It all started the first weekend of August 2006 when Rob Kingwill (aka: “Kinger”) won the prize for Best Trick in the Burton New Zealand Open with his signature move the Sato Flip. His prize: a day of helicopter riding with Back Country Helicopters located on New Zealand’s south island. Kinger and I were based in Wanaka New Zealand for seven weeks for our Avalon 7 All Star Adventures snowboard camps at SnowparkNZ. As soon as Kinger received his prize at the awards ceremony the anxiousness began. When were we going to go? Who was going to go with us? Was the terrain big?

Toward the end of August our halfpipe and park camps at SnowparkNZ ended and we had five days before our south island freeride tours began. The weather was not cooperating with us, high winds and cloudy days marred the forecast. Toward the end of the week, just 24 hours before our freeride tours were to begin, the weather began to look better. All week we were trying to get a crew together so that we would be flying with just our friends, but everyone had conflicting schedules. On Friday night Kinger jumped on the MySpace website and tracked down our buddies from the US BoarderX team who had just arrived in New Zealand for a short training camp. They were stoked and the next day at 7am we were all standing in the Back Country Helicopters office in Wanaka together weighing in and looking forward to a bluebird day.

The BCH landing zone and terrain area is about a 45 minute drive northwest of Wanaka so we piled into two little SUVs with our crew and away we went. During the first 5 minutes of our drive the vehicle I was in (with Nate Holland at the wheel) got separated from the other vehicle driven by US Team coach Peter Foley. Nate rallied off to the side of the road into a little gravel pull out, emergency braked to a stop and lay in wait for Peter to catch up. Soon after, Peter’s SUV came into site. Nate floored it and was coaxed on by co-pilot Graham Wantanabe. Unfortunately, Nate failed to see the deep drainage ditch that lay in front of him as he b-lined it back to the hard road. Soon enough we were all rubbing our heads after slamming them against the ceiling. Our vehicle faired fine and we continued on our way- passing fields of sheep, giant lakes, mountain vistas, and rainforest waterfalls before reaching the landing zone at the village of Makarora.

Seth Westcott, Rob Kingwill, our guide and I jumped into the helicopter for the first load up to the top. Upon lift-off we watched as lambs ran in confusion to their mothers below. Our pilot swooped around over the valley floor giving us a visual tour of the surrounding mountains in Mount Aspiring National Park. Soon we were on top and soaking it all in. The vistas were amazing with nothing but untouched landscapes all around us. It had snowed the night before so the Southern Alps were glistening white and beckoning us out for our first run. Most of the US team had not been to New Zealand before and were in awe of the amazing beauty surrounding them (as everyone is when visiting the country). From our first descent to our last the turns were amazing. Our guides took us to a great mix of terrain. After our heli runs we were buzzing with energy from the fun we’d had. I wanted to maintain the high, so I took the crew down the road to explore the rainforest at a little trail that winds down to the Makarora river and the “Blue Pools”. A stone skipping session ensued and we whittled away the afternoon in New Zealand’s pristine rainforest scenery.

Click to view photos: http://www.allstartrips.com/helinz/

If you’re interested in dropping in on New Zealand powder, the best time to go is late August and early September. Check out some of the New Zealand free-ride tours offered by All Star Adventures (www.allstartrips.com). All Star offers tours and camps on New Zealand’s south island that will put you on the snow with some of the world’s best riders like those featured in this article.