NZ Ski season ends

Hello everyone,

How are you all doing? It feels like a long time since my last email and things haven't changed a lot. I have been in Wanaka for almost 3 months now and have been making the most of the ski season even if it has been the worst in New Zealand for 25 years. Having moved into a house on the edge of town I settled into the routine of driving up the mountain everyday and spending the day skiing. Leaving between 8 and 9 am and with the lift closing at 4 I had been getting about 4 or 5 full days per week. The excellent free physiotherapy available throughout New Zealand had sorted some knee injuries and the tuition from Mike has done wonders for my skiing. I have progressed from The Remarkables, to Cardrona and finally Treble Cone which was a big progression and I have spent the bulk of the season at Treble where I have slowly progressed from the Main Basin's Green runs to the Black Shoots of saddle basin and finally the hike to the summit, skiing down in relatively untracked snow. As well as skiing I was going to the gym every day towards the end of the season, which helped my skiing progress even faster. The Austrian ski team, have been in the gym and the pool too which is cool and I have had the opportunity to see Herman Meyer up close. It was a shock to find that he is the same height as me! Each of his legs however is the same size as both of mine. He is very nice and seems to have endless time for people, as did all the Austrians. Being overtaken by them is a little overwhelming as they are insanely fast.

The season has been bad snow wise and now the snow is now melting very fast. Some people on courses are still going up. My last day was over a week ago and I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours learning to snow board which went very well linking turns in 2 hours. Despite the snow being bad it has been very good for my skiing having skied ice, powder, hard bumps, soft bumps, slush, sugar, moguls, concrete covered soft snow, fluffy covered ice and concrete snow and every other kind of snow imaginable. I feel I have had the best of the season and have now decided to stop skiing as the snow is very bad and it's not worth going up to hurt myself and ruin a so far so good season. It is threatening to snow as I write though. Unfortunately Mike had to go home early due to a family bereavement. That was a great shame as we had planned some free skiing and lots of fun for the end of the season and we had become good friends. On the other hand he has missed nothing in terms of snow and managed to pass his level 3 Canadian ski instructors exam a week early which is pretty impressive. Since then many people have left as courses have finished and money has run out with everyone in the pub due to dwindling snow. Ski people are a funny bunch and I have found some to be good fun but in general they are a little dull chasing snow all year and having little interest in anything but skiing, drinking and dressing badly although apparently they look cool! The more serious the skier the nicer they seem. The snow boarders and park skiers are especially tiresome as I find they are trying so hard to be cool that they begin to look quite ridiculous with their jeans worn beneath their buttocks, the crotch hanging low between their knees. WHY?! It looks so stupid! Many of them are very young too and I am again one of the older people around. The Japanese population is huge here as so many come here for the snow. They look the most ridiculous in their gangster snowboard fashion wearing lots of bling and kneckercheif/bandana things. They tend to stick together and don't mix much with others. When they do mix they are good fun. Strange, but fun.

So my days are now filled with thoughts of home and I have been slowly gearing up to leaving New Zealand. Wanaka has become home and the routine of life makes it difficult to think about moving but the mental and cultural stimulation I have become used to on this trip is sorely lacking here and with no descent skiing available there is no fresh mountain air and adrenalin to keep me entertained. So it's time to move on and this means going through the business of selling my car and stripping my belongings and baggage to the bare minimum again in readiness for the trip to Fiji. The car passed the warrant of fitness the other day and had a bath. It looks very smart with all the mountain dust and dirt removed. The prospect of selling the car here is a little bleak as everyone is leaving and the notice boards are full of cars for sale. This was to be expected and I can only hope that my car being a little different and better than most will mean a local may take an interest. The price of oil has hit New Zealand quite hard with fuel going up in price on a monthly basis so a big gas-guzzler like mine is a little unfashionable right now. If there is no interest I will probably make the drive back up north as the next load of backpackers should be arriving for the summer over the next 2 months and I may find a better market place in Christchurch or Auckland. It would also be a great trip with the weather being so fabulous. Summer is here already and even this far south I have been out in a t-shirt everyday. Skiing has been replaced with swimming and sipping coffee on the lakefront. It's pretty much a waiting game now but for how long I'm not sure. My flat mates are driving me crazy and it would be great to just leave now but the drive north could be expensive and waiting around in Auckland to sell a car could be painfully dull. Hopefully things will go smoothly and I will be across the pacific and in America by the beginning of October. I very much feel that I am on the home straight now and am actually quite keen to get to the USA and see family and friends there. It has been difficult recently to be constantly in the company of people who don't know me very well and to be in the company of people who are quite self absorbed which I have found to be the case with the snow bum fraternity with some notable exceptions of course. Perhaps I have been spoiled with all the fantastic people I have met on my travels so far. Whilst life in New Zealand is simple and relaxed there is a lot of pretentious bullshit that comes with skiing, snow boarding and being cool all the time. As the snow has run out I have found that conversation about the day on the mountain and the coming day ahead has been replaced by some very surprising chats that show people’s true personalities coming through and I have been shocked by some of the racism I am hearing. Ski culture is predominantly white and as such people feel safe blurting out words and comments that I find utterly disgusting. What’s more worrying is how young these people are and where they come from. Australians have managed to remind me how racist they can be.

I have had some moments where I have been terribly home sick but for Asia rather than home. I had a very surreal experience the other night when in a Thai restaurant. The flavors, smells and voice of the woman serving put me back in Bangkok. The sudden feeling of comfort and understanding made me want to be back there so badly. It makes me wonder if I really want to go to Fiji, Cook Island and the States but that is still the itinerary and with some of the best diving in the world in Fiji I guess I should stick to it. I may not be out here again for a long time.

A few myths have been dispelled whilst here. Skiing in New Zealand is not cheap. What with getting up the mountain everyday and the expense of ski gear and clothing here I don’t think it is really worth it financially and the widely promoted cheapness of NZ skiing is not really true. The ski season relies on the fact that it’s one of the few places in the world you can ski in the northern summer but I would try South America next time. That would be more interesting as you can mix cultural experience with skiing and it is incredibly cheap. Lifestyle wise I would say it is worth it though. It is a great place to concentrate on your health. The air is clean, the food healthy. There is no congestion and so many activities available to work on fitness and health, which are kiwi obsessions or ‘Getting amongst it’ as they say here. It has allowed me to live the very cliché lifestyle of the web designer who has gone skiing as I have been working on projects at home over the Internet in the evening and weekends and skiing during the day. I had heard about this illusive lifestyle but didn’t think it really existed and it happened completely by accident without planning. There are three of us doing this out here. Seemingly none of us are in love with web design as a job and it is very difficult to sit in front of a computer for a long period of time when the rest of your life is so active the rest of the time. The more active you are, the more active you need to be. So would I do a ski season again? Yes. There is no other way to learn how to ski properly. It’s just not possible to improve this much by going on holidays here and there. The lifestyle is extremely healthy as long as you don’t indulge in too much après ski. I think next time I would like to do a season in Iran. It’s cheaper, the snow is much better and the culture much richer. It might make me crazy but I think it would be very interesting and a hell of a lot of fun. I miss the Iranian influence in my life, as this is longest period of time I have been away from it and I notice it very strongly.

So again there is movement again which at first feel daunting until you pack and remember how the routine works.  Living out of a bag again unsure of where the next night will be spent.

I hope you’re all doing well. I do miss home too and I miss Europe very much. It will be good to be back soon.

Lot of love,

Kaveh.