Fire in the Sky

Today was a very busy day at Treble Cone. Normally, the last two weeks of July are exceptionally slow - they are probably the least busy weeks of the winter season here on the South Island of New Zealand. Wisely, our resort scheduled several large and notable events during this time, so starting early this morning there was a great buzz about the place. Young alpine racers and their families were arriving by the van-load for a big 'inter-field' race, with the kids resplendent in their high-tech resort ski team uniforms and the number and variety of foreign language accents on the coaches remarkable for this tucked-away corner of the world. In addition, the Summit Saddle Freeride Challenge was a big draw for big mountain skiers and 'wannabe' big mountain skiers from far and wide. The event was a qualifier for the NZ Open North Face Big Mountain Championships, a major stop on the international big mountain skiing circuit, so the fat ski, stickered-helmet, go-big-or-go-home ski subculture was in full flower. It was terrific to have so wide a variety of people out and about, and it lent TC a festival atmosphere.

The best thing about the day, however, was that despite all of the people, all of the energy surrounding the competitions, the biggest buzz of the day and the thing that drew the most attention from the widest variety of people was the sunrise. Each day in the first half of the season I get to see the sunrise while at Treble Cone. It's nearly always beautiful, it's frequently shockingly beautiful, and occasionally it'll stop even the most jaded mountain dweller in their tracks, mouth agape and cameras in action. This was such a morning. Race coaches from all over the world, new school freeriders, spoiled bratty kids on holiday, hardscrabble local folk, itinerant ski and snowboard pros, barristas, patrollers and lifites all seemed to take a moment and just watch Mother Nature's pyrotechnic introduction to the day. It's hard to convey what it's like to work in this environment each and every day for a season. Even the best photos can't quite give the feeling of the time and place, but they may give you some inkling of just how gorgeous it can be. So I hope you enjoy these photos and, if you don't mind, I hope they help you daydream a bit about life in the mountains.