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Travels with the Leavenworth Olympian
- "Skiing the Southern Hemisphere" - Torin Koos Photo Story August
2006
SKIING THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
New Zealand
comes as a dream to the traveler. After hours of endless ocean the
view out the airplane window soon changes from the islands and
coastal inlets of Auckland to the mountains lakes and glaciers of
New Zealand’s southern interior. It’s the South Island that’s been
my Kiwi home for the past five Augusts.
The cityscape view from the Boeing 777.
One rarely tires of New Zealand colloquisms that color everyday
expression. Instead of answering ‘How ya doing?’ with the American
customary of ‘good’ or ‘fine,’ Kiwis are liable to answer with
something like ‘Good as gold, mate, good as gold,’ or ‘Sweet as.’
Sweet as? Sweet as anything you can think of, that’s what.
Nor do Kiwis seem a litigious bunch. For a country that has exactly
one dangerously venomous animal - the katipo spider, a close cousin
to American black widow - and a lineage of plump native birds so
free from predators they cannot fly, New Zealanders have found
plenty of ways to put their health in harm’s way.
The Maori’s, the Polynesian Islanders who came to New Zealand 1300
years ago, knotted reeds into ropes, then tied these ropes around
their feet and jumped dizzying distances off cliffs headfirst,
becoming the world’s first bungee jumpers. Today, forty kilometers
away from where I sit, people line up by the dozens with fistful of
dollars and a full release waiver in hand, for the thrill of jumping
from a highwire car above the Shotover River Gorge for a eight
second, 134 meter freefall.
If you’re wondering, no, I will never attempt something so crazy
again. Call me Captain Safety, but I have no interest in willingly
going through that ordeal again. Extreme existential dread for $150
bucks. No thanks. I’ll pass.
Oh, the air up there.
Even the drive to the snowfields can be fraught with excitement. For
eight miles, a dirt road races its way up 3000 vertical feet to
reach the SnowFarm Ski Resort and the Northern Hemisphere Car
Testing Proving Grounds. Under normal conditions, when the sun’s
peaking through the clouds, it’s no problem. With precipitation,
chains are mandatory. In a snowstorm in a barren countryside where
wind comes in gales, aboard a 1980s twelve passenger Toyota
rear-wheel drive sardine on bald tires, winter driving skills can be
tested like never before. There are few ways to start a day like
gripping the wheel, the rear end of your machine fishtailing left to
right in search of traction, staring into a sea of a whiteout with a
voice coming from the passenger seat saying ‘Stay on it. Stay on
it.’ On the road, or the accelerator? In this case, they are one the
same.
View from the ski trails winding around the
Pisa Mountain Range. Picturesque Stuff, huh?
But when the high pressure comes in, weather patterns move out, the
thermometer drops, and sunsets come as a haunting hallucination of
reds, yellows, purples and blues to the sky.
The sun slips behind the peaks of Mt. Aspiring
and the Remarkables Mountain Range. (Vordenberg).
But I’m not here in search of picturesque sunsets and pretty
postcards. I’m in search of snow, and spending as many hours as my
body can handle striding across it, with the occasional
run-and-strength session mixed in. Other times of the year I’ll
certainly be faster, or train with more intensity, but at no other
time will I put in as much quantity as I am now. It’s a necessary
period to get as aerobically fit as possible. Without a great base
from the summer and this month in New Zealand would be to build a
house atop a leaky foundation. Day after day, week after week, you
put in so much work that you almost think you couldn’t do more. At
the very same time, a little voice wonders if you’ve done enough.
Somewhere between these two thoughts lies the truth.
Following a teammate’s lead out on the trails
beating the Piston Bully to the good stuff.
But the
inescapable question - all the work, has it been enough or am I just
kidding myself? World Cup Opener in Dusseldorf, Germany is just over
two months away.
Even ski specific training camps are about more than just gaining
kilometers on the white powdery stuff. Here a group of skiers heads
up the river bottom flats of the Matukituki Valley. In the distance,
feeding the river is Mount Aspiring, a 10,000 ft. plus peak known to
some as New Zealand’s Matterhorn. A visit to this National Park is
always on my calendar.
I hope you enjoyed the visit to the Southern Hemisphere. The skiing
has been all I could ask for. Perhaps while traveling through here
sometime in the future we’ll trade tales over a flat white on a
leisurely afternoon. But that’s neither here nor there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Torin Koos
is a member of the National A Team for the United States and a World
Cup, World Championship and Olympic competitor.
Equipment: Rossignol Skis, Boots and Bindings, Toko gloves and wax,
Marwe, Exel poles, Rudy Project Eyewear, Powerbar
Home Ski Club: Leavenworth Winter Sports Club (
www.skileavenworth.com )
Headgear Sponsor: USA Pears (
www.usapears.com )
Best Western Icicle Inn (
www.icicleinn.com
)
BioSports NorthWest Physical Therapy (
www.biosports.net
)
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are interested in
supporting Torrin Koos we will be happy to pass your information
along to him. Your partnership will help support the lifestyle
needed to keep the dream alive. As an athlete, Torin hopes his
Olympic journey inspires the community to participate in the free
air lifestyle, the same customers that come to visit the Leavenworth
area.
email: kevin@icicleinn.com
phone: 888-353-0595
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