ball. A season that felt like one of those circuit bike rides that is uphill all the way yet you end up in the same place you started.

A season filled with some pretty large wrecks; three separate large landings on large rock type rocks and what was possibly my largest cliff ever an one of my biggest impacts into a late season snow pack. But the coup de grace came on a beautiful spring day, ski guiding this lovely english families children through the tiny slush jumps at Grand Montets. Landing a little short due to the slowing inrun saw me not quite square on my rotation. An edge caught put me on a slow awkward rotating fall to the couch yet again, first clutching at my knee then at my ankle when the boot was removed. Xray analyst doctor tall, dark and good looking had my boss making eyes an me making plans when after false hope as he pointed at an old break he then showed me the fat as fracture right through the largest part of my ankle, the talar dome.

So now to Sallanches Hospital for a scan to see if the recommended surgery is the best option. Good thing its lovely an sunny out hej….

peace.

Enjoy I know I did.

The two lanes out of Russia. One for Ruskies the other for...'diplomats??'

So lets recap a little leaving Mother Russia I travelled to Fieberbrunn, Austria where things went better. Skiing in flat light I had a fun, fluid line with some ok snow but made a mistake upon landing, but was happy to wrap things up on the tour with my best result to date, somehow sure I would not be competing in Verbier.

The amazing prizegiving area at Fieberbrunn

SIgning autographs for the surprisingly large amount of fans, young an old.

One of the stranger things Ive seen on the road

On returning to Verbier as usual there was the usual partying with the usual suspects. But also some skiing with some rarely spotted, in these parts anyway, and moustachioed kiwis in the form of the infamous FlashModern boys, Mark Von Roy and Scotty Staples. Our head guide beanie boobs took us on a great day of jaunting around Verbier in the hectare sized storm that followed us around all day, good times were had due to the accompanying and also rarely spotted fresh snow.

Jane Goodall (beanie) leading the gorillas outa the mist

good ol on mountain apres ski panaches

After all those fun an games it was time to finally watch the Verbier Xtreme, the greatest freeride face and competition in the world. If ya havent won here you havent really won anything! A great day in the sun, tinged with a little frustration of course at not being up there throwing down with the boys. Massive respect to all those. And massive thanks to the guy who took the horror show fall an lived.

The deadly Bec de Rosses

After the ensuing party for the winners I ended up being lucky enough to get a day out with Tero Repo. But landing on a rock and destroying my beloved Volkl Shiros. But somehow we apparently still got some good shots, his word is always good enough for me!

Tero Repo. would you trust this man?

Getting another call to shoot later in the week, this time by the equally amazing Yves Garneau gave me a shot at redemption, spelt BIG. Headin to the same zone that I had tried with Tero, this time I hiked higher. Much higher. After Yves checked the landing an set up the shot Terrified Me skied two quick, sluffy turns before sending possibly the biggest air Ive purposefully stepped to. Impacting heavily and riding out with a first in the air torn by my yell was one of the best moments in this exceptionally tough season.

So its back to planning the next adventures and hanging out with the crew here before it all finishes up. For now.

Im now back in Verbier indulging in some fun and games, the p0ur another one and howl at the moon type of release needed after spending the last month constantly hopping around the globe competing on the Freeride World Tour. I will get a few photos and put together a little something more soon but in the mean time heres a couple of videos from my brief time riding with the worlds best.

and honey, more commonly know as the Republic of California. A glorious place where it just snowed 4 feet in 2 days to really get the motivation locomotion at full steam. Add in my last month of chalet girl antics, please read me being a chalet girl with the cooking and cleaning, no you gutter minded filth mongers providing the chalet girls themselves with the much needed exercise they need. Gotta avoid that first season 5. You know what I mean.

So we have a wonderful house of freeriders from all over the globe, making the simplest of conversations oft more interesting than they deserve.

one of the infamous homeless characters in Wellington

An appropriate welcome to america I thought.

Team NZ being strange as ever. Sam Lee and Zak Hogg

Marjas birthday cake ala Janina

Basti having a nap in his cave

the great california gold errrr powder rushThe epic cirque face at Kirkwood.

But for now its line revision and a nice glass of red wine to cool pre game day nerves.

peace

Watching the footage from the 2nd FWT stop in Engadin Switzerland was not easy. With many riders struggling with control on the face the annoying what if questions started appearing. Que more scotch. But heres the video of what went down so yeah enjoy. I didnt.

Peace.

Madame Kuzma eyes her line on the spines

What was making things even tougher for me was my right knee. After the impact shooting with Tero Repo I had been struggling to find out what exactly was wrong with it. One physio and one doctors visit, the diagnosis was torn meniscus, not ideal. The next was spent training to Sallanche hospital to try get an MRI scan, Febuary 2nd I was told. Not ideal said I. Back in Chamonix my manager Steven Rooke from Radical Management and the owner operator of SOLE boot lab in Cham had arranged for a late night one in Annecy. So Dion Newport, FWT judge, representative of NZ freeriding, all round good guy and my regular hospital delivery man had us racing along the highways blind to the sat nav’s inaccurate directions.

MRI scan cleared the ligaments an meniscus after a great game of charades with the non english speaking head nurse. The solemn young doctor put me through a CAT scan and some further angst to clear a possibly refractured tibia. But in the end bone bruising was the call. So despite being warned against it I strapped er up and prepared to compete.

The strain of the pre comp run wait beginning to show. J Kuzma and Aurelien Ducroz

woop woop woop woop

A brief but effervescent chopper ride to the top deposited us to the top without much more than a glance of the face. We would have to rely on our memory of lines picked the day before.

Scope from the top before you... nope no shit rhyming here

I had picked a pretty mellow line as I wanted to ease into the Tour but also as I had no idea what would happen come the first impact. A knee completely unable to land correctly was something I was rather anxious about. Missing my start by getting stuck in waist deep sugary snow hiking back to the start gate from my line scoping spot did not help either. But she went, and nej too badly if I do say so myself. So while I only placed 13th I was stoked that I had been able to compete at all considering my injury and just being part of the whole FWT circus was an incredible experience.

The multi nation Team NZ cheering section

Monte Bianco leaning on me an little sister Anna

The media hounding winner Aurelien

A huge thanks must go to my sponsors Volkl, Dalbello, Marker, POC sports and Ortovox for helping my Tour campaign, to the amazing physios Neil and Lisa for keeping my knee semi working and especially to the amazing team nz cheering section of New Swedeland flatmates, Ash, Beanie an Trev from Verbier and the swedish posse who joined in. And to all those involved what a great time, great after party and yeah on to healing so I can be back at full throttle at the next comp.

Til next time adieu mon amie muwah muwah.

Beanie Bungle and Butthead.

First up pin your eyes to the clip above of Neil Williman, Nic Eves and myself skiing around Chamonix, Courmayeaur and Verbier.

Stilton blue cheese, water crackers an branston pickle. Cheers Mama B!!

Second this is coming to you from the couch, where I have been relocated to with the arrival of my dear sister Anna from Brisbane, Australia. Here on her first season I only have just over a week with her here to show her some of my favourite wee and not so wee Chamonix locations. And Im on the couch also as I tried to put the sunglasses in the front pocket of my pants onto my face via my knee ie a flat landing saw me drive my knee into my cheek and funnily enough (or not really as it turns out) my knee came off second best. A few days of down time should be enough time to get it back on board just in time for Freeride de Chamonix, the first stop of the 2011 Freeride World Tour.

Farinet Apres barkeep Paul serves with a megaphone.

Verbier, as always, was everything in moderation, including moderation. A place built on excesses of all kinds, the chalet I was lucky enough to stay in was one of the more opulent in the town. Complete with a workers chalet connected via a oversized concrete tunnel, a swimming pool, two jacuzzis and a sauna and, troublesome for me, a large bar area packed full of fine whiskys and brandies in addition to a pool table, table football, table tennis and a darts board. So basically all a child of the night could desire. In exchange for this I did some snow shovelling, helping with transporting the clients and spinning them yarns of the good life, not a bad deal I thought.

Shopping for the chalet in plush robes and beers.

But it wasn’t all larking about the playboy mansion my days were spent working on fluidly skiing big lines and getting used to exposure, with the front face of Mt Gele and the lines in Super Muche getting worked the most. I hope some of you recall Tom Dunbar’s run in the Verbier Ride a few years back. Where he dropped into this face is an exceptional venue for running  laps and  working myself up for what is going to be needed for success to ensue on the FWT this year. While the conditions weren’t soft enough for large airs they were great for getting the legs larger and working the landing gear on smaller drops.

Host Ashwin Colin Bhardwaj. Stealing girlfriends near you.

Verbier is also home to one of the worlds best ski/board photographers and my personal favourite, Finlands Tero Repo. He was in Japan for the majority of my stay but returned to be the final delaying factor in my escape from the depths of Verbier. One morning out on the backside of Mt Fort resulted in one of my favourite shots I’ve been a part of to date. A deep blue piece of exposed glacier ice tempted me into the air off the blind drop. Unfortunately for me I missed the minuscule transition and stopped dead, as mentioned previously.

So I’l leave hoping this mishap wont stop my contesting the first FWT in Chamonix. Cross your fingers for me.

Peace