year - just got back from my 2nd one of this season. Weather's been dodgy for last couple of weeks now, with so much snow in Queenstown they had to cancel most of the Winter Festival, driving round town with chains etc. Up here though? Not a lot, mostly just very windy and damn cold. Was stoked then to look at the forecast yesterday, saying that today would be bluebird with no wind. Hmm, stay in ChCh and work or head to the Hutt? An easy decision. Got up there to find car park almost full already, but still not too busy on the slopes. Summit Six turbo express chairlift dotcom is now open, so top part of the mountain is there to be ridden. Ok, there's only a couple of runs rideable at the moment, but it's all good. Considering they've barely had any natural snow, it was nice and soft, even powdery in places. Found plenty to keep myself entertained on for most of the day - plenty of lips to pop off and little jumps here and there. There's so much terrain waiting to be played with once the big dump comes tho! Yes, Jarmarly, I did end up getting the green Bonfire jacket, but remember it was you who copied me! Happy Sloth managed to pick this one up in the sales for NZD 299. Get in! Finally got some new gloves sorted - very toasty, Level Fly, which have the wrist guards built-in. How much easier is that? Well here's a couple of pics.    Posted Jun 27 2007, 05:08 PM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Winter 2007, Mt Hutt

• The Boys Are Back in Town - New Fancy That Production

  Here it is, the long-awaited Fancy That Production of The Boys Are Back in Town. Filmed in Les Arcs in March 2007, starring Dan Black, The Good Stuff, Jarmarl Jermaine and Sloth. With cameo performances by a couple of long-lost friends from the alps. Actually, it's only been about 2 months to get this one out the door, so that's pretty quick by our standards - it helps having so many bad weather days over in NZ at the moment . Anyway, enough of all that, here she is. Make sure you give it a rating on YouTube and pass the word around. Farm on... Sloth  <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/qbEQR9JFqLM">http://www.youtube.com/v/qbEQR9JFqLM</a></p> View original media here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbEQR9JFqLM Posted Jun 25 2007, 11:05 AM by le_sloth with 9 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, Fancy That Productions, Site Announcements, Video, France, randomness

• Dumpy has arrived? Maybe

  Things are looking good for snow over here in NZ over the next few days, especially if you're down in Queenstown! Damn cold though.   Posted Jun 21 2007, 11:50 AM by le_sloth with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Queenstown

• I'm sorry, how much snow?

  Doubtless this photo has been seen before, but is new to me. Can anyone get their head around what to do with this much snow? That's beyond ridiculous, beyond comprehension, beyond the reach of my snorkel.   Posted Jun 14 2007, 08:15 AM by le_sloth with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, randomness

• Mount Hutt Opening Day (Winter Season Day 1)

  It was only a couple of days late, and Mount Hutt opened for the new season today. Got myself up there for about 10am, bit of a false start to find that my snow chains didn't fit Rosie's new tyres. Oops. New chains for her then and hitching up for the Sloth today. Only the 1 lift open and a couple of runs, but, hey - it's snow, it's a mountain, it's not work! Sweet as. There's a saying over here "June is too soon" - well they've done a damn good job with the artificial snow for the time being. Got a massive high hanging over the country (and all the way from Adelaide) so no dumpy for a few days I expect. Give it time, it will come.    Great to be back riding again, hitting whatever little hits there were, but not the rails, no thanks, not on the first day! Checked out the terrain and looks like there's lots of fun to be had once we get the base down. Alan got me on the drive back (90 mins), but was pleased to see new gloves and other toys had arrived chez nous. Speaking of Alan... Published with BlogMailr Posted Jun 13 2007, 07:27 PM by le_sloth with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Winter 2007, Mt Hutt

• Top 100 Snowboarders to Attend New Zealand's First Ever FIS World Cup

  Cardrona Alpine Resort in Wanaka will be hosting the first ever Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup in New Zealand. The event will be a male and female snowboard half pipe on August 31 to September 1. Prize money of NZ$58,000 will be up for grabs for the top athletes, not to mention earning crucial FIS points for their world ranking. Federation Internationale de Ski (International Ski Federation or "FIS") is the official world body for snow sports events. Points won on the official circuit lead to an annual world champion and are critical for qualification to the Winter Olympic Games in 2010. This is a huge vote of confidence by FIS in Cardrona’s facilities and half pipe. The world’s top 100 snowboard stars will travel from Europe, North and South America, and Asia to New Zealand as part of their quest to become the world's snowboard champion. New Zealanders are regularly achieving top 10 results in FIS competitions and stand a good chance of beating the world’s best on their home turf. "This puts New Zealand and Cardrona on the world map for international snowboarders," says New Zealand’s 2006 Olympic snowboarder, Juliane Bray. "It will allow more New Zealanders to compete than in an overseas FIS World Cup and showcase New Zealand’s potential to host further alpine events." Queenstown and Wanaka will be sure to benefit from the increased international media attention and resulting coverage on TV screens, newspapers, magazines and web sites around the world. The Event Director will be well known event organizer, Arthur Klap. The World Cup represents the tenth major international sports event organized by Klap that include the Snowboard Junior World Championships 2002, also held at Cardrona Alpine Resort. "To attract such a significant alpine event to Cardrona is a wonderful achievement and I am fired up to give these top snowboarders the platform to really perform for the crowds," said Klap. "Well I'll be there to watch that", said Sloth.  SOURCE: FIRST TRACKS Posted Jun 11 2007, 10:05 AM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand

• And...You're Back in the Room

  Here we are again after our short break over the weekend. No, not myself and Sarah-Jaye, but this here site, right now, just now, now now. Lettuce snow if there's any problems. Getting very cold here now, single figures every day, but still sunny. Definitely a big change since the other week. Still not enough snow up in Canty for the fields to open, but Coronet is opening today down in Queenstown. My board's ready and waiting by the door. Keep it up  Posted Jun 11 2007, 08:42 AM by le_sloth with 7 comment(s) Filed under: Site Announcements