When I finished high school, I had one dream; travel the world and have a good time.  Sure all my fellow students had loftier dreams of law or medicine, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do except travel the world and have a good time.  At that point in time a ‘good time’ meant skiing.  So at 17 I went to America with my parents for Christmas to Breckenridge in Colorado.  We had one week, so I had one week to find a job and a place to live.  The only job I could find where someone would hire a kid was washing dishes, or as they called it back then, ‘pearl diving’.  This may not sound like the ideal job, but I was living the dream.  I washed dishes from 5pm until about midnight, so that gave me all day to ski.  The perfect ski bum set up.  And I skied every day, no matter the weather.   What’s the difference between a good skier and a great skier?  Lots and lots of time on the snow in all conditions and washing dishes gave me that opportunity.

Every Italian ski resort is quite unique in terrain, food, culture and sometimes even language, but Alta Badia ended up being one of the wildest experiences we ever had at a resort.  The film crew on this occasion were fellow producer Mark, who did the camera work, along with Rob Sarroff, and presenting with me,  Elise Goodwin.   As usual we checked in with the tourist office in the morning, our contact asked if we would like to go skiing with the mayor of Corvara.  We all kind of screwed up our noses and thought, we’d rather some mountain guide or Olympian.  Our contact assured us we wouldn’t be disappointed and then proceeded to inform us he was 60 years old.  ”Oh great. we’re going skiing with an old man” we all thought.  With expectations at a low, we made our way to the Hotel Posta Zirm, where we were to meet him, he was the owner of the hotel.  As we waited in the lobby a guy looking like Ben Kingsly with a mustache meets us, it’s Heinz Kostner.  We politely greet him and then he insists we follow him in our car.   We’re led down a small country road with no idea of whats going on with our expectations going lower and lower.  Heinz pulls up behind some old barn; are we going cross country skiing?. Then he instructs us to take out all our gear and pile it up.  Then we hear the helicopter coming.  Surprises don’t get any better than this.  We pile in and head to one of the higher peaks in the area, the Marmolada.  Unfortunately, it hadn’t snowed in a while and the off piste was not so good, but the freshly groomed was perfect, and we were at the top before the lifts were operating (and you needed to catch a few lifts before you get to the top) Heinz pulls out his hard boot board, clicks in, then takes off.  We stood with mouths agape as this 60 year old flew down the mountain on his carve board.  We chased after him and could barely keep up.  After a few runs, we fly to lunch at one of the great restaurants on the slope, also owned by Heinz.  If happiness is reality minus expectation then this was one of the happiest days of our lives.

On a side note, we changed chopper pilots during the day, and as we took off after the change over we noticed a smaller 2 seater helicopter coming into land below us, it got caught in our downdraft and was smashed into the ground.   It was the mayor’s nephew and quickly we landed.   Fortunately the pilot was OK,  the helicopter was already close to the ground and the snow was deep, but the small chopper was destroyed.  I filed the away the crash in my head and thought perhaps this could be used in a chase scene for some Bondesque type film.

We often get asked, “where’s the best place in the northern hemisphere for a ski holiday?” I always reply, “what makes a resort is the snow conditions you get and the people you meet”.  Unfortunately, those 2 elements are the luck of the draw.  So to choose a resort for your next northern winter holiday, you must look for what can be controlled.  Things like terrain, service, culture, off-slope activities, accommodation, cost and ease of access are some of the things people consider.  Also you have to think about your own situation and who you are travelling with, for instance if I was single or wanting an affair (don’t worry honey, I’m not) I would go to St Anton in Austria, home of the biggest apre ski bar in Europe, that place rocks, and it has massive amounts of terrain.  You can ski hard all day and party all night, then just take a holiday on a tropical island on the way home to recover.  If I was a family (working on it) and I had the money I would go to Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, in Austria (again, Austria, after all, it is the home of skiing) it caters for the children of all ages, it caters for my need for the big mountain experience, big groomed and lots of culture, however this place is not cheap, so for the budget minded family consider Big White, Canada, easy for the family and they have lots of activities to keep everyone busy.  Now if I wanted a hardcore experience with all my old ski bum mates, you can’t go past La Grave in France, 2 lifts, 2000 metres vertical, no groomed and no crowds (Advanced skiers only).  I mention Europe a lot because I like the food and the cultural difference.   Although powder is hard to guarantee, the most consistent place on the planet for it is Japan, especially Hokkaido, and the mountain with the best terrain on Hokkaido is Furano with a pure Japanese experience.  But for me the best terrain in Japan is in the centre of the alps at Hakuba, big mountains skiing and powder, and you get a little more sunshine than the northern island.   So Japan is the place I would go with my tight arse mates, but since the US dollars is so low, America is worth a look, and the place with the most cultural experience is Jackson Hole, Wyoming, cowboy country.  Spectacular, big terrain and it’s on the edge of Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the world.  Skiing road trips are fun, Utah offers some amazing skiing all very close to Salt Lake City, Colorado has so many resorts with highways in between them, but there is no legendary road trip like Route 66, drive through the Californian mountains, visiting Mammoth and then onto Lake Tahoe and the legend that is Squaw Valley (It’s not all on Route 66 but you can start on it.)   Where would I pay to go for my next holiday?  I love powder and I love road trips,  so I’ll wait until I see where the snow falls and road trip following the blizzard, staying at road side motels, who want’s to come?  If you want to check out any of the above resorts we have videos of them on snow.tv (except Squaw Valley).  Happy snow travels.

Snow sports have often been seen as a bourgeois past time.  In some countries where snow is all around, it is a sport of the people, however in some countries, to get to the snow you have to travel to the mountains and pay for every step along the way to get your thrills on the snow.  Sliding on snow is exhilarating and can  easily suck you in to pay your last dollars to do it.  But if you don’t know anything about the thrill, then you probably not going to give it a go, especially when you see the prices.  But I’m here to inform you, that their are cheaper options to get you started.  The big resorts aren’t going to drop their prices, and why should they, they keep getting growth every year even with putting up their prices (Quite frankly, you don’t want it to get too crowded on the slopes anyway, perhaps it’s crowd control?)  Cheaper options are going to the smaller resorts or the cross country resorts for a day trip to get a taste of sliding, and if you want to make a holiday of it, the smaller resorts put some great package deals together that make it affordable for almost everyone, especially in spring.   Then, once you are hooked, you can sell everything and get a job in the snow to keep supplying your habit.  My parents got me hooked and I love them for it.

I agree helmets are a good idea, but let’s never make it a law.  I remember a story about a doctor was pushing for helmets to be worn in just regular passenger cars.  There is no doubt that it would be safer.  According to WHO more accidents happen in the home; of course they do, that’s where we spend most of our time,  so should we be wearing rubber suits, helmets and body armour to bed just to be on the safe side.  Of course not, that would be ridiculous.  But is that the way we are heading, every year as our society develops more and more laws get put in place in the name of safety.  And you can’t argue with them because every life is so precious.  Lets take the focus off pain and death and put it back into living.  We are responsible for our own lives, and no matter what safety laws get put in place death and disability continues, just look at the road toll.  Viva la vie.

If a Polish person is moving on the dance floor, are they a Pole dancing?

While driving to Zakopane, Poland’s most famous ski resort, we had to take the freeway along the plains of Poland.  In the middle of southern Poland it’s hard to imagine that there was any skiing at all.  Actually it was kind of weird for me, because it’s like driving across mid western America.   Even when you stop at the service stations, the people dressed like they were from the mid west.  My mother is from Iowa, and I was strangely feeling at home, although I couldn’t understand anyone but of course they all speak English and could understand me, unlike America.  Then I learned that most of Poland emigrated to Chicago and settled the mid west, all makes sense now.  Chicago is the largest Polish city outside of Poland.  Finally after reminiscing about the mid west we hit the northern side of the Tatra Mountains (They mainly sit in Slovakia).  No mistaking where we are now, the Tatra’s are magnificent and so under developed, which is probably a good thing.

Charlie Showers and Ramona Bruland were our presenters for this story while myself and Mark Steven were the ones behind the cameras.  After a big day high (I’m talking altitude) on the slopes, we skied all the way down to the bottom and discovered a little food vendor.  Charlie, as always, was hungry.  I thought I may as well film them as part of a cultural piece, thinking this wont get used as the light was bad, but I had nothing else to do as we waited for our ride.  Charlie and Ramona had no idea what they were ordering, but thought they were some sort of sweet pastries.  This is one of the best unexpected reactions I ever filmed of Ramona.  She is always perfectly composed and always has the wonderful smile.  When she chomped into that sardine pastry, the expression was priceless, she then ducked out of shot to spit it out and almost puked.  When you watch this story it’s so beautifully genuine.

If Ramona is dancing to a traditional Polish band, then is she Pole dancing?

Since my first tumble down down the mountain after my arrival at Hotham two weeks ago (cheers Toby and Karl for taking me off piste for my first turns), I’ve been working on my skiing (rigorously), dining at all my fave spots in Hotham and Dinner Plain and generally having a blast, while at the same time getting blasted with snow during my snow report every morning. A typical day involves reporting all morning, skiing as soon as possible after that, and then Apres (and we really love that time of day). So when I had an opportunity to watch this event, and even film some (I learn new skills every day) I was really excited.

On this weeks show, we look at the FIS Boarder Cross held at Hotham. It was awesome! I’d never seen anything like it. Basically four people race down the mountain on snowboards at high speeds and they have all sorts of jumps and turns throughout the course to negotiate. It’s a really exciting event to watch, especially as someone who hasn’t been exposed to the “knarly” world of snowboarding too much before.

We talked to Chumpy (otherwise known as Alex Pullin), snowboard legend currently ranked number two in the world. He did of course win the race on both days. I was impressed with the talent, the international flavor of the competitors and the general vibe the event brought to the mountain. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did..

Live the dream….

Pippa

Why is Hotham the home of the Snowshow?  Good question and I’m glad you asked.  Back in 1994 Mark Steven and I stopped doing the World Cup Freestyle coaching thing, and were brought to Perisher by then CEO, Mike Petri, the grand father of snow reporting in Australia.   Mark filmed and edited, while I played the fool in front of the camera.  In 1995 Mark and I decided to do our own tv show, and hooked up with Peter Maberly from Channel 5, Snowy Mountains Television, in Jindabyne.  In our spare time we put together a live tv show from a pub every Friday night called “Snowy Mountains Live”.  It was a kooky Letterman style show, but all the celebrity guests were friends from around Jindy.  Jindabyne was fine but we wanted the world.

In 1996 we told Perisher (which just became Perisher Blue, but is now back to being just Perisher) that we wanted to spend less time snow reporting and more time making a tv show.  They said it wouldn’t work, so it was either snow reporting all the way or the highway.

Mark and I chose the highway.  Prime TV gave us a midnight time slot, now all we needed was a resort that would have us.  Thredbo would never have us, because we were already tainted with the Perisher brush.  Mt Buller would have us, but didn’t really want to pay for it.  Then Hotham was just taken over by BCR and were looking to announce to the world the next best thing.  We were in the right place at the right time (first time for everything).  Mark and I moved to Hotham in 1996 and have never really wanted to move.  I remember driving 10km down the road from Hotham to Dinner Plain along the dirt road then, taking one look at the village and realising, “I was home”.  I have lived in Dinner Plain longer than anywhere else since I left home at 17 from Bendigo.

I love the wild side of Hotham, I love that the village is at the top of the mountain and we’re not in the shade, and that I can see the weather coming.   I love the quick easy hikes to go out of bounds.  My favourite days are doing the loop out to Golden Point, finding some fresh lines amongst the snowgums and doing it all over again.   Or having an adventure with friends hiking Eagle Ridge or traversing over to Bawdy Hollow and making tracks down to the road, where we pile into a waiting car and back to the top of the mountain.  Then dancing on tables into the night at Dinner Plain.

That’s why for me Hotham is the home of the Snowshow.

The Snowshow had an interesting time filming in Bulgaria, perhaps not the most sophisticated resorts, but it’s cheap, the mountains are big and they get snow…mmmm…sounds ideal.  Borovets is a cool little tight village, and the centre of the village where all the action happens goes in a triangle.  This triangle is like Kings Cross in Sydney or any seedy part of a city where all the tourists go for some excitement.  Yes, there is an abundance of strip clubs, but in the early evening we were looking for a place to eat and all the venues have a spruker touting for your patronage, not surprisingly they all speak English very well and are familiar with Australian celebrities.  So many choices which if you know Charlie frustrated him no end.  After doing the full triangle we settled on the most friendly spruker’s restaurant.  The menu’s are big in Bulgaria, not unlike a Chinese restaurant, and poor Charlie was frustrated with too much choice.  After a fantastic Balkan meal, it came time to pay.   It was very cheap and we were more than happy to pay the price.   I paid it exactly, then Ramona starts on me to tip.  Ramona use to work in bars and restaurants in America and is very pro tipping.  We constantly argue this point on every time we tour.  I understand you have to tip in America, because the restaurant staff get paid very little.  (Although when I lived in the States in the 80′s you only had to tip 10%, now it’s up to 20%, so who the hell made it so the unskilled service industry get paid twice as much as the rest of America….don’t get me started)  Ramona insists we tip, I insist we don’t encourage this American behaviour.  Ramona insists it’s so cheap we should tip, I forcefully remind her that it’s Snowshow’s travel budget and don’t you tell me how to spend it.  Ramona gets so heated with me, she call me a bunch of names and leaves the restaurant in a huff.  Now with Ramona gone it was just the boys, me, Mark and Charlie and the strip clubs were starting to open (Actually Ramona probably would have loved to come along.)  Sadly, we were all too tired after a big day on the slopes and went back to the room for some shut eye.

The next day breakfast was going to be awkward.  Ramona was so angry the night before I thought she may even take the next bus to the airport to get away from me.  She comes to breakfast late and asks to speak to me in private. “Hell hath no fury like a womans scorn”, so naturally I was scared.  Obviously a good nights sleep was in order and we made our apologies and moved onto the next resort……. tipping was never discussed again.

Banff town is cool place and i liked the fact that it’s size is restricted so can’t get over devloped… not that it’s under developed if shopping is your thing..hmmm.  One thing i couldn’t get over was the fur shops, steak house’s, rib joints and the whole dead animal thing of north America, but hay i’m a dirty vego so what do i know..

Now the scenery, the drive from Jasper along the icefield parkway is stunning, frozen waterfalls, hanging valleys, glaciers and peaks towering above you.. fantastic and as cameraman you don’t know where to point the camera first..

So the skiing, as Gravy points out it was low tide when we were there, but still fun and because of the low low low temps it holds and stays chalky.. You might see in the show a shot where Gravy jams a turn on a steep section right in front of me and completely nails me and the camera. We cut the shot but if you run the shot to the end, the camera ( and me) gets hit with so much snow it goes completely black and took around 5 min to dig out the snow and get the lens clear again..

Well thats enough for me now bye

Karlos