New Zealand

Tim Konrad(God), Ralph Backstrom, Jackie Paaso, and myself (aka- unofficialsquaw.com-Blasters) arrived in New Zealand a couple of days ago. We got on our connecting flight from Auckland and headed to Christchurch. This is where we picked up our new rig for the next couple of weeks and started down the road.


We drove for around two and a half hours to a little town where we where trying to go cat skiing the next day. I would love to tell you the name of this town, but won't for two reasons- 1 I believe it is an untapped resource that no one can know about, and 2 because I can't spell or let alone even remember the name of the town at the moment. The next morning we trekked out to the Cat Operation and met the owners. They were not to keen on letting us get up there, do to the extreme wind factor, so we had to settle for meeting there Tar family and playing with there little dog Doddy. For me it wasn't quite skiing, but I love animals and enjoyed seeing these awesome creatures almost as much as I would have enjoyed the skiing. We said our goodbyes and promised we would return in due time, hopped back in our rig and headed to our final destination, Wanaka.

The drive was a little over three hours that was quickly passed due to our unexpected hitch-hiker friend that we picked up who was full of fun stories of his travels around the world, that is a whole other story in its self tho. I would like to say that Wanaka is some what like Squaw, but in all reality Squaw does not have palm trees and is not as beautiful as here. We got settled in at our new homes that are right on Lake Hawea, where we got the pleasure to meet up with Mike "Fuckin" Wilson and the legendary Tom Day. All of us were super tired and called in an early night so that we could go explore in the morning.





We awoke to a nice sunny day and headed out to Treble Cone ski resort. We all managed to get our tickets and headed up the hill for a fun day full of back-flips and GS turns(check out unofficialsquaw.com for clips). Once we had had our fun we raced back to the hotel for the opening meeting of the World Heli Challenge. I understand that this was only the opening meeting of this event, but my god! I have never in my whole life felt such an amazing energy from an event. This is a very special thing that Herro(starter of the WHC) has going on and I hope that everyone that reads this follows this event as it goes on. So here we are waiting for that first clear day so we can all get back out there and do what we love to do.

Loving the South

The past three days have been awesome down in Las Lenas. The light has been coming in and out, but seems to come through when we need it. We have been waiting for the Marte to open, since we got here, and it isn't looking to likely, but that is not stopping us from going out and exploring. Off the lookers left side of the resort is some of the most intertaing mini-golf zones I have ever skied. The rocks here seem to shoot straight up out of the mountain making almost all the take-offs into jumps, which in return makes everything a hell of a lot more interesting. The snow has been super fast and fluffy and everytime we turn a corner we find another untracked zone. All in all I'd say it's not to shabby for August.

Las Lenas

After 5 different plain flights and two car rides, that took a total of 32 hours we have all made it to Las Lenas. It has been snowing here for days and been nothing but pow, not to bad of an August. I would love to share some pics, but the internet is not like it is in the states. I'll try to load some in the next couple of days if the internet doesn't go out again.

PS- love you mommy

The time has come! Starting in three weeks from today is the one and only World Heli Challenge in Wanaka, NZ. This event consist of events that test all aspects of a skiers ability to get it on. The event starts with a Big Mountain Comp then moves into a Freeride Comp then tops it all off with the infamous Chinese Downhill. Skiers from all over the world are going to attend with serious bragging rights on the line. Check out more of the event at www.worldhelichallenge.com

Day on the Lake

Today was a special day. It stated at 5am in the 7-11 parking lot at Squaw. I met up with some guys there, and we set out on our mission to Paddle Board across Lake Tahoe in honor of people who have suffered from Traumatic Brain Injuries. We drove down to Camp Richardson on the South Shore where we were going to start the journey. After waiting for the safety boats to come we decided that this was turning out to be a pretty gnarly mission we had ahead of us. We took a group conscious and decide, since we had people who had never been on Paddle Boards before(me), that we would drive up the lake and try to find an easier spot to start from. We found ourselves at Meeks Bay with a better feeling about it. After taking a group photo, with no hesitation, everyone was on there way. No long than 10 mins. had gone by I found myself, with all my clothes on, gracefully doing the back stroke in the water. Those things aren't the easiest things to stand on. Once I struggled my way back up on the board, I proceeded with caution, looking ahead of me just to see a couple of other people doing the back stroke as well, I laughed and took a look around me and realized I was standing in Lake Tahoe, it doesn't get much better than that.


At this point there was about 7 of us scattered out way behind the rest of the pack. the 7 of us once again made a group conscious that we were going to hug the shore and watched the others shoot straight across the lake. No longer than an hour later the 7 of us, Tag, Charles, Rob, Dave, Jay, Chris and myself, found ourselves in the middle of this beautiful rain storm. I mean, it was raining, but it was raining on us in the lake. This is where I learned my lesson of the day. In action sports I have always admired the athletes that put themselves in a situation and then stand up for themselves and say this is not the time for this to go down and back out. It takes a real person and a real professional to do that. And that is what we did. We approached Obaxters and pulled out, this trip would have to be continued on another day. After I admired these peoples for their decision we stripped off our wet clothes, put some warm ones on, and set out to Sunnyside to get some food in our bellies. We checked in with other group of guys that went for it up the middle to find that they were all safe and sound also. So in all everyone got together for a good cause and gave it hell. To me it was a very successful adventure. Thanks for letting me share that with you all.