The Return of the Mini-Ramp

It's a beautiful day out here with everyone just in T-shirts and the trip who are out in the canyon at the moment must be loving the warmer temperature. Those who drew the short straw though are back at the lodge working hard.

Last winter season Gordy knocked up a mini-ramp undercover out on the deck which turned into one of the big winners for those winter evenings. So successful in fact that it was literally skated to death. People would drift in after a day on the slopes, grab a bite in the cafe and then session the half pipe. There's some really talented local skaters around and lots of lodge guests managed to put in a decent show (demonstrating mis-spent childhoods perhaps?)

So we're resurrecting the mini-ramp to keep you entertained again this winter.


A couple of the summer rafting guides have really strong backgrounds in skating and snowboarding so volunteered to put their experience to good use.



It's looking really good at the moment and everyone's itching to test it. It's going up ahead of schedule with plenty of willing hands, so who knows, maybe a few extra features for the Canyons skatepark on the deck?

And for those of you that can't skate, wrap up and spend your après ski with drink in hand and watch what a bit of Dutch courage does to someone that hasn't skated for 20 years. Hours of fun. (Or take a lesson with the soon to be formed Canyons Skate School!)

Weekend Caving

The caving guides were busy on the weekend with trips heading out on both days. November is our caving month so the guides are going to be spending a lot of time underground in the coming weeks.





Once at the entrance to the cave you're issued your gear for the day. Overalls, shoes, helmet, gloves, harness and most importantly of all, the headlamp. It really is pitch dark once you get a short way into the cave system. It's quite creepy if everyone turns their lamps off when you're underground. You can't even see your hand in front of your face.



Every twist and turn in the cave presents a different challenge and as you explore deeper into the system you have to use a bunch of different climbing skills to continue. There are ascents, descents, narrow squeezes and rappels. The guides are with you but you have to work as a team to get through some of the tricker sections.

It's a really rewarding sport and when you emerge back into the sunlight again there is a great sense of achievement. There's something very peaceful about being underground and cut off from the familiar sounds of everyday life. You can only see what your headlamp illuminates whether it's a sleeping bat or the grinning face of a companion.

As the weather starts to get a little wetter, caving offers a full day of adventure even when other activities may be washed out.

Give it a go. It's a fantastic experience.

End of another NZ Winter

It's that time of year again when our winter crew start to drift back from their Southern Hemisphere winters. As soon as the snow melted here last spring, skis and boards where packed up and our full-time instructors headed south to start work for the June opening of the New Zealand resorts With reports coming back of decent early snowfalls before most of them left here everyone was expectant. Conditions were awesome from opening day and were to stay great for most of the season with regular top-ups of new snow.

Most of our instructors head to Queenstown down in the South Island. If you haven't been, it is a stunning part of the world and the view from the ski slopes down to the bottom of the valley are worth the trip in themselves.

With two main ski areas around Queenstown and a few more within an hour's drive, as well as the heli-skiing otptions, there is plenty of skiing to be had, and especially in a good snow year like this was, it's a great place to ski.

The majority of our instructors are qualified with the NZ ski and snowboarding bodies so while working down there it is a good chance to get some extra training in and pick up a few more qualifications.

What with the abundance of snow this year the park crew had plenty to work with so there were some fantastic features in all of the parks to keep the jibbers entertained.

Those members of our snow sports school that aren't back yet are really excited to be returning to Japan and everyone is hoping that this season is going to be a particularly snowy one. The backcountry and snowshoe guides are also keen for heavy snow and hopefully early too. They've spent some time this summer checking out some new routes and are looking forward to getting out there and testing them.