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Oh this sounds interesting….Air New Zealand is not just our national airline they are a match making service too!

www.thematchmakingflight.com

Join the BlackOnWhite Ski Camps in 2009
Improve your skiing, have fun and support future NZ skiers

Dates: Cornet Peak 1-4 Aug / Treble Cone 8 - 11 Aug / Coronet Peak 3-6 Sept / Mt Ruapehu 21-24 Sept
Time: Four days between 9am – 3pm

Cost: $1300. Camp cost covers the four days coaching.
(Lift passes, food, accommodation, transport etc not included).

Who: Any level of recreational skier, male or female, that loves to ski and wants to advance. Skiers are divided into groups of similar ability. Numbers are limited to approximately 6 people per coach. Coaches alternate between the groups over the four days.

What: Focus is on technical freeskiing, confidence building and integrating new technique to allow you to have A LOT more fun with your skiing and the new ski technology.• Learn to carve properly • Drills and techniques to correct and develop your skiing quickly • Dynamics • Stance • Off-piste skills and experience • Moguls • Steeps • Crud
 

New options:

Off Piste: Each camp will offer a dedicated off piste day option. 
Scheduled for the final day for those that want to.

Gates: For those that would like to ski gates, this option will be arranged by request.

Golf: September camps have a golf option. Grant, is also a PGA Golf Pro, and will take those that want to for Golf in the afternoons or if there is a weather day. (Details will be provided).

For more information -
RSVP:  f.stevens@snowvision.org.nz.
Phone Fiona Stevens:  021 969 834 or 09 520 1887.
Visit: www.blackonwhite.co.nz

• Pay your ski holiday deposit before 30 September 2009 with Ski Traveller.

• Your travel insurance policy will be issued the day your deposit it paid.

• A return airfare & seven nights accommodation is required to qualify.

• Your travel free ski travel insurance is valid for a maximum of 16 days.

• A fee will apply if you cancel your holiday after the travel insurance is issued.

Contact Lianne or Sarah at Ski Traveller for more information: info@skitraveller.co.nz

Ring Toll Free 0800 11 22 99

Hi Sarah

Well we have now returned from a great trip,thanks for all your careful arrangements. Generally we found the destination was great, the snow was great, and everything worked out pretty well. Haven’t got the photos organized yet but here’s a few snaps - I’m sure you’ll recognise a lot of them. We had quite a bit of snow overnight,and once during the day,and skiing through 8 inches of fresh powder was definitely an unforgettable experience.

It was a great trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it, and would recommend to others (have already, in fact). Thanks for all your advice,it was great to know in advance from someone who had actually been there.

My, my, my - 50cm of snow fell in the first two days of this past week! We drove up to Lake Louise from Canmore early on Tuesday morning and during the brunt of the storm cycle, it was an interesting ride to say the least on the Trans Canada Highway in a driving snow storm, scary at times too. It was certainly worth it though, the Powder Bowls on the Ptarmigan side were pretty much deserted, we skied the steeps in untracked boot top snow, an epic day had by all including our 8 year old daughter who skied right on my tail all day in fresh snow that was knee deep on her!  We all made it safely back to Canmore on the Highway at the end of the day as the temperature plunged and the storm cycle intensified. The next day ( Wednesday ) was an epic powder day at Sunshine Village, mid week, -29 degrees, no wind and very few people about. We skied Goats Eye Mountain hard all day in fresh powder that was easily knee deep, many of the black diamond runs were waist deep on our 8 year old, she hooted and howled all day long, stopping every couple of hours to warm up and consume hot chocolate. Thursday dawned a cracker, the storm cycle had passed, it was warmer, sunny and again there was very few people about. We skied what was left of the untracked POW and eyed up the ultimate prize, The Holy Grail here in The Bow Valley - Delirium Dive! Rated as one of The Worlds Steepest, In Bounds, Double Black Diamond, Extreme Skiing Areas, access is allowed via a closed gate and only with an avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel - unfortunately it hasn’t opened this season due to lack of snow and snow pack instability but man did it look good now - would 50cm plus make a difference? YES! We awoke on Friday morning to another blue sky day and our last day of skiing before heading home to NZ, the day was spent cruising the groomers in the sun with the girls and drinking beer on the deck at Trappers Lodge. Then came the call, as Chevy my old ski patrol buddy and now Mountain Operations Manager here at Sunshine Village rounded the corner and said ” We’ve been looking for you, we’re skiing The Dive, meet me at The Beaver Lodge at 2pm “! There were six of us, 4 patrollers, Chevy and me. You enter Delirium Dive from a set of metal stairs bolted to the side of a shear rock face at 9000 feet and at the top of The Continental Divide, then traverse around a rock buttress to an array of narrow chutes that drop over 1000 vertical feet into a classic powder bowl. We ski cut the top section and then made the most of what was the highlight and perfect ending to this 6 week skiing road trip - Untracked, Waist Deep Powder with an old mate and a true gentleman. 1000 vertical feet later with numb feet and panting for breath we snapped some photo’s and headed towards the Gondola via the trees. Grinning from ear to ear and admiring our handy work from ” The Bird ” I remembered the good old days and the advantages that a patrol uniform and pack allowed, one on the few perks for working day after day in sub zero temperatures, ” The Dive ” is still closed but with the snow forecast next week there are murmurs that it will open to the public before long. This roadie has been fantastic, from the smaller tree lined ski hills in B.C to the big open slopes and bowls here in Alberta the trip of a lifetime has gone to plan and without a hitch. Without Sarah and her team at Ski Traveller and her vast knowledge of the many Canadian ski areas that we visited we wouldn’t have had the accommodation that we’ve had and the good times that are now almost memories. We fly out of Calgary tomorrow and begin the long 24 hour non stop journey home to Queenstown, all of us longing and awaiting the snow to fall here, bring it on! Sarah, a big thanks to you and your team. - The Goat.          

Well, we’ve been here in Canmore, Alberta for 5 days now and have skied 3 days at Sunshine, there’s been 3cm of new snow in the valley in that time and some very fond memories and friendships renewed and dinner parties attended. Having worked here at Sunshine as a Ski Patroller almost 20 years ago I made some very close friends and many life long relationships. My old boss Chevy is now the Mountain Operations Manager here and most of my old buddies are still in town - Canmore rather than Banff now though. This season at Sunshine and like much of Western Canada has been a tough one in terms of snow, their snow pack being almost 30% down on an average year but the majority of the terrain is well groomed and open with the exception of Delirium Dive and The Wild West, which isn’t a bad thing! Banff has changed radically in 20 years and has become the expected tourist trap with wall to wall souvenir shops and tacky restaurants, although very pretty - Queenstown take note! Canmore on the other hand has flourished to become a well balanced functional ski town and is rapidly moving out from beneath Banff’s shadow. As I sit here in town resting up for tomorrows trip to Lake Louise with the crew it’s snowing steadily, with 20 - 30cm forecast for this region over the next 24 - 48 hours I have no doubt that it’s going to be a powder day tomorrow and the next…. We decided to extend our trip by 5 days based on the current forecast and by the looks of things it’s going to pay off - check out www.snowforecast.com for the best, most accurate and up to date snow forecasts anywhere in the world! We’ll ski at Sunshine again on Wednesday and make a day trip to Kicking Horse on Thursday and Friday before heading home to NZ on Sunday. The ski / road trip of a lifetime ( 6 weeks / 10 resorts ) has been a blast, the family are in awe of this beautiful country, it’s people their hospitality and the wildlife - we saw Moose yesterday! It’s not over yet though, with the snow still falling, fresh tracks on the menu and the vertical meter still ticking, by the looks of things we’ll leave here with memories, renewed relationships and friendships that will last a lifetime for the next generation too! The Goat. 

Hi Sarah,Finally back to normal but have our marvellous photos to remind us. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Lionshead although we were doubtful if we were going to get a chance to ski as on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning, it did nothing but snow, however, the afternoon arrived with its brilliant sunshine and off we went. 

The accommodation was very adequate and being right in the middle of the “town” was just what we wanted.  -  We are now convinced Helmet and Goggle wearers as was just about everyone else on the USA slopes. We hired Helmets while in Vail and brought our own when we returned to New Zealand. The exchange rate was pretty high and what cost around $NZ100 for a Helmet here was double that in the USA.  

Overall, a great trip, good accommodation, excellent snow and we wish Vail wasn’t so far away. Oh yes, the altitude didn’t cause us a problem but we didn’t push the quick walking etc, everything relaxed.

Thanks Sarah for all your help,pleased your Japan trip went well and who knows, we may see you again especially if we win LOTTO, as we have promised the whole family we will take them to Vail and travel Business Class on whatever airline it is we fly.

Regards Sue & Ken. 

Today’s efforts at Whitewater were undertaken on an empty tank due to yesterdays cat skiing efforts and the previous three weeks accumulated vertical catching up with me! Whitewater ( WH2O ) is a small resort with yet another big reputation for it’s powder, it’s set in a dead ended valley beneath the towering Ymir Peak and a 20 minute drive from beautiful Nelson B.C. There are two old slow double chairs similar to those at Red Mountain, one accessing each side of the valley. Today was a sunny Valentines Day Saturday and not so cold thus everyone was out and about, the car park was full BUT the mountain empty. The done thing here at Whitewater is to buy a lift ticket and use the chairlifts to access the backcountry, ski the back bowls, chutes and trees and hitch a ride along the access road back up to the ski hill and repeat until you can’t walk. Again and as per most of the Canadian resorts so far, this winter by their standards is down on snow, we found some untracked two day old snow amongst the trees and had a great time. This resort has an equally big reputation for it’s on hill catering and is consistently voted North America’s best, complete with it’s own cookbook; we weren’t disappointed. All in all yet another great ski hill with wicked lines, amazing backcountry and some extremely daunting chutes and cliff drops of 50m plus that tower above the resort on the face of Mt Ymir, all of which get skied on a regular basis. We’ve enjoyed Nelson, it’s quirkiness and colour so can highly recommend this as a great base to explore the West Kootenay region and all it has to offer. Off to Fernie tomorrow, hopefully to fresh snow. The Goat. 

We’re here in Nelson, a very pretty, quaint Victorian town nestled beside Lake Kootenay in Southern B.C, Nelson is geographically not unlike Queenstown in many ways. It’s home to many artistic types, ski bums, hippies and draft dodgers; it’s also the gateway to some of B.C’s best skiing at both Red Mountain and Whitewater. The last two days have been spent skiing at Red and Cat Skiing with Big Red Cats, based at the foot of Red Mountain Resort. Red Mountain is an old resort with a big reputation for deep snow, steeps and excellent tree and glade skiing, with a definite 1970’s feel to it enhanced by the old slow long chair lifts ( The Motherlode & Red Chairs ) that literally disappear into the clouds! Once atop this mountain the choices are endless with some extremely steep double black diamond treed runs and some wonderfully groomed endless black / blue runs returning you to the base area that have you looking forward to the restful slow ride back to the summit. Unfortunately we’ve skied here in not such a great snow year but the 5cm of fresh snow that fell on our first day was enough to freshen things up and give us a peek into what might be, waist deep powder is not urban myth here at Red Mountain and the apologies from the locals on this seasons snow conditions have been endless. This is a resort that deserves it’s reputation, doesn’t pretend to be something that’s it’s not and will have us returning in the future. To enhance things here at Red Mountain there’s a cat skiing operation at the base of the mountain ( Big Red Cat Skiing ) which boasts one of Canada largest cat ski tenures, with terrain across 5 mountain peaks! I skied with them yesterday in untracked boot top / knee deep powder that had accumulated over the previous five days, the nine runs that we skied were ALL very steep, tight treed runs averaging 750 - 1000 vertical meters. Canadians love to ski in the trees and 50 year old business men are not to be underestimated when it come to this and taught me a lesson or two! Our Kiwi based US guide did a great job in finding us fresh tracks all day long and ensured our safety on some avalanche prone cliff riddled terrain. If you’re looking for value for money and a hard out day skiing in the trees with excellent cat transport then Big Red Cats in Rossland / Red Mountain are worth the trip, be warned the Advanced / Expert group that I skied with today was no easy ride, you need to have your wits about you and be confident in tight trees and very steep terrain. Warning - Don’t over estimate your ability as you’ll spend half the day sitting in the back of the cat as one of the paying guests did today! In regards to accommodation here in Nelson we have been lucky enough to stay in what must be one of Canada’s best B & B’s ( The Cloudside Inn ) it comes highly recommended by Lonely Planet, The Canadian Tourist Board and us! We hit Whitewater today then off to Fernie tomorrow. The Goat.       

Hi Sarah

Just wanted to say what a wonderful job that you did.We didn’t give you the easiest trip to organize and everything within your control went like clockwork car’s passes and accommodation etc…

We had a real blast already got itchy feet with 2 days off the skis.We will definitely use you for our next trip.

Thank you again - Allan Family.