skiing, skydiving and sunrises

No Chile this year… I was heading to the other side of the world, literally as far as you can get from home, New Zealand! It took a 7 hour flight to Dubai, a 15 hour flight to Auckland and then a 2 hour flight to Queenstown before I touched down in my home for 6 weeks.
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You may have heard that there was a bit of a lack of snow in the world this summer. Most of the European glaciers had to shut early and teams cancelled their training in Chile and diverted to Ushaia, Argentina. New Zealand also experienced a lack of snow but my coaches had a great training schedule which meant we could make the most of where the good snow was! I spent the first few weeks at Roundhill, set by the stunning Lake Tekapo. This would be my first training camp with Volkl skis and Dalbello boots so most of the first few weeks were spent testing skis, fine tuning boots and getting used to the new setup. It felt good and I was happy with my equipment. We ended up staying at Roundhill a little longer than planned due to a lack of snow at Coronet Peak but this meant we trained a few days of Super G and then GS on a watered hill.
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We headed over to Coronet Peak for the first races of the season, the NZ national championships. The first day it was really foggy and the snow conditions were soft and humid which meant it was too dangerous to run the GS race and it was postponed to the following day. The weather the next day still wasn’t great but the snow conditions were much better and the race could run. I put down two consistent runs and finished in 2nd place behind Alice Robinson. I was a little further off than I would have liked but I was up against the best in the world! I decided not to compete in the slalom races as they aren’t my focus going into next season and instead had some great days training.
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The following week Coronet Peak got some much needed snow and they also started making snow which made training quite difficult. We had to miss a few days training because only the top layer of snow would freeze and therefore it would crack leaving soft snow exposed underneath. However, amongst the more difficult days were also had some really good days of training and I was feeling positive going into the ANZ races. First up was the SG which again had to be postponed due to the foggy weather. We still managed to have two Super G races. I really felt like I underperformed in both races compared to how I had been skiing in training. I made silly mistakes and just didn’t ski as well as I know I can on the steep section. The GS races also didn’t go as well as I had hoped. They were a mixture of good solid runs but with not enough charge to bring home a result and then scrappy mistakes meaning I couldn’t carry my speed well along the flat sections. The positive is that it was only August and I know what to change for the races that really count in the winter months.
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Despite the races not going completely to plan I still feel like the camp was very positive and I’m looking forward to putting everything I’ve been working on into place when I get back on snow in November. In the meantime I’m still working on Corallina Swim, I have some exciting new products coming out in the next few months! I’m also currently studying for my sailing qualifications. I have just passed my Day Skipper theory and practical exam and this winter I will be studying for the Yachtmaster theory and then sitting the practical in the Spring. If anyone has done their Yachtmaster Offshore, I’d love to hear about it!
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