Wall Paper

Mt Wall, Craigieburn Range, NZ.

Brace Yourself...........

Brace yourself New Zealand, we've just had a mini French invasion! Théo, Olivier, Antoine and Maël from Grenoble, France touch down in NZ on Saturday with some big goal's during their 2 month stay in NZ. The 4 young (19-21yrs) Frenchmen are calling their trip "All 3000m", pretty self explanatory I think.................. The Dynafit co-sponsored team is heading down towards Ohau today and are planning on racing at the Ohau Backcountry Blast this weekend and then will head towards Mt Cook to begin their project! Check out their blog- http://www.all3000m.over-blog.com/

Photo of the day

Back at work today after having the weekend off. This seemed like a good photo of the day as we are yet again getting snowed on here at Cheeseman. The above photo was taken earlier this winter and is of cloud from the east about to cover Cheeseman (much like today).

Mt Cheeseman

Sunrise as Jane and Gena near the summit of Mt Cheeseman (2031m)

Jane, Gena and I got an early start during the week and got to see the full moon and an amazing sunrise on a pre-work mission to Mt Cheeseman (the peak, not the ski area).

We saw some pretty impressive evidence of recent avalanche activity, no doubt a result from the huge (1-2m) snow falls we had during the previous week.

Jane and Gena beside a crevasse like cornice failure.

Gena has picked up some sponsorship from his impressive string of results in ski mountaineering races here in NZ and wanted to do a pose down in his suit.

Gena in full Lycra, with the Grey Range and a full moon in the back ground, Mt Cheeseman summit.

The skiing was generally pretty good, with cold temps keeping the snow nice where the wind hadn't destroyed it.

Gena skiing in to Tarn Basin

Foggy Peak-A Little Speed Ascent

Jane and I stopped off at Porters Pass last weekend on our way back up to Cheeseman for a quick ski. It's just over 2km from hwy 73 to the summit of Foggy Peak via Foggy Peak Ridge and 800m vertical. Not quite Mustagh Ata or Gasherbrum II, but we did a C-S-C (car to summit to car) time of 1hr11mins. Sub 1hr is totally do-able!

Success at Rainbow Rando Race

I raced in the Rainbow Rando Race on the 9th of August. I was pretty happy with my race as it was my first since the Pierra Menta in France, about 5 months earlier. I also haven't been training as much as I would have liked.

Craig putting in the "boot pack" on half moon ridge.

Craig and I set the course the day before the race, again the morning of and then I set it AGAIN during the race! It was snowing and blowing a huge amount and we changed the course a little because of wind.

Racers during the boot pack section in "The Planets"

Click here for results.

Porter's Speed Up- Post Race

After the Porters Speed Up race on the 26th July that Jane and I organised, we, along with Noel did a short trip just north of Porters ski area boundary.Jane and I skinning above "Uli's Role", with lake Coleridge in the background. Jane making turns on the western side of the Craigieburn Range into the head waters of the Goldeny River. All up we did about 1000m of vert.

Ski Runner NZ Sponsors & Supporters

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Dynafit Ski Mountaineering Gear- Well before I became the New Zealand importer/distributor of Dynafit I was 100% pumped on the Dynafit binding/boot system and their light weight touring skis. Add the full range of clothes, packs, poles, skins and accessories and its no wonder why Dynafit is the number 1 brand in ski touring/ski mountaineering and the Dynafit line of bindings is the choice of racers, recreational and extreme ski tourers in the world. http://www.dynafit.co.nz/ iclimb.co.nz is an online shop run by Glenn (the master mind behind mountainz.co.nz). This is where I go for hardware like my Simond Ocelot Hyperlight axe , 820MXC axe and Caiman alloy crampons. As well these light weight ice axes and crampons from Simond, Glenn stocks a range of axes, crampons, 'biners and accessories from Simond and a range of Mont Bell products, including shell wear, tents and sleeping bags. Great products at amazing wholesale prices! http://www.iclimb.co.nz/ Julbo Eye Wear is a French company started by an optometrist over 100yrs ago that has a great range of sun glasses and goggles. Its hard to pick a favorite of the range, but it would have to be the Race sunnies. For a full review of the Race check out the 2008/09 summer issue of The Climber magazine. For stockists contact Snoworld - 03 366 1122 Suunto watches are the standard by what all others are measured. Trail running or ski touring my Suunto is with me, logging my vertical, telling me my heart rate and I can even see what time it is! brandex.co.nz
I am pretty excited to announce a new sponsor- Fuel Me, NZ's Endurance Sport Specialists.
Andrew and the team at Fuel Me have over 8 years in the sport's nutrition industry and carry only the highest quality sports nutrition and training gear. Their top selling brands include Skins, 2XU, Cliff,Leppin and Cytomax, as well as my personal favorite, Gu.
"If it's not going to work 100% for you, we're not going to sell it to you" attitude, teamed up with a 30 day correct fit Guarantee and the best prices around, you really can't go wrong with Fuel Me.

I have ran two wins in the Crater Rim and Flagpole races with the 2XU Race Socks on, been fueled by Gu's on my bigger Molesworth training runs, as well as the sub 13hr Symphony on Skis this past winter and recovered amazingly well post race with the help of my Skin compression tights and Cytomax Whey Protein mix.

Running Calander

2009/10 Mountain Running!

-18/10 Crater Rim Run- "20km"- 18.4km, 875 ascent/descent. 1st! 1hr29min

-31/10 Flagpole Run Up- 21km, 813m ascentt. 1st! 1hr28mins- (possible course record?)
-10/11 Mt Vernon Run Up- 7km up and down Mt Vernon, +/-450m - 3rd 35min00sec
-21/11 Molesworth- 84.7km Ultra from Molesworth Station to Hanmer Springs. 3rd, 7hr44mins

TBC- Routeburn Classic- 32.6km, +/- 1200m ascent- The goal is to run sub 3hrs, we will see.........

Trail/ Mountain Running Races for 2008/09 summer
-01/11- Flagpole Run Up- 19km-5th, 1hr40min
-12/11- Mt Vernon Run Up- 7km up and down Mt Vernon- 6th, 36min54sec
-07/03- Avalanche Peak Challange- 23km mt run, summiting 1823m Avalanche Peak-6th, 2hr23min05sec
09/05- Routeburn Classic- 32.6 km race on the Routeburn Track- 6th place, 3hr 12min

Ski Mountaineering Race Highlights

The following is a highlight of Ski Mountaineering events I have done/plan to do NZ Winter 2009 04/07- Skin To The Summit- Coronet Peak, Queenstown- 2nd 21mins 05/09- CraigieBurner- Craigieburn Valley Ski Area DNS 19 & 20/09- The Tour- 2 day backcountry skiing teams race- Organiser August/September '09- Attempt a Speed Ascent Low Peak Mt Rolleston and attempt a sub 18hr "Symphony on Skis"- 5/09- 12hr 58min Symphony On Skis! Europe 2007/08 winter 19/01- French Vertical Champs- 750m ascent, 22nd, 29mins 27/01- Tour du Grand Veymont - 10th 09-10/02- TSF- day1 36th, day2 14th, 25th over all 17/02- Croix de Chamechaude (French singles champs)-21st 24-30/02- Ski Mountaineering World Champs-Short and Long Individual races 12-16/03- Pierra Menta- 4 day race, top finish 30th on day2, 40th overall. Grenoble 3 Massif Series- 3rd overall NZ 2008 winter 26/o7- Porters Dynafit Speed Up- Organiser 09/08- Rainbow Rando Rally- 1st 30/08- Ohau Blast- 1st 06/09- CraigieBurner- Organiser