Below is Radars account of the trip (through his own ‘liquid’ eyes)

Air NZ ski and Snowboard team trip to the IASF meet in Jackson Hole Wyoming

                                      (the walking wounded ski trip!!)

See Radars Photo Gallery

This year the Air NZ Ski and Snowboard Club went to the IASF(international airline ski federation) race meet in Jackson’s Hole Wyoming. The WASC(world airline ski championships) is a big snow event , second only to the winter Olympics in number of participants . Over 600 people attended this year (more attend when held in Europe!).

This year we went to meet the people and to RACE!

The stories started before we even got on the plane !

Lee pulled a hamstring a week before departure and was not sure if this would be a ski trip or sight seeing !
And Jenny wrote her car off  (not her fault) only one day before departure!

The trip started with a week in Salt Lake city, Utah.

Myself and Barry, Tom and Keith headed off 3 days early for more skiing and more seats on the plane. We stayed at a comfort inn for 3 nights and 3 days of skiing at 3 different fields , all as good as the other! Good snow and good weather!

Utah has over 9 different ski resorts and some are “skiers only” which makes a change, but not a problem as in the same valley as “skiers only” was “all welcome” ski resorts, so we just dropped off and picked up at the end of the day.
 
Come the Sunday we moved out of the hotel and into the condos.
And… everybody else turned up , in the evening and thru the night 4 different taxi rides and all around $30 or a shuttle ride for 1 at $18  !! definitely a tourist friendly taxi service!! We rented 2 condos in SLC which we all fitted into nicely.  The ski bus stopped right outside the property so a car was not needed to go skiing

The first day on the slopes for most of the group was at Brighton in about a foot of fresh powder! That night Ron and Anita arrived and the next day it was Snow Bird on a fine and sunny day. A great day for a banana boat ride!! For Ron ! he pulled his Achilles’ walking up hill, before he even got a run in . but it was a fast run down in the ‘boat!

Then it was Keith’s turn …. To find a dentist ! lucky for him there was one about 8 doors down and open on a public holiday and able to see right away. All was well the next day or two .
Me next ! had a hard fall and in a little pain in my rib area. Many thanks to Barry ‘you may have broken a rib!’ but the pain went away the next day.

No more injuries after that ,just good skiing and good company (we even had a hot tub… seats 6 so first in …)

A great place to ski with about 8 different ski resorts to choose from! Utah is known as “the greatest snow on earth” And we all thought it was close to the truth

After 6 days skiing in Utah it was off to Jackson Hole.

For the trip up to Jackson we rented 3 large Dodge double cab pick up trucks. And we needed all the cargo space that they had !! Luxury and speed , we were cruising at 80mph for most of the run.  6hrs driving up thru Idaho then into Wyoming and we were there. The temp dropped down to -12 on the drive thru the passes, little did we know that this was a sign of things to come!
We rolled into the Jackson Super 8, around 6pm just in time for hot popcorn in the lobby.
A nice motel with a reasonable continental breakfast each morning.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny… and -15!!
Although the temp was low it was ok, as with no humidity the cold was not damp so just a few layers (extra) we were fine. Some ski teams had come from -30 so it was a summer holiday for them.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is about 15 min drive from the town of Jackson and it is a big mountain ! Steep and Deep is the name of the game out here!

The weather was not the best, a bit hit and miss , but great snow conditions.

Race day for the snowboarding was shopping day for most as the cloud and snow rolled in. Race day for the skiers was the best day ever weather wise, and we spent most of it waiting around at the start gate!! Our team consisted of me, Dave Griffen ,Keith Dalby, Brett Wilson and Rob Shaw . and the woman’s team was Karen Powers . the snowboard team was Vern Sheffer  and not forgetting the sole representative of Chatham  Air … Simon  ! who was keen for the snowboarding and skiing races.

The racing went well for all of us, none fell and all finished! Better than some in full race suits and massage before the race!!

It was not all skiing, Jenny, rob and a party of around 10 went snowmobiling in the Yellowstone national park. It was a 6hr(on the snowmobile) tour and was well worth it by all accounts.

The high light of the party week was the cartoon costume party. Full on costumes and full on partying till 2am.

The fun races on the last day consisted of various airlines putting up tables and giving out drinks of their nation… or what ever they had at hand !! a very good time had by all!
There was also the “fun” relay obstacle race, which involved running up hill and down ,snow balls and beer kegs !! We won our heat so celebrated with more free drinks !

That night was prize giving dinner and trading time. We all managed to swap our Air NZ tee-shirts and hats for all sorts of other airline gear so every one was happy.

The next day was leaving day for every body else at the ski champs, however we planned on one more day which we used to head out to Grand Targee ski resort , about 1 hr from Jackson . It took me a bit longer to get going as my truck keys were nowhere to be found?? Searched my room(a mammoth task) and all the baggage twice!! Found them on the seat in one of the other trucks!!! lucky they did not head off early. More snow and deeper powder and really cold !! but well worth the run out and a great field.

The next day was check out day and the drive back to Salt Lake. Rob and Jenny’s truck headed of about 4am to catch an early flt out of slc. On the way over the passes the temp dropped to -26 the coldest of the trip!!

All in all the trip was great fun with good friends and great skiing.

So …. If you get the chance to go to a world airline ski meet…… Go to it !!

Cheers  Radar.