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Enter the Skier | General | ASI Reports | States
October Training in Waiorau
Anthony Evans reports...
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With the snow just about finished in Perisher in the middle of September (and already gone from Falls Creek), we had just completed our last on-snow training camp in Australia. The next time we would meet as a team on the snow would be in Mora. For a variety of reasons I wouldn't be on the snow in Sweden until the 20th of November. To avoid this 2 month period of dryland training at such an important time of the year for training I decided that 2 weeks on the snow in New Zealand was just what I needed to break up this period.
Mary Lee had been telling me since 1993 that I should come over, and now seemed like a perfect time to check it out. Along with my brother, James, we flew out on October the 3rd. We had heard some pretty disturbing weather reports in the previous week. It seemed that they were getting the same warm weather and high winds that had decimated the tail end of our season.
A 5 hour drive south from Christchurch in wind, rain and darkness and we were there....... although we weren't exactly sure where the hell we were! Somewhere inbetween Wanaka and Queenstown was all we knew. But it seems that no matter where you go you always run into other Aussies, and we settled into the shearers quarters with Peter Hart. The next morning we were set to go - skis in the car, motor running and ski boots already on - we just needed someone to point us in the direction of the snow. We were staying down on the Lee's farm in the Cardrona Valley. On one side of the valley is the Cardrona ski area (an alpine resort) and on the other side is a winter test track for prototype cars and tyres. This is run by the Lees and attracts all the big names in motoring throughout the winter. In this area is also the Waiorau Cross Country Area.
The bad news was that the warm weather in the past week had forced them to close a 15km loop. The good news was that there was at least 20km of groomed trails - pretty damn good for October. The skiing was just great - well graded tracks on the sheltered side of the range. It was possible to skate anywhere, but with the tracks being so good I was quite happy to stick with them. I must admit we had some frustrating days with kick waxing. A couple of south westerlies came through bringing a few centimetres of the coldest, driest snow I have seen outside Europe. Using Blue Extra stick wax in October was not something I could easily come to terms with. Just as we were getting the hang of this the hot midday sun popped out and in about an hour Rossa Red klister was needed. Needless to say we went skating the next day!
Through the efforts of Mary Lee New Zealand has the makings of a competitive junior team. A training camp was underway while we were there, under the guidance of their Norwegian coach. Unfortunately there were no on-snow camps for our Aussie juniors this year. Watch out guys! This camp finished at the end of our first week, the same time that James headed home. This was also the official end to the NZ ski season, so I pretty much had the mountain to myself the second week. In the lower areas the snow was melting, but I still had a 10km loop up high (1600-1700m) and unlimited off-piste skiing. The track setting had stopped, but the weather was staying fine. The snow froze every night, and other than being a bit windy it was still great training.
After 2 weeks of skiing I had clocked up almost 50 hours; 35-40 on the snow with some afternoon dryland training in the valley. Time to check out Christchurch for a day then fly back over the Tasman. I was really pleased with what I had achieved over there. A better balance of classic and skating would have been nice, but as in Australia the conditions aren't always suitable for classic, especially in spring. Not only was it great to be on the snow, but I think when you are training a lot it's good to keep the motivation up by training in different places. Perhaps going over one week earlier would have been better so I could have had groomed tracks the whole time, and by the second week spring was showing its colours.
The trip really couldn't have happened if it wasn't for the hospitality of the Lee family. Mary organised everything for us, and it left us with the impression that Kiwis are not so bad after all - they just need to work on their speech impediments. Next year there will be more to look forward to at Waiorau - a 40 bed lodge is to be built right next to the ski tracks, and most likely they will have a few more kilometres of trails somewhere.
Anthony Evans.
XC is the official website of the Skiing Australia Cross Country Committee. It is produced with the assistance of the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Ski Institute and the Kangaroo Hoppet. The editor can be contacted via hoppet@netc.net.au.