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Sam and Stu's Kiwi Travels
Today we thought we'd head up to the Remarkables... what a great choice! We got there and the sun was shining, the slopes were near empty and I was raring to go on my board again...
Once again it was some of the nicest skiing/boarding that we have both done whilst being here, and to add to this we were told by people on the chairlift that the last two days had been shocking!! What a great idea to lie in yesterday!!!
Right, we have a plan for today - we're going to ski this morning, then grab some helmets from the station and try some more rails!!! The skiing in the morning was great, we just stuck to the Shugerbowl chair, getting our legs back from the few days off that we've had.. it's surprising how new it all feels even after just 3 days off! Right, feeling more confident on skis and board again.. time for lunch!
After lunch we went to the hire shop.. now Sam has her admirer in the hire shop who gave her a free helmet the other day, so she headed straight for him.. "can I have a helmet for the afternoon?", "sure just take one off the rack" she was told.. "oh and one for Stu"... the guy wasn't as eager then, but still gave us one, and we were off to the rails!!!
Right, lets hit the first one! The first is just a short rail just off the ground, I slid down the slope then at the last minute lined the board up with the rail... smoothly onto it, slowly along.. and a little hop off the end!! Extreme!!! Stu's first rail on his board!!! Well with this one done, do it again to make sure it wasn't a fluke... alright, no problems!! Sam had a go, tackled it with ease and we were onto the next, slightly higher rail....
The second is slightly longer yet thinner, and has a larger drop to the sides... Sam had a go on this one first and slid along nicely with a little slip off the end nicely done, then it was my go... unfortunately this one wasn't as smooth as the last one. Firstly let me set the scene that this is not a secluded park, there are hundreds of people down it a day... and most of them seemed to stop and wait as I went for this one... slowly does it to the rail, line the board up and.... b*****, missed the rail over the lip of the jump and slid along the rail on my bum! nice one...
Gotta give that another go... this time it went as planned, slid along nicely and a little jump at the end to finish. Then Sam gave it another go, unfortunately her skis started to slip towards the end, then next bit kind of happened in slow motion, she came off the rail skis too far apart, she then preceeded to sit down and do a kind of head over heals tumble down the slope, then sat up and gave me a smile.. ooops!
Right onto the third rail, now this one is longer, but a little wider, luckily for us as the drop off was bigger too. Sam went first, slid along nice and easy and hopped off the end, "you have to be going a little quicker on this one" she said, right my turn!
Well I hit it perfectly, started sliding along and then the board seemed to be slowing and heading to the edge... uh oh! Yep, off I went banged my knee and fell over... nice one, helmet did a lot of good there!! Anyway, tackled it again, a little quicker this time and slid along with a nice little jump at the end of it!!
Our next trick, doing both of the rails together!!!! Oh my god I hear you say... yes we did it! Sam up to the top, came over the first, slid a little to the right and fell over, oh... second time lucky... over the first, straight on and over the second, nicely done.
My turn, hit the first one, landed the little jump but struggled to stay up as I turned to the left.... then slid down and over the second!! wicked.. first rails sorted, right bring on the Half Pipe!!!
Anyway, after all this fun we checked the time and it was getting late, just enough time to get another couple of runs in before grabbing the last bus home!
When we got dropped off the bus driver mentioned something about a street park being set up in town... something to check out!!
Once back at the flat we unloaded and headed into town. Sure enough behind the station, next to the Buffalo Club for those of you that know, was a load of snow and some mean rails... we found a spot and waited for something to happen!! It was surreal thinking we were in the centre of Queenstown and they'd set up a ski slope!!
It was a red bull invitational street freestyle event, we watched in amasement for about 3 hours as snowboarders and skiiers alike came and pulled some awesome tricks on the rails, and some of the drunker contestants did some flips off the end!!! It was wicked, there was one kid, 12 years old to be exact, on skis who was awesome, he does have an older brother who is an olympic skier, so I guess it runs in the family!
The rest of the contestants were just as good, we have plenty of photos and video to show you when we get back!!
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