Wow Wow Wanaka

Well looks like those will be my only digital shots from this trip as my camera and sweatshirt got stolen from the bar after I was arrested......

Wednesday I slept in on the road going south and then spent my afternoon riding Mt. Dobsome...serious false advertising. They claimed to have 20% advanced terrain; which I couldn't find, and thier "halfpipe" was nothing but a ravine. Luckily they had some rails to slide, but one of the slowest chair imaginable! Then Thursday at Ohau was pretty fun, I ran into one of the guides from helipark, Rich. He was going to do a long tour but we took a warm up hike together. Then I took a longer hike by myself to these mellow chutes with crusty snow, not quite worth the 35 minutes of hiking. So then I went a spun laps through their park that was ok, but the most fun was boosting butter 3's off of the cat track. So fun! Then I drove down to Wanaka where the fun began! I met up with Sean Fields and Randy Doyle; Sean is here to train and ride the pipe and Randy is here for support. We chilled in a ski tech shop most the night and hung out with James and Andrew the ski techs, both super chill guys. The next day was the New Zealand Freeski open halfpipe event so we cruzed up to snowpark and watched Tanner Hall absolutely kill the pipe...Sean pulled a 6th and only had two warm-up runs and hadn't skiied pipe in like 5 months. So that night we went to the poorboys premiere of thier new film, Sean, Randy, Tanner, Eric Iberg and I went to town on some redbull and vodka...then off to the red rocks bar. Quite a party...what can I say I was wasted. Upon going outside and seeing a cop harassing some dude I thought it would be a good idea to put a parking cone on the hood of his squad car! He quickly apprehended me and when I asked to get my sweat shirt he informed me it would be in the bar tomorrow and I should keep my fucking mouth shut! Then upon being booked I got charged for having my knife in my pocket. So basically I got fucked for it...it ended up being a $730 fine, my necklace broken, my camera stolen, cold walk without my sweatshirt and a very sore neck and back from being slammed into the cell corner just because I asked for a blanket and pillow! FUCK THE POLICE! I have at least convinced them to mail my knife back to me in the states. So then Saturday we were all in kinda ruff positions but doing ok, and went up to Snowpark for the slopestyle event. Sean, Randy and I sat in the hot tubs there and drank a few beers watching the qualifiers...it was sweet. Then I took a few photos with my film camera of the finals and we went back to Wanaka for another movie premiere. It was fun but a bit more under control. Sunday was super fun, Sean, Randy and I met up with Tanner and Eric for breakfast then we went up to snowpark. We proceeded to have the sickest rail/box season ever! Tanner and this kid Henrik were absolutely destroying the jib line, basically it was like watching the best ski movie, live! I learned a few new tricks and had a lot to think about in the artistic side of these sports. It was a super chill night that night and Monday morning was my court date...kinda a bunk mission but at least I got my passport back! Got to check out Queenstown during the day down there. That was last night and I just kept it mellow that night, the highlight was Sean and I went to "the local" and played a bit of slots. we both won money! It was kinda fun. Today was another day at snowpark shralping the jib line and watching Sean and Tanner and some other sick pro skiers rip up the slopestyle course. Well send me some positive energy towards someone turning my camera in!!! Ohh and the lesson, don't fuck with cops, no matter how fun it seems.