Southern Hemisphere Winter

Since the all the freshman guys were going to Bend for the summer, all of the Juniors decided to go to New Zealand for a semester abroad during the summer and early fall. New England winters just aren't long enough, so we (all one of us) decided to head down south for a another round of cold weather. The flights down to the southwest Pacific were long--it turns out the world is quite large--but I can unequivocally say that the scenery is worth it. The first weekend I was here, I made the trek up to the Southern Alps with some of the other skiers dedicated or unreasonable enough to bring their skis to the far side of the world and sampled the trails at the Snow Farm, home to some USST summer camps and literally the only nordic area in New Zealand as far as I can tell. Every time we rounded a corner, a new line of mountains marched up into the ski with another glimpse of snow. The final ascent to snow farm was, characteristically, wild. The road was by far the sketchiest dirt road with hairpin turns falling steeply away to the valley floor that I had ever driven. The skiing at Snow Farm was even better than I had expected. Coming from east coast summer, I would have been happy with something comparable to Craftsbury's early season 1km gerbil track. Instead the area had more than 15km open and even more that was covered, but ungroomed. Some might say conditions were "pretty dope."

The road to Snow Farm. Guardrails and public safety are for the weak

Early mornings on the farm

getting back in the swing of things with some no poles

My flatmate Morgan (SLU Ski Team)

The stadium at Snow Farm.

real men ski shirtless in July 

Since I've seen the Lord of the Rings, the longest commercial for NZ tourism ever made, I expected New Zealand to have some pretty landscapes. What I didn't realize is that all of New Zealand looks that beautiful. By my estimate, the land mass of New Zealand is comprised of roughly 95% awesome and 5% sheep. Every time I turn around, there is something majestic that is covered in sheep. I can run from the beach, along the cliff tops, up through the jungle, into something that resembles alpine meadow, and be back at my flat in time for dinner. 

Middle Earth is pretty cool

Waterfalling

For all the geologists out there, I've seen a petrified forest, enormous concretions, and more basalt with columnar jointing than you could shake a rock hammer at. For the rest of you, the rocks are really cool.

Moraeki Boulders. 

chilling with my penguin homie

Petrified forest at Curio Bay

Morgan at Curio Bay

Next weekend we're headed up to Snow Farm for some FIS races. It should be a great time and some solid (very) early season races. Whatever happens, I'll be skiing. Hope you're all killing the training, tanning, and time off from school (sorry I got really committed to that alliteration), and I'm already stoked to see you guys in November.

-Josh