October 6th 2015: Alpine origins

If there was a pivotal moment in my career where I knew there was nothing else I’d ever want to do then it came on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu in the early ’90s. That was where I got my first break – a full-time, seasonal job on the mountain shooting as much as I could. I quickly learnt how to survive with very little income. But I also learnt that I’d probably spend my life being surrounded by a talented and inspiring bunch of people … and get to places I might only ever dream of in any other job. Best of all, capturing the action meant being a part of it. We’d regularly comb the peaks and bowls of Whakapapa’s backcountry with some of New Zealand’s best, among them: skier Lyall Crump, race snowboarder Greg Prouse, groomer Adam Bouzaid, artist Brad Galloway, fellow photographer Kenny Mutton … and a cast of many others.

So getting to take Aussie journalist and skier Glenn Cullen, of The Snow Gauge, back to the source of it all for me was always going to be fun. The dose of nostalgia came halfway into our trek up the Te Heu Heu head wall. Ruapehu at its tumultuous best cloaked us in cloud, belted us with horizontal corn snow and forced us to wait for almost an hour on an icy exposed flank with zero visibility. When it eventually cleared we had just glimpses of what lay before us – an arcing cornice into an untouched loaded bowl to the north and the formidable Pinnacles to the west. It was good to be back in this country with a board beneath my feet.

We backed our alpine journey up with a day on the Great Lake Trail – riding a section from Waihaha to Waihora Bay before catching the water shuttle back to town. A relatively new trail, this 30km stretch of singletrack is among some of the finest I have ever ridden, with incredible views along the way.

The following day we embarked on a section of the Hauraki Rail Trail and discovered why Karangahake Gorge has become such a must-do ride.

Glenn’s New Zealand trip concluded on the banks of the Waikato River with a much-needed spin out along the Te Awa Trail before he jetted off for a few days of rest and found some time to percolate a week of Kiwi living.

See you at the beach … Derek

PS Next week we head to the Catlins chasing one of the biggest storms of the year with Ross Clarke-Jones, Doug Young, Sam Hawke, Kenny Kennedy, Delta, Andy and Kevin leading the charge. It’s XXL, folks!