Winter is a special time of year, i think everything looks more impressive with a layer of snow on it and the sun breaking the morning frosty air is something you can never get bored of. Its a fact that winters are changing though, i don't believe they are getting shorter but i do think the dates are changing. The snow now seems to arrive later and finishes later, in Europe it always used to be christmas time that the snow fell, that has now moved to January and it still snows in June in the French alps. So what does this mean for people who chase the snow or who work within the industry. Well, not much is the answer, Christmas will never get moved so the chalets companies will still sell this time as peak season. Which means people will have to start work earlier and wait for the snow to come...which brings me to my point of this blog........DOWNDAYS. Downdays are a snow sport lovers worst nightmare. Maybe theres no snow, maybe its raining, maybe the wind isn't on your side.....whatever the reason its when the weather isn't playing ball. These are days when the mundane shit gets done, emails get sent, catch up on work, binge watch the Walking dead....drink. Down days are manageable for a max of two days in a row, in my opinion. Any more than this and it gets dark, theres nothing worse than boredom when in the mountains as usually there isn't a whole lot else to do. It's a tease to be sat looking at the mountains and imagining yourself riding those lines or hitting that drop. This is when other hobbies are a must, lucky for me i have my first passion, basketball, to keep me busy. Its a good way to stay fit and social. Im not what i used to be, but it keeps my competitive nature satisfied and it's a good laugh. And this brings me to right now in New Zealand. So far it's been a few weeks of down days...but not because the weather has been bad, in fact it has been scorching hot and blue skies....sounds nice right? not if you here for the pow. The weather systems haven't been on our side as a recent storm bypassed us and smashed OZ with a 50cm dump much to the annoyance of the ozzies that have come here. One resort has managed to open and has been on point for spring like conditions. The other is struggling, theres just no snow and none forecast, but there is a saying around these parts "snow in June comes too soon". The locals aren't worried, and they are the guys to trust.
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October 2017
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