Four tips on how to win a Rugby World Cup

History shows there are many pitfalls to avoid. 

Iain McGregor/Fairfax NZ

CUP RUNNETH OVER: Captain Richie McCaw (left) and coach Graham Henry hold the William Webb Ellis trophy aloft during the All Blacks' victory parade in Christchurch in 2011.

This piece by rugby doyen Phil Gifford  gives some very basic tips on hoe to win a Rugby World Cup that I would like to share with you

Between now and September, when the Rugby World Cup starts in England there will be some high levels of anxiety, second guessing and general twitchiness over the All Blacks' chances.
For the past six months I've been interviewing, researching, and raking through the coals of my own memory, as a journalist at every cup, for a new book.
Talking now with people such as Taine Randell, Reuben Thorne, and Andrew Mehrtens, and scouring interviews and books I worked on at the time with coaches Laurie Mains, Alex Wyllie, and Brian Lochore, hordes of players, team managers, doctors and fitness experts, patterns of success and failure clearly emerge.
What are the mistakes to be avoided?
1: Complacency
Contrary to general wisdom, while the twin coaching of Wyllie and John Hart in 1991 was as confusing to the players as it seemed to outsiders, just as big a problem was a belief in a hugely talented core group from 1987 that they didn't need to work that hard to win again in '91.
In the words of Zinzan Brooke, "The players were so far up themselves they thought winning the Cup was no more than they deserved and that it would happen as a matter of right."
2: Not switching tactics on the hoof.
Contrary to the anti-Laurie Mains camp, led in this country by Keith Quinn, the majority of the players who went into the final in 1995 against South Africa had genuinely been smitten with food poisoning on the Thursday night/Friday morning before the Saturday afternoon final.
There's no doubt the legacy of the illnesses played a part in the loss, but the All Blacks also didn't change the way they were playing, which largely consisted of doing everything at high speed, and getting the ball wide, in particular to Jonah Lomu's wing.

In the final, a senior player in the team, Mike Brewer, says, "They played an outside-in defence, looking at pincering Jonah so he couldn't beat his man, James Small, on the outside. They put Small on his outside, and with their centre moving on Jonah from the inside they shut him down really well." Faced with a team who had worked out a way to stop them, the All Blacks of '95 didn't switch to another plan.
In 2007 the All Blacks in Cardiff stuck to hopefully smashing their way over the line, aiming through pressure to get a try, or, at least, a kickable penalty. With a referee in Wayne Barnes who had stopped awarding penalties it was never going to succeed. They didn't change their approach.

 What works?
1: Goal kicking
Ask Beaver Donald and the 2011 team about that. Playing a knockout game without a reliable goalkicker is not so much taking a knife to a gunfight as hoping a sad look will make a gunman put down his weapon.
2: Experience, experience, and a bit more experience.
The romantic notion is that the '87 team was stacked with Baby Blacks, a new wave that swept through the ranks infusing the squad with enthusiasm and raw talent.
In fact the starting side for the '87 final had eight Cavaliers (from the rebel tour of '86 to South Africa), and just two players, Joe Stanley and Sean Fitzpatrick, who made their All Black debuts as Baby Blacks. There was nothing another team could throw at people like Grant Fox, Buck Shelford and Gary Whetton that they hadn't seen before.
On the other hand, as a prime example of what happens when you don't have a powerful core of veterans, look at 1999. When the French start to come back in the semifinal, Taine Randell, well-liked, a talented player, but at only 24 and a virtual newcomer to the leadership role, struggles.
Christian Cullen says, "If ever there was a time when we needed Fitzy (Sean Fitzpatrick) back it was now. He was the sort of bloke who would have said. 'Listen, this is what we are going to ****ing do.' But we didn't have that type of leadership any more. It's too easy to blame Taine (Randell). Some senior guys didn't back him. That wasn't his fault. So instead of having one clear and decisive voice we had Taine, Robin (Brooke), Dowdy (Craig Dowd), and Goldie (Jeff Wilson) all having their say."

Between now and the 2015 cup you can guarantee the spectre of some of the All Blacks being over the hill will be raised. History shows it's better to have guys starting to head down the other side than players who have never been up the hill at all.

 - Stuff

Family hope death will prevent more accidents - Mark Ellis

My family has known the Ellis family since way back in the depression days of the 1930, and have followed the very positive contribution the Ellis family has made to the outdoors in New Zealand and around the world. The tragic death of Mark Ellis rocked the New Zealand climbing world and I was pleased to read today the comments from Mark's mother, Jane Ellis.

Jane Ellis said the road upgrade meant something positive had come from her son's death."You should have been able to go down the road at the speed he was going and not come off," she said.
"The road is no longer the windy road [it was]. It is a flat road, tar sealed and with speed signs on it.
"There should be no reason for other accidents there. I'm sure it will have [saved lives]."
McElrea recommended DOC develop a national policy for its rural sealed and gravel roads, including identifying danger spots.

YOUNG ADVENTURER: Mark Ellis pictured at the summit of Mt Franklin in the Southern Alps.

The family of a mountaineer who crashed on a gravel road in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park take comfort his death may save other lives.
The Tasman Valley Rd, a busy tourist route, is now sealed, flat and has speed and warning signs.
Mark Roland Ellis, 22, from Christchurch, had unwittingly picked up two left boots before setting off on a trip to the park with his brother in February 2012.
They stayed a night in the car at Blue Lakes car park and planned to raft across the Tasman Lake and camp before climbing the next day.
When Ellis realised on the morning of February 7 that he had brought two left boots, he decided to drive to Aoraki/Mt Cook village to hire boots. He did not wear a seatbelt.

His younger brother, Ben, waited at the car park.

Ellis was driving at about 66kmh when he lost control of the vehicle on a bend between 7am and 7.30am.
He braked, slowing to about 52kmh, and tried to correct the car, but it left the road and rolled down a 3.2-metre bank.
He was partly thrown from the vehicle, and died at the scene from chest and head injuries.
Coroner Richard McElrea released his findings into the death today.

Ellis' chances of survival would have been "considerably enhanced" had he worn a seatbelt, but it was unclear if it would have saved him given the extensive vehicle damage, the coroner said.
The road was "corrugated and rutted". There were no curve or speed-advisory signs, the coroner said.
It was a default 100kmh zone, because there was only one 60kmh speed sign on the road, near State Highway 80.
The Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Transport Agency spent $3 million upgrading and re-aligning the road. It re-opened in September.

Jane Ellis said the road upgrade meant something positive had come from her son's death.
"You should have been able to go down the road at the speed he was going and not come off," she said.
"The road is no longer the windy road [it was]. It is a flat road, tarsealed and with speed signs on it.
"There should be no reason for other accidents there. I'm sure it will have [saved lives]."
McElrea recommended DOC develop a national policy for its rural sealed and gravel roads, including identifying danger spots.
There were 11 other crashes, seven involving foreign drivers, on the same stretch of road between May 2009 and August 2013, one of them fatal.
The coroner's recommendations included:
- The speed limit for Tasman Valley Rd be formally designated and the required number of speed-limit signs put in place.
- The Department of Conservation formulates a standardised speed-limit process for its rural gravel and sealed roads.
- That DOC inspects its roads and identifies areas where safety is a concern.
- That DOC develops a "delineation policy" for its roads that makes specific reference to curves and high-use roads.

Some years ago I wrote this article for my blog: 

 Bought some good Fairydown clothing yesterday; warm tops and trousers. While trying on the Fairydown clothes my mind flashed back to 1877 when this company had its humble beginnings in Dunedin. This company kept food on my Mother's table during the depression of the early 1930s when she worked for them for eight years just prior to World War II. So I have always had a soft spot for Fairydown the brand which came from the old established Dunedin company, Arthur Ellis and Company.. I wore their Down Jackets in Peru in 1968, Antarctica 69-70 and they sponsored me in 1985 and 1986 on two North Pole expeditions. The company made its name making high quality Eiderdowns from the Eider duck feathers. An old mentor of mine was Murray Ellis who went with Ed Hillary to the South Pole on tractors in 1957. His son David who carried on Fairydown for some years before starting up his own company Earth Sea Sky. Murray is best known for his role in keeping the modified Ferguson farm tractors going when, in the summer of 1957-58, the New Zealand expedition beat their British counterparts to the South Pole. It was his Dunedin company, Arthur Ellis and Co, which kept the men warm in purpose designed polar clothing and sleeping bags. Murray was part of an inner circle of five New Zealanders known as The Old Firm, led by Sir Edmund Hillary, who achieved this ground breaking feat. Following the Trans Antarctic expedition Murray joined Sir Edmund Hillary in the Himalayas on several climbing trips and to help with aid projects in Nepal. It is amazing how a trip to a shop and seeing a label can trigger such memories.

Thanks to the Christchurch Press for permission to run this article.

 Here is a link for full article:

 

Our Heritage

(taken from the Earth Sea Sky website)

The Ellis families’ involvement in manufacturing outdoor products began in the 1920’s when Roland Ellis combined his love of mountaineering with the manufacture of his company’s bedding products. Roland developed and made the first down-filled sleeping bags in the Southern Hemisphere. From the 1930’s the company’s sleeping bags became essential equipment for all New Zealand outdoor enthusiasts. The wide recognition of their excellence was endorsed on the international stage when Ed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay used them during their first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953.

Roland Ellis, Mount Aspiring Station before the first guideless ascent of Mt Aspiring. December 1927.
Photo: Ellis Family Archives

Roland Ellis’s homemade mountain tent design.
Copyright: New Zealand Alpine Club, 1935 Journal.

Roland’s son, Murray, joined the family business in 1948. A keen tramper, mountaineer, and qualified engineer, he was a member of Sir Edmund Hillary’s New Zealand team of the 1957-58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Murray helped to establish the original Scott Base and was one of the two engineers who kept the three Massey Ferguson farm tractors going during the depot laying expedition to the South Pole. Their five-man team (the “Old Firm”) was the first to reach the pole overland since Amundsen and Scott in 1911-12.
Murray continued his father’s work, developing down-filled clothing and manufacturing New Zealand’s first synthetic fibre filled sleeping bags.

Massey Fergusson tractor in a crevasse on the Polar Plateau, December 1958
Left to Right: Ed Hillary, Jim Bates, Peter Mulgrew, Derek Wright, Doug McKenzie (press correspondent).
Photo: Murray Ellis

The "Old Firm" arriving at the South Pole, January 4th 1958
Left to Right: Jim Bates (mechanic), Peter Mulgrew (radio operator) Ed Hillary (leader and navigator), Murray Ellis (engineer), Derek Wright (cameraman)
Photo: Murray Ellis Collection

---

Keeping the family tradition alive, Murray’s son David joined Arthur Ellis & Co in 1980. As an active climber, tramper and ski mountaineer he spent nine years developing and selling a range of packs, tents and outdoor clothing to complement the company's sleeping bags. He was the first to develop and introduce an adjustable pack harness for internal frame packs in New Zealand.

Head of the Donne Valley, Fiordland, January 1974
Left to Right: David Ellis, Mark Easton, Al Soon, Colin Strang.
Photo: David Ellis

Earth Sea Sky, Christchurch, December 1990, Sydney Mulligan and David Ellis working on the first clothing range.
Photo: David Ellis

Earth Sea Sky was formed in December 1990 when David teamed up with clothing designer, Sydney Mulligan. Between them they had more than 25 years experience in New Zealand’s outdoor clothing industry. This experience in design, production and sales was used to fill a growing need in the market for outdoor clothing that combined comfort, style and performance. David and Sydney introduced designs and colours that linked function and performance with great fit, attention to detail and fashion. Their first range of 20 garments included tramping jackets, oilskins, waterproof ski wear, 60/40 anorak windshells and Polartec thermal fleeces.
Since then, most of New Zealand's outdoor clothing brands have taken their production offshore. Earth Sea Sky is committed to remaining New Zealand made. The Ellis family believes this is vital in maintaining the brand’s consistent quality and uniqueness.

The Ellis family on the high peak of Mt Rolleston, Arthur’s Pass, January 2006.
Left to Right: Mark, Jane, Michael, Ben. Photo: David Ellis

 

Brendon McCullum secret to Cricket World Cup success

S

Getty Images 

Is Brendon McCullum our World Cup secret weapon?

A World Cup is like a jigsaw puzzle, if the pieces fit together and work in tandem you feel a sense of accomplishment and end up staring at a magnificent picture in front of you, but if they don't fit, frustration rises. The puzzle will remains unfinished and then the 'what ifs' start to circulate.
The Black Caps have provided the New Zealand public with several highs and lows over the past decade or two. This current team is beginning to consistently provide highs, silence critics and get recognition from around the globe, especially from our neighbours across the ditch.
Come February 14, the most anticipated month-and-a-half of cricket this country will ever see will begin, as we try to achieve something never done before.
If current form is anything to go by we may as well get the trophy engraved now, but World Cups are different. Things don't go to plan, Kane Williamson gets a golden duck and the dream is over.
Where the Black Caps stand above the rest is the depth they've created over the past 18 months. They have players maturing at the right time and most importantly winning games from unwinnable positions. This gives the team confidence and the knowledge they can win even when they're behind the eight ball.

 The successful NZ test cricket team who defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 in the recent series.

The naming of the squad sprung a few surprises, such as Jimmy Neesham missing out to Grant Elliott, and the most promising pace bowler in the country, Matt Henry, piped at the finish by an injury-free Kyle Mills. Elliott and Mills may offer the same skill set as those who missed out, but experience makes up for that in spades, and entering a World Cup it is a crucial statistic to take into consideration.
In all likelihood neither Mills nor Elliott will make the final XI so it's more important what they offer off the field than on it.
To win a tournament like the World Cup, x-factor is a prerequisite and we have a little gem in Brendon McCullum. His blazing half century off 19 balls the other week showed us what this man can do, and if he can replicate his form of 2014 to the World Cup it's fair to say we'll win more games than we lose.

His captaincy will also will be integral to this team. His 'never say never' attitude rubs off on each player and lifts their skill set to the next level. His strategic mind and brilliant attacking captaincy makes him the most innovative and proactive captain in the world.He's managed to gather a team of typical New Zealand cricketers and build a team culture and environment where they believe they can be the best and beat the best.

 His captaincy will also will be integral to this team. His 'never say never' attitude rubs off on each player and lifts their skill set to the next level. His strategic mind and brilliant attacking captaincy makes him the most innovative and proactive captain in the world.
We seem to have every box ticked, quality seam bowlers, brilliant spinner, two genius batsman, the x-factor, an extraordinary fielding unit and experience. The only thing missing is that massive trophy.
On March 29, we will meet a team with the exactly same attributes as those above. Then we will know if we are the best in the world or just the best of the rest.
It doesn't matter if we win or just make the semis like we usually do, there will be no denying that this tournament will capture the public's imagination, and be a once in a lifetime spectacle. Having the trophy in the cabinet for the next four years will be just be the icing we really deserve.


 Thanks to Stuff NZ for permission to run this article by GAVIN POOLE

Whisper it quietly, the book is back … and here’s the man leading the revival

Bright lights, good coffee ... and great books (even hardbacks) are the key to injecting new life into bookshops, says James Daunt, chief executive of Waterstones

 
Waterstones chief executive James Daunt Photograph: Martin Godwin

James Daunt is a bookseller with a penchant for stories (Anna Karenina is one of his favourites), who is also an inveterate risk taker. In 2011, he watched a Russian oligarch named Alexander Mamut make an insane bid for commercial suicide. And then he volunteered to join him.

Mamut’s crazy venture (“Nobody invests in bookshops to make money,” says Daunt) was his bid for Waterstones, then an ailing chain, burdened with several million pounds of debt. Daunt’s reckless career move was to join Mamut as his CEO, a job widely seen as a poisoned chalice. Many Waterstones-watchers predicted various dire scenarios.
Sometimes, however, stories have happy endings. And this month, Daunt was able to announce that, finally, Waterstones is about to break even.
The news that, for the first time in a long time, Waterstones is beginning to show signs of modest growth (new shops; new optimism; new markets) is symbolic of a sea-change in the world of books. Whisper it discreetly, but the book is showing signs of making a modest comeback, with British bookselling exhibiting the symptoms of an unfamiliar, fragile optimism.
During the first decade of the new century, this sector cornered the market in gloomy predictions that the end of the world was nigh. The digital revolution, plus Amazon, plus the credit crunch, seemed to add up to a literary apocalypse. There were moments, some CEOs in book publishing now concede, when they could hardly see a commercial way forward. A mood of panic quickly spread, with many dire predictions.
In Britain, hardbacks were said to be on the rocks, libraries doomed, the ebook all conquering, with the Visigoths of online selling storming through the high street. Among writers, with the tumbleweed blowing down Grub Street, the garret loomed.

When Daunt, who had founded a chain of London bookshops, became CEO of Waterstones in 2011, he recalls that “everyone was looking into a dark deep pit”. No question: he faced a uniquely bad set of economic indicators. Sure enough, his appointment was followed by three very difficult years – horrendous is the word he chooses – in which about half his shop managers were laid off, the head office closed down and margins slashed to the bone.
Now, as the all-important Christmas season comes into play, Daunt is one of a growing number of senior people in the book trade who see that this is not, after all, the beginning of the end but – possibly – the end of the beginning.
To demonstrate the resilience of the traditional book in the midst of a changing market, Daunt took the Observer on a tour of his latest shop opening, Waterstones/Hatchards in St Pancras Station, London. “What we have to do,” he says, “is adapt to new market conditions. It’s no longer enough just to stock a lot of new titles.”
Bookselling today is about bright lighting, friendly staff, cleverly designed bookcases that display new hardbacks – yes, hardbacks – to best advantage, an espresso coffee machine behind the checkout counter and finally – how can we put this ? – many unbookish things such as novelty items, jigsaws, games, children’s toys, Paddington bears, greetings cards and upmarket stationery.
“We’ve been through a fairly tumultuous period,” says Daunt, “but it does seem to be settling at last.” At times, he has seemed to be fighting a war on three fronts: the global recession; the surge in e-reading; and the threat of online selling (Amazon). “Occasionally,” he says, “we thought that people were in flight from the physical book. But now I think the book is back.”
Certainly, the trade has stabilised. More people than ever before are reading, in all formats. In Britain, ebook sales, which have now peaked, account for about 30% of the market. “Waterstones can make a living from the 70% that’s left over,” says Daunt. “And now that we’ve stabilised, we can begin to grow.”
Daunt’s “stabilisation” programme has involved fundamentally rethinking Waterstones. Gone, for instance, is the old tyranny of central buying, the process whereby Bath, Bolton and Blackpool would be instructed by head office which books to order. “We used to be top-down,” says Daunt. “Now it’s all about what’s right for the individual shop and its local market.” Lately, in Waterstones redux, bookshops and their managers have become much more autonomous – independent states within a federal system.
And then there’s the new Waterstones vibe. The chain still has 287 outlets (roughly the same as when Daunt took over) but they have been comprehensively revamped. They are brighter, lighter, and more welcoming. “We are now selling a lot of things that are not books,” says Daunt.
This is not the end of civilisation, but a sign of the times. Reading habits are changing worldwide. The consumer’s use of leisure time is no longer dominated by book-reading. That, says Daunt, means “we have to rethink what a good bookshop should be”.
One prerequisite, which is as old as retail, is market awareness. “Getting the right number of the right books on to the shop floor is essential,” says Daunt, who is renowned within the trade for his belief in computer systems. “Booksellers, as a tribe, have resisted technology, but computers do some things extraordinarily well.
“The actual arrangement of the bookshop is down to the bookseller. We have become really good at creating bestsellers.” He points to the success of The Miniaturist, a first novel by Jessie Burton, the sales of Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, and the success of Henry Marsh’s extraordinary memoir, Do No Harm. “It’s very simple,” says Daunt. “If you sell good books, you get repeat orders. We find our customers can become addicted to our choices.”
And here’s where new selling techniques meet age-old instincts. “Do not underestimate,” he instructs, “the pleasures of reading. The satisfactions of the book, in the age of social media and proliferating cultural choices, are very singular.”
The pleasures of reading morph into the aesthetic delights of print and paper. Reading a favourite novel on a screen is like tasting a vintage wine through a straw. The unintended consequence of the ebook, Daunt reports, has been to make many readers return to the hardback.
Daunt points with fascination to the perennial puzzles of the book trade. Why, for instance, has The Guest Cat, a modern Japanese fable, done so well ? It’s a mystery.
Does he have a Christmas sleeper? Mystery in White, a British Library reprint of a classic crime story is selling in “astonishing numbers”. Why? How? A big smile. “No one knows.” Another exquisite hardback, geared to the gift market, that has just begun to show signs of movement is Susanna Hislop’s Stories in the Stars (Hutchinson).
As always, it’s word-of-mouth, the irresistible rumour of a good book, that’s crucial. Radio – “another old-fashioned medium” – still plays an important part here. And this, he agrees, has turned out to be “a golden age of reading. We don’t sell books, really, so much as sell reading. Looking into the crystal ball three years ago, a lot of us feared for the future. Now there’s a future in which even the hardback has a role.”
Daunt is far from complacent. “It remains a big challenge to do it better, year on year. We have a responsibility to the culture to do it well. We will remain in the high street, however challenging that becomes. Our market share is up and we’re celebrating break-even. But that’s not sustainable. No business can survive just by breaking even. So this is work in progress.”
Did he ever despair in the depths of the recession ? “No – but I knew everything had to go right for us to succeed.”
Waterstones is on a roll. New shops have opened in Lewes, East Sussex; Ringwood, Hampshire; Southwold, Suffolk; Gateshead; and Dorking, Surrey. Daunt pays tribute to some “sensational” shops in Doncaster, South Yorkshire; Livingston, West Lothian; and Middlesbrough. Yes, he repeats, with a confident smile, “It does feel like the end of the beginning. Who knows what the next chapter will be?”

Article  by  Robert McCrum. Thanks to the Observor for permission toi run this article.

My NZ Sportsperson for 2014

 Sam Smoothy Photo : ©D.Daher

I have been following sport and outdoor pursuits carefully and passionately for decades, and whilst there are so many New Zealand sportspeople who would cram together for the title of sportspeople of 2014, my winner is Sam Smoothy from Wanaka New Zealand. 

You imagine yourself at the top of a very steep mountain face with a gradient of up to 60 degrees at the top of the course. The fresh snow  at times is affected by the wind, making the conditions all the more variable and tricky. Your preparation has only been a visual inspection and the face is dotted with deathly rock outcrops. One mistake, and its a serious injury or even death. Courage, cool-headed judgement in extreme situations, with an exceptionally high skill level, is what Sam survival and thrive attitude has brought to world free skiing.

Raised at the shores of Lake Wanaka, the centre of the down under freeriding scene, he has been on two sticks ever since he could stand on two feet. Although he did the race scene as a kid, he was always more interested in the fun side of skiing.  Thus he developed his trademark skiing style that goes so well with his name. That doesn’t mean that the surf enthusiast has no determination.

Nothing shapes a better skier than time spent on skis. This can easily be seen from the increasing amount of world-class freeskiers coming from New Zealand, the 28-year-old, Sam Smoothy above,  being the latest proof. 


 SnowSports NZ says this about Sam's magnificent 2nd place in the Swatch Freeride World Tour 2014 in Verbier, Switzerland- (30 March 2014) –

With a new coat of 50cm of fresh snow, the mythical Bec des Rosses in Verbier, Switzerland, promised an epic final competition of the by The North Face®.
After a long waiting period for the best possible weather and snow, the stars finally aligned, making for an even better show, witnessed by six thousand cheering spectators and four thousand viewers on the live webcast. At the end of the day winners of both the 19th edition of the legendary “Xtreme” and the 2014 Freeride World Tour Champions were crowned with New Zealand’s own Sam Smoothy taking out second place in the overall tour rankings for the men’s ski category.
Able to prepare themselves with a visual inspection only, the competitors’ mission was to conquer a very steep face with a gradient of up to 60 degrees at the top of the course. The fresh snow was at times affected by the wind, making the conditions all the more variable and tricky.
The 15 competitors in the men’s ski category wrapped up the 2014 grande finale with an incredible show. One of the favourites on the Bec des Rosses, the solid Swede Reine Barkered, repeated his win from 2012. The former World Champion (2012) showcased his signature style with fast technical riding and perfectly-landed huge airs, skiing the intimidating face with confidence and composure to earn the day’s highest score of 93.25 points.
All eyes were on rookie Loïc Collomb-Patton of La Clusaz, France, who has led the rankings since the first competition in Courmayeur, Italy. On his first ever run on the Bec des Rosses he proved why he was worthy of the 2014 title, finishing off big mountain charging with an impressive 360 (full rotation) off a big cliff, putting him in third place of the day and in a very good position to win the overall Freeride World Tour title on his first year on the tour.

Kiwi Sam Smoothy came into the finals competition with his eyes on the prize but his body feeling the effects of a serious crash only days prior to the competition. Sam had been cleared of having a fractured back and had undergone intensive massage, acupuncture and physiotherapy before eventually being declared fit to compete.

“It was a really tough mental place to be in, feeling like the world title was so close but moving further away from me,” explains Sam.
“I improved a little over the four days before the comp and on the morning was excited to see what I could do to win. Unfortunately all the healing and then the hour an half walk up the Bec de Rosses sapped all my energy and power.
“I still felt good mentally in the start gate and was going to go for a podium line, the same as eventual winner Reine Barkered. But after a few turns I could feel my body just simply wasn’t working and my left hip was unstable so I pulled out of my first big air. I tried to link some smaller ones together but was really struggling, feeling like I was running on empty.
“I sent my bottom air big but landed square in someone’s bomb hole and backslapped badly, knocking my points way down. Running it out I could barely stay standing and collapsed once over the finish line. It was more relief to have made it down safe than happy to have skied. I knew I had not done enough and was super happy for the overall winner Loic.”
Sam finished the day’s final placed 11^th but it was enough to hold on to second place on the overall tour rankings.
The 2014 Freeride World Tour has been anything but plain sailing for the New Zealander who almost missed the first tour stop due to an emergency operation to remove his appendix. Despite not claiming the coveted tour title he was nonetheless proud to claim second place.
“In all I’m really proud I tried to go for the win but it just simply wasn’t on in my condition. I am so happy with my season battling through the appendix removal, a hyper extended elbow and destroyed back.


And the North Face Website gives this take on Sam.

 There is something extremely cool about kiwi skiers.
Maybe it's the two winters a year that they tap into. Sam Smoothy is no different in that aspect. We caught him as he is just getting settled in Verbier, Switzerland which will be his European base for the season. If there's any anxiousness to live up to last season's standards, it doesn't show. He doesn't usually come to Europe this early though, he says, and reveals that he is impatient to get some snow and "go shoot some epic photos with the infamous Tero Repo." [Award Winning photographer from Finland.] Mainly he came in early to get stronger, get the feel back on snow, "work on a little park stuff and do a bunch of soul shredding with my friends." The words he choses to describe his December training plans reflect his relationship to regimented schedules, of which he is not a big fan. He tried the more rigid line in 2013 and it didn't work well for him results wise, at least not immediately. But who knows if that's what paid off last season where consistent results placed him second overall despite struggling with appendicitis and back problems which kept him more off the snow than usual. He chooses a modest explanation: "I think I was pretty lucky to get 2nd after how much I struggled with injuries in 2014, I only skied 20 days all season, most of them comp days or scoping lines for FWT days. This year I am not changing much up, just looking to shred hard and enjoy myself, just let my skis run and not think too much about it all. So with that and a healthy strong body hopefully that will put me on top." Unambitious as it might sound, it could just show that Sam is a a professional athlete who knows exactly where he is at. There seems to come a point in any athlete's career where the hours put in have compounded a certain skill value, that can keep him or her up there - at least for a while - without having to invest at the same rate as before. A time where other factors such as recovery and rebalancing become increasingly important; and the training volume less. "I do try and keep a bit of balance, doing other activities in the off season and just try to make sure I don't ski too much and get a little burnt out, a mix of activities is key for me." With two winters a year, this concern is very real. Luckily Sam is not short of passions. "After the euro winter I took some time off and did a surf trip through Sumatra, Sri Lanka and wrapped it up with a boat trip in the Maldives with my girlfriend and some friends which was amazing! I then returned home to the NZ winter where I filmed a section with Legs of Steel Productions, got some more waves, worked on fixing my back and did some work on my house there, all round good times really." The house work did not include any star dusting. Despite talent density, freeride is not a big sport in New Zealand, and back home, the FWT runner up champion is just another happy skier who happens to like hitting cliffs at full throttle. "I definitely do not have star status in NZ ... and I am very much happy about that. I think my mates would give me too much grief about it if I did. I'm very happy just being left alone to do what I love." Fortunately for FWT fans around the world, doing what he loves involves competing on the Freeride World Tour, sharing the spectacular external part of the competition run itself. Right here though, Sam describes the whole picture so it almost feels like you are up next: "I like the occasion of it all, the scouting of a line, getting everything ready and settled for that one big moment. Then theres the wait, the build up of pressure and anxiety before the almost sinister calm in the start gate before all hell breaks loose. The joy of stomping a big line under such conditions just amplifies the emotions for me. And doing it all before an appreciative crowd adds a nice little bonus too." INTERVIEW sam smoothy portrait What have you been up to since last season? (I believe you competed in New Zealand in Aug...Have you done any videos?) After the euro winter I took some time off and did a surf trip through Sumatra, Sri Lanka and wrapped it up with a boat trip in the Maldives with my girlfriend and some friends which was amazing! I then returned home to the NZ winter where I filmed a section with Legs of Steel Productions, got some more waves, worked on fixing my back and did some work on my house there, all round good times really. What does a typical week look like for pro rider Sam Smoothy in the month of December? Well I'm not normally in Europe this early so that's already not typical for me and I'm not a big fan of regimented schedules. I will just be looking to keep getting stronger, get the feel back on snow, work on a little park stuff and do a bunch of soul shredding with my friends. Hopefully we get some snow and I can shoot some epic photos with the infamous Tero Repo. Runner up for the title last season after a difficult 2013... What has been your focus to go all the way and take the title this coming season? Yeah I think I was pretty lucky to get 2nd after how much I struggled with injuries in 2014, I only skied 20 days all season, most of them comp days or scoping lines for FWT days. This year I am not changing much up, just looking to shred hard and enjoy myself, just let my skis run and not think too much about it all. So with that and a healthy strong body hopefully that will put me on top. You must have skied more days than anybody on the tour living 2 winters a year. Do you still ski as much – and how many days a year is that? Ha well I haven't done that last year because of injuries, as I said it was like 20 days in europe and probably only something similar in NZ so I am super fired up to ski a lot more this season and get loads of days in. I do try and keep a bit of balance, doing other activities in the off season and just try to make sure I don't ski too much and get a little burnt out, a mix of activities is key for me. What would you say is your trademark as a skier? Probably my dazzling smile. Or maybe hitting cliffs at full throttle. But probably my looks. Yeah definitely. Oh and my very serious demeanor. What does it mean to an FWT podium skier coming from New Zealand? Do you have star status there (TV)? Do people know you? Or is it rather anonymous – the FWT season being in your summer and skiing maybe not on most people's mind? I definitely do not have star status in NZ where freeride skiing is a tiny sport and I am very much happy about that, I think my mates would give me too much grief about it if I did. I'm very happy just being left alone to do what I love. What do you like about competing in freeride – as opposed to just going our riding with friends? I like the occasion of it all, the scouting of a line, getting everything ready and settled for that one big moment. Then theres the wait, the build up of pressure and anxiety before the almost sinister calm in the start gate before all hell breaks loose. The joy of stomping a big line under such conditions just amplifies the emotions for me. And doing it all before an appreciative crowd adds a nice little bonus too. The FWT is going to Alaska this season...What does that mean to you? Have you ever been skiing in Alaska? I think its great the FWT is going to Alaska, its the mecca for freeride for sure and I think it will be really interesting to see what the worlds best competitive freeriders will ride on a place thats normally reserved for big film companies and how those lines will compare. I have only skied one day in Alaska, at Points North Heli in Cordova where I filmed with Tony Harrington. I didnt get very good snow but the terrain up there was immense and totally where I want to be with my skiing. That one day still had a couple of the greatest runs of my life which makes it a very special place for me.

The concept of freeride informs the very soul of the snowsport experience. Indeed, the notion of ‘freeriding’ was born the moment folks figured out how to secure their feet onto long slats of wood in order to move easier over the winter landscape – and discovered that they could suddenly shuck the bonds of gravity and fly. They were free. They could ride down the hill at will. They never looked back… As far back as the 1930’s and ‘40’s, legendary ski champion Emile Allais and his merry band of mountain adventurers were already assaulting the couloirs and gullies that dropped from the heady summits around Mt Blanc and Chamonix. Some of their early descents beggar the imagination – especially considering the rudimentary nature of the gear they were using back then. But it took until the late 1960’s and ‘70’s – when Ski Extreme was first coined by the French and the gear had improved substantially – for freeride to really attract global attention. Much of it was due to the hard-charging styles of its main proponents – visionary mountain men like Sylvain Saudan, Patrick Vallencant, Bruno Gouvy and Jean Marc Boivin – who were stretching the limits of downhill riding in a way that had never been seen before. In these years, freeride was truly extreme. If you fell, you died… But the Americans weren’t far behind. Led by pioneers like Montana’s Bill Briggs and California’s Steve McKinney, a whole new generation of young riders begin testing themselves in the steep slopes of the Rockies, the Wasatch and the Sierra Nevada. More ‘Hollywood’ than their French counterparts, and far more into the entertainment aspects than the Europeans, icons like Glen Plake and Scot Schmidt brought a whole new aesthetic to the American ski experience in the 1980’s. It was their offbeat, out-there style, showcased by filmmaker Greg Stump in such seminal films at Blizzard of Aaaah’s that really set the stage for the launch of the first ever freeride contests. And what a launch that was! The near-mythical World Extreme Ski Championships (WESC), contested on the hoary slopes of Alaska’s Wasatch Mountains, was the coming out party for a whole new gang of big-mountain freeriders. In fact, the start list for the inaugural 1991 contest reads like a Who’s Who of modern freeriding: Doug Coombs won the inaugural men’s title while Kim Reichhelm was tops in the women. Meanwhile the Europeans – primarily the French and the Swedes – were honing their big-mountain techniques on the often-nasty inclines around Mont Blanc and the Savoie Region. But the moment they discovered there were contests happening in America, the while game changed. When a French teenager by the name of Guerlain Chicherit unleashed a corker of a run in flat-light and ugly Alaskan conditions to capture his first WESC title back in 1999 (and beat out his mentor, Seb Michaud), few people realized the enormous impact his Valdez victory would have on the freeriding movement. For the new World Champion wasn’t alone. Back home in France were dozens of young chargers just like him. Fast, smooth – and incredibly efficient on skis. Bold beyond belief. Yet completely sure of their stuff – even in big exposure. This, many ski historian believe, was the true beginning of the freeride revolution… But what about the snowboarders? From the very inception of the sport in the early 1980’s, it was clear that the one-plank concept was ideal for attacking gnarly terrain and steep drops. More stable and easier to manage in difficult – or changing – conditions, the snowboard became the new tool of choice for many big mountain adventures. In fact, for many early freeride practitioners, it was a snowboard that got them into the backcountry in the first place! Like the skiers, the snowboarders of the early 1990’s had their very own Alaska event in which to shine. Launched as the World Extreme Snowboarding Championships in 1992, the event soon morphed into the hugely popular King Of the Hill under visionary Nick Peralta’s guidance. Here too, the start list for these event events reads like a list of snowboarding royalty: Matt Goodwill, Shaun Palmer, Steve Klassen, Julie Zell, Tina Basich, Anthonin Lieutaghi and Axel Pauporté. It was just a matter of time before the two disciplines would join forces… But it took a wild Swiss-Brit entrepreneur by the name of Nicolas Hale-Woods to make it happen. Launched in the winter of 1996, the Verbier Extreme was originally strictly a snowboard contest. But all that changed in 2004 when ten of the world’s top two-planked freeriders were invited to participate. The event was never the same again. Today, Hale-Woods oversees an annual world ski and snowboard circuit – the Freeride World Tour -- that travels from Russia to America and back to his home Alps for the final events. The very cream of riders – skiers and snowboarders, men and women – all vie for an invitation to this prestigious event. ‘Who could have imagined we would have come this far so soon,” says Hale-Woods. “It’s a great event. But more importantly, the riders who participate are truly fantastic people…” Freeride Legends So who is the best freerider of all times? Is it a classic old-timer like Emile Allais, a true extreme skier like Sylvain Saudan, a mountain entertainer like Glen Plake, a modern master like Seb Michaud or a relative newcomer like Swedish champion Henrik Windstedt? Hard to tell. And how do you compare them to a versatile skier-cum-mountain-guide like La Rosiere’s Manu Gaidet. Or to a true adrenaline junkie like Tignes’ Guerlain Chicherit. And what about the newcomers to the tour this year – big-mountain ragers like Thomas Diet or Canadian Brett Crabtree. These guys are ready to do just about anything to push the limits of the sport – and they do it for the sheer joy of discovering new sensations. Should they be considered in the mix too? And the snowboarders? Is American Steve Klassen the best freerider of all times? How do his countrymen Matt Goodwill, Shaun Palmer and Jay Liska stack up? Or can we make an argument for French eccentric Antonin Lieutaghi or all-round champion (and World Freeride Tour ’08 champion) Xavier de la Rue? How about the Swiss trio of Alex Coudray, Cyril Neri and Jonas Emery? They’re no slouches either. So many names; so much talent… As for the women, they’re improving their freeride game all the time. Think of pioneers like Kim Reichhelm, Wendy Fisher and Swiss ace Francine Moreillon. They definitely set the freeride bar high back in the mid-‘90’s. What about the new crop of riders? Alaskan Elyse Saugtsad certainly showed she had it going on last year when she stole the overall title from under the noses of her more experienced rivals. Her Swedish counterpart, Marja Persson also needs to be considered. Then there are wild card entries like Whistler’s Jenn Ashton or Squaw Valley’s Jamie Burge who will have to be reckoned with this season. The field is deep. Very deep. As for the female side of the snowboard list, the names are just as impressive. Think back to the early 1990’s at what Montana hard-girl, Julie Zell was doing in Alaska. Consider the lines Renaissance woman Tina Basich pioneered in California. And what about defending WFT champion Ruth Leisbach of Switzerland? Seems like she has a pretty good claim to top rider status. Ouf. And then there’s… Stop. They’re all great. Each one, in their own time and place, has shown the world not only what sliding on snow is all about but also what living life to the fullest really means. For in the end, freeriding stands for far more than just another way to compete for glory and make money. It’s a way of life too. And all these riders – whether Windstedt or Michaud or Crabtree or Klassen or Saugstad or Leisbach – are star ambassadors for that kind of existence. So give it up for the world of freeriding and its crazy denizens. They might not have the answer to the world’s current economic problems. But they certainly know how to have fun! - See more at: http://around.freerideworldtour.com/history#sthash.evE2U8IH.dpuf The concept of freeride informs the very soul of the snowsport experience. Indeed, the notion of ‘freeriding’ was born the moment folks figured out how to secure their feet onto long slats of wood in order to move easier over the winter landscape – and discovered that they could suddenly shuck the bonds of gravity and fly. They were free. They could ride down the hill at will. They never looked back…

As far back as the 1930’s and ‘40’s, legendary ski champion Emile Allais and his merry band of mountain adventurers were already assaulting the couloirs and gullies that dropped from the heady summits around Mt Blanc and Chamonix. Some of their early descents beggar the imagination – especially considering the rudimentary nature of the gear they were using back then. But it took until the late 1960’s and ‘70’s – when Ski Extreme was first coined by the French and the gear had improved substantially – for freeride to really attract global attention. Much of it was due to the hard-charging styles of its main proponents – visionary mountain men like Sylvain Saudan, Patrick Vallencant, Bruno Gouvy and Jean Marc Boivin – who were stretching the limits of downhill riding in a way that had never been seen before. In these years, freeride was truly extreme. If you fell, you died…

But the Americans weren’t far behind. Led by pioneers like Montana’s Bill Briggs and California’s Steve McKinney, a whole new generation of young riders begin testing themselves in the steep slopes of the Rockies, the Wasatch and the Sierra Nevada. More ‘Hollywood’ than their French counterparts, and far more into the entertainment aspects than the Europeans, icons like Glen Plake and Scot Schmidt brought a whole new aesthetic to the American ski experience in the 1980’s. It was their offbeat, out-there style, showcased by filmmaker Greg Stump in such seminal films at Blizzard of Aaaah’s that really set the stage for the launch of the first ever freeride contests.

And what a launch that was! The near-mythical World Extreme Ski Championships (WESC), contested on the hoary slopes of Alaska’s Wasatch Mountains, was the coming out party for a whole new gang of big-mountain freeriders. In fact, the start list for the inaugural 1991 contest reads like a Who’s Who of modern freeriding: Doug Coombs won the inaugural men’s title while Kim Reichhelm was tops in the women.

Meanwhile the Europeans – primarily the French and the Swedes – were honing their big-mountain techniques on the often-nasty inclines around Mont Blanc and the Savoie Region. But the moment they discovered there were contests happening in America, the while game changed. When a French teenager by the name of Guerlain Chicherit unleashed a corker of a run in flat-light and ugly Alaskan conditions to capture his first WESC title back in 1999 (and beat out his mentor, Seb Michaud), few people realized the enormous impact his Valdez victory would have on the freeriding movement. For the new World Champion wasn’t alone. Back home in France were dozens of young chargers just like him. Fast, smooth – and incredibly efficient on skis. Bold beyond belief. Yet completely sure of their stuff – even in big exposure.

This, many ski historian believe, was the true beginning of the freeride revolution…

But what about the snowboarders? From the very inception of the sport in the early 1980’s, it was clear that the one-plank concept was ideal for attacking gnarly terrain and steep drops. More stable and easier to manage in difficult – or changing – conditions, the snowboard became the new tool of choice for many big mountain adventures. In fact, for many early freeride practitioners, it was a snowboard that got them into the backcountry in the first place!

Like the skiers, the snowboarders of the early 1990’s had their very own Alaska event in which to shine. Launched as the World Extreme Snowboarding Championships in 1992, the event soon morphed into the hugely popular King Of the Hill under visionary Nick Peralta’s guidance. Here too, the start list for these event events reads like a list of snowboarding royalty: Matt Goodwill, Shaun Palmer, Steve Klassen, Julie Zell, Tina Basich, Anthonin Lieutaghi and Axel Pauporté.

It was just a matter of time before the two disciplines would join forces…

But it took a wild Swiss-Brit entrepreneur by the name of Nicolas Hale-Woods to make it happen. Launched in the winter of 1996, the Verbier Extreme was originally strictly a snowboard contest. But all that changed in 2004 when ten of the world’s top two-planked freeriders were invited to participate. The event was never the same again.

Today, Hale-Woods oversees an annual world ski and snowboard circuit – the Freeride World Tour -- that travels from Russia to America and back to his home Alps for the final events. The very cream of riders – skiers and snowboarders, men and women – all vie for an invitation to this prestigious event. ‘Who could have imagined we would have come this far so soon,” says Hale-Woods. “It’s a great event. But more importantly, the riders who participate are truly fantastic people…”

Freeride Legends

So who is the best freerider of all times? Is it a classic old-timer like Emile Allais, a true extreme skier like Sylvain Saudan, a mountain entertainer like Glen Plake, a modern master like Seb Michaud or a relative newcomer like Swedish champion Henrik Windstedt? Hard to tell.

And how do you compare them to a versatile skier-cum-mountain-guide like La Rosiere’s Manu Gaidet. Or to a true adrenaline junkie like Tignes’ Guerlain Chicherit. And what about the newcomers to the tour this year – big-mountain ragers like Thomas Diet or Canadian Brett Crabtree. These guys are ready to do just about anything to push the limits of the sport – and they do it for the sheer joy of discovering new sensations. Should they be considered in the mix too?

And the snowboarders? Is American Steve Klassen the best freerider of all times? How do his countrymen Matt Goodwill, Shaun Palmer and Jay Liska stack up? Or can we make an argument for French eccentric Antonin Lieutaghi or all-round champion (and World Freeride Tour ’08 champion) Xavier de la Rue? How about the Swiss trio of Alex Coudray, Cyril Neri and Jonas Emery? They’re no slouches either. So many names; so much talent…

As for the women, they’re improving their freeride game all the time. Think of pioneers like Kim Reichhelm, Wendy Fisher and Swiss ace Francine Moreillon. They definitely set the freeride bar high back in the mid-‘90’s. What about the new crop of riders? Alaskan Elyse Saugtsad certainly showed she had it going on last year when she stole the overall title from under the noses of her more experienced rivals. Her Swedish counterpart, Marja Persson also needs to be considered. Then there are wild card entries like Whistler’s Jenn Ashton or Squaw Valley’s Jamie Burge who will have to be reckoned with this season. The field is deep. Very deep.

As for the female side of the snowboard list, the names are just as impressive. Think back to the early 1990’s at what Montana hard-girl, Julie Zell was doing in Alaska. Consider the lines Renaissance woman Tina Basich pioneered in California. And what about defending WFT champion Ruth Leisbach of Switzerland? Seems like she has a pretty good claim to top rider status. Ouf. And then there’s…

Stop. They’re all great. Each one, in their own time and place, has shown the world not only what sliding on snow is all about but also what living life to the fullest really means. For in the end, freeriding stands for far more than just another way to compete for glory and make money. It’s a way of life too. And all these riders – whether Windstedt or Michaud or Crabtree or Klassen or Saugstad or Leisbach – are star ambassadors for that kind of existence. So give it up for the world of freeriding and its crazy denizens. They might not have the answer to the world’s current economic problems. But they certainly know how to have fun!

- See more at: http://around.freerideworldtour.com/history#sthash.evE2U8IH.dpuf

The concept of freeride informs the very soul of the snowsport experience. Indeed, the notion of ‘freeriding’ was born the moment folks figured out how to secure their feet onto long slats of wood in order to move easier over the winter landscape – and discovered that they could suddenly shuck the bonds of gravity and fly. They were free. They could ride down the hill at will. They never looked back…

As far back as the 1930’s and ‘40’s, legendary ski champion Emile Allais and his merry band of mountain adventurers were already assaulting the couloirs and gullies that dropped from the heady summits around Mt Blanc and Chamonix. Some of their early descents beggar the imagination – especially considering the rudimentary nature of the gear they were using back then. But it took until the late 1960’s and ‘70’s – when Ski Extreme was first coined by the French and the gear had improved substantially – for freeride to really attract global attention. Much of it was due to the hard-charging styles of its main proponents – visionary mountain men like Sylvain Saudan, Patrick Vallencant, Bruno Gouvy and Jean Marc Boivin – who were stretching the limits of downhill riding in a way that had never been seen before. In these years, freeride was truly extreme. If you fell, you died…

But the Americans weren’t far behind. Led by pioneers like Montana’s Bill Briggs and California’s Steve McKinney, a whole new generation of young riders begin testing themselves in the steep slopes of the Rockies, the Wasatch and the Sierra Nevada. More ‘Hollywood’ than their French counterparts, and far more into the entertainment aspects than the Europeans, icons like Glen Plake and Scot Schmidt brought a whole new aesthetic to the American ski experience in the 1980’s. It was their offbeat, out-there style, showcased by filmmaker Greg Stump in such seminal films at Blizzard of Aaaah’s that really set the stage for the launch of the first ever freeride contests.

And what a launch that was! The near-mythical World Extreme Ski Championships (WESC), contested on the hoary slopes of Alaska’s Wasatch Mountains, was the coming out party for a whole new gang of big-mountain freeriders. In fact, the start list for the inaugural 1991 contest reads like a Who’s Who of modern freeriding: Doug Coombs won the inaugural men’s title while Kim Reichhelm was tops in the women.

Meanwhile the Europeans – primarily the French and the Swedes – were honing their big-mountain techniques on the often-nasty inclines around Mont Blanc and the Savoie Region. But the moment they discovered there were contests happening in America, the while game changed. When a French teenager by the name of Guerlain Chicherit unleashed a corker of a run in flat-light and ugly Alaskan conditions to capture his first WESC title back in 1999 (and beat out his mentor, Seb Michaud), few people realized the enormous impact his Valdez victory would have on the freeriding movement. For the new World Champion wasn’t alone. Back home in France were dozens of young chargers just like him. Fast, smooth – and incredibly efficient on skis. Bold beyond belief. Yet completely sure of their stuff – even in big exposure.

This, many ski historian believe, was the true beginning of the freeride revolution…

But what about the snowboarders? From the very inception of the sport in the early 1980’s, it was clear that the one-plank concept was ideal for attacking gnarly terrain and steep drops. More stable and easier to manage in difficult – or changing – conditions, the snowboard became the new tool of choice for many big mountain adventures. In fact, for many early freeride practitioners, it was a snowboard that got them into the backcountry in the first place!

Like the skiers, the snowboarders of the early 1990’s had their very own Alaska event in which to shine. Launched as the World Extreme Snowboarding Championships in 1992, the event soon morphed into the hugely popular King Of the Hill under visionary Nick Peralta’s guidance. Here too, the start list for these event events reads like a list of snowboarding royalty: Matt Goodwill, Shaun Palmer, Steve Klassen, Julie Zell, Tina Basich, Anthonin Lieutaghi and Axel Pauporté.

It was just a matter of time before the two disciplines would join forces…

But it took a wild Swiss-Brit entrepreneur by the name of Nicolas Hale-Woods to make it happen. Launched in the winter of 1996, the Verbier Extreme was originally strictly a snowboard contest. But all that changed in 2004 when ten of the world’s top two-planked freeriders were invited to participate. The event was never the same again.

Today, Hale-Woods oversees an annual world ski and snowboard circuit – the Freeride World Tour -- that travels from Russia to America and back to his home Alps for the final events. The very cream of riders – skiers and snowboarders, men and women – all vie for an invitation to this prestigious event. ‘Who could have imagined we would have come this far so soon,” says Hale-Woods. “It’s a great event. But more importantly, the riders who participate are truly fantastic people…”

Freeride Legends

So who is the best freerider of all times? Is it a classic old-timer like Emile Allais, a true extreme skier like Sylvain Saudan, a mountain entertainer like Glen Plake, a modern master like Seb Michaud or a relative newcomer like Swedish champion Henrik Windstedt? Hard to tell.

And how do you compare them to a versatile skier-cum-mountain-guide like La Rosiere’s Manu Gaidet. Or to a true adrenaline junkie like Tignes’ Guerlain Chicherit. And what about the newcomers to the tour this year – big-mountain ragers like Thomas Diet or Canadian Brett Crabtree. These guys are ready to do just about anything to push the limits of the sport – and they do it for the sheer joy of discovering new sensations. Should they be considered in the mix too?

And the snowboarders? Is American Steve Klassen the best freerider of all times? How do his countrymen Matt Goodwill, Shaun Palmer and Jay Liska stack up? Or can we make an argument for French eccentric Antonin Lieutaghi or all-round champion (and World Freeride Tour ’08 champion) Xavier de la Rue? How about the Swiss trio of Alex Coudray, Cyril Neri and Jonas Emery? They’re no slouches either. So many names; so much talent…

As for the women, they’re improving their freeride game all the time. Think of pioneers like Kim Reichhelm, Wendy Fisher and Swiss ace Francine Moreillon. They definitely set the freeride bar high back in the mid-‘90’s. What about the new crop of riders? Alaskan Elyse Saugtsad certainly showed she had it going on last year when she stole the overall title from under the noses of her more experienced rivals. Her Swedish counterpart, Marja Persson also needs to be considered. Then there are wild card entries like Whistler’s Jenn Ashton or Squaw Valley’s Jamie Burge who will have to be reckoned with this season. The field is deep. Very deep.

As for the female side of the snowboard list, the names are just as impressive. Think back to the early 1990’s at what Montana hard-girl, Julie Zell was doing in Alaska. Consider the lines Renaissance woman Tina Basich pioneered in California. And what about defending WFT champion Ruth Leisbach of Switzerland? Seems like she has a pretty good claim to top rider status. Ouf. And then there’s…

Stop. They’re all great. Each one, in their own time and place, has shown the world not only what sliding on snow is all about but also what living life to the fullest really means. For in the end, freeriding stands for far more than just another way to compete for glory and make money. It’s a way of life too. And all these riders – whether Windstedt or Michaud or Crabtree or Klassen or Saugstad or Leisbach – are star ambassadors for that kind of existence. So give it up for the world of freeriding and its crazy denizens. They might not have the answer to the world’s current economic problems. But they certainly know how to have fun!

- See more at: http://around.freerideworldtour.com/history#sthash.evE2U8IH.dpuf

The concept of freeride informs the very soul of the snowsport experience. Indeed, the notion of ‘freeriding’ was born the moment folks figured out how to secure their feet onto long slats of wood in order to move easier over the winter landscape – and discovered that they could suddenly shuck the bonds of gravity and fly. They were free. They could ride down the hill at will. They never looked back…

As far back as the 1930’s and ‘40’s, legendary ski champion Emile Allais and his merry band of mountain adventurers were already assaulting the couloirs and gullies that dropped from the heady summits around Mt Blanc and Chamonix. Some of their early descents beggar the imagination – especially considering the rudimentary nature of the gear they were using back then. But it took until the late 1960’s and ‘70’s – when Ski Extreme was first coined by the French and the gear had improved substantially – for freeride to really attract global attention. Much of it was due to the hard-charging styles of its main proponents – visionary mountain men like Sylvain Saudan, Patrick Vallencant, Bruno Gouvy and Jean Marc Boivin – who were stretching the limits of downhill riding in a way that had never been seen before. In these years, freeride was truly extreme. If you fell, you died…

But the Americans weren’t far behind. Led by pioneers like Montana’s Bill Briggs and California’s Steve McKinney, a whole new generation of young riders begin testing themselves in the steep slopes of the Rockies, the Wasatch and the Sierra Nevada. More ‘Hollywood’ than their French counterparts, and far more into the entertainment aspects than the Europeans, icons like Glen Plake and Scot Schmidt brought a whole new aesthetic to the American ski experience in the 1980’s. It was their offbeat, out-there style, showcased by filmmaker Greg Stump in such seminal films at Blizzard of Aaaah’s that really set the stage for the launch of the first ever freeride contests.

And what a launch that was! The near-mythical World Extreme Ski Championships (WESC), contested on the hoary slopes of Alaska’s Wasatch Mountains, was the coming out party for a whole new gang of big-mountain freeriders. In fact, the start list for the inaugural 1991 contest reads like a Who’s Who of modern freeriding: Doug Coombs won the inaugural men’s title while Kim Reichhelm was tops in the women.

Meanwhile the Europeans – primarily the French and the Swedes – were honing their big-mountain techniques on the often-nasty inclines around Mont Blanc and the Savoie Region. But the moment they discovered there were contests happening in America, the while game changed. When a French teenager by the name of Guerlain Chicherit unleashed a corker of a run in flat-light and ugly Alaskan conditions to capture his first WESC title back in 1999 (and beat out his mentor, Seb Michaud), few people realized the enormous impact his Valdez victory would have on the freeriding movement. For the new World Champion wasn’t alone. Back home in France were dozens of young chargers just like him. Fast, smooth – and incredibly efficient on skis. Bold beyond belief. Yet completely sure of their stuff – even in big exposure.

This, many ski historian believe, was the true beginning of the freeride revolution…

But what about the snowboarders? From the very inception of the sport in the early 1980’s, it was clear that the one-plank concept was ideal for attacking gnarly terrain and steep drops. More stable and easier to manage in difficult – or changing – conditions, the snowboard became the new tool of choice for many big mountain adventures. In fact, for many early freeride practitioners, it was a snowboard that got them into the backcountry in the first place!

Like the skiers, the snowboarders of the early 1990’s had their very own Alaska event in which to shine. Launched as the World Extreme Snowboarding Championships in 1992, the event soon morphed into the hugely popular King Of the Hill under visionary Nick Peralta’s guidance. Here too, the start list for these event events reads like a list of snowboarding royalty: Matt Goodwill, Shaun Palmer, Steve Klassen, Julie Zell, Tina Basich, Anthonin Lieutaghi and Axel Pauporté.

It was just a matter of time before the two disciplines would join forces…

But it took a wild Swiss-Brit entrepreneur by the name of Nicolas Hale-Woods to make it happen. Launched in the winter of 1996, the Verbier Extreme was originally strictly a snowboard contest. But all that changed in 2004 when ten of the world’s top two-planked freeriders were invited to participate. The event was never the same again.

Today, Hale-Woods oversees an annual world ski and snowboard circuit – the Freeride World Tour -- that travels from Russia to America and back to his home Alps for the final events. The very cream of riders – skiers and snowboarders, men and women – all vie for an invitation to this prestigious event. ‘Who could have imagined we would have come this far so soon,” says Hale-Woods. “It’s a great event. But more importantly, the riders who participate are truly fantastic people…”

Freeride Legends

So who is the best freerider of all times? Is it a classic old-timer like Emile Allais, a true extreme skier like Sylvain Saudan, a mountain entertainer like Glen Plake, a modern master like Seb Michaud or a relative newcomer like Swedish champion Henrik Windstedt? Hard to tell.

And how do you compare them to a versatile skier-cum-mountain-guide like La Rosiere’s Manu Gaidet. Or to a true adrenaline junkie like Tignes’ Guerlain Chicherit. And what about the newcomers to the tour this year – big-mountain ragers like Thomas Diet or Canadian Brett Crabtree. These guys are ready to do just about anything to push the limits of the sport – and they do it for the sheer joy of discovering new sensations. Should they be considered in the mix too?

And the snowboarders? Is American Steve Klassen the best freerider of all times? How do his countrymen Matt Goodwill, Shaun Palmer and Jay Liska stack up? Or can we make an argument for French eccentric Antonin Lieutaghi or all-round champion (and World Freeride Tour ’08 champion) Xavier de la Rue? How about the Swiss trio of Alex Coudray, Cyril Neri and Jonas Emery? They’re no slouches either. So many names; so much talent…

As for the women, they’re improving their freeride game all the time. Think of pioneers like Kim Reichhelm, Wendy Fisher and Swiss ace Francine Moreillon. They definitely set the freeride bar high back in the mid-‘90’s. What about the new crop of riders? Alaskan Elyse Saugtsad certainly showed she had it going on last year when she stole the overall title from under the noses of her more experienced rivals. Her Swedish counterpart, Marja Persson also needs to be considered. Then there are wild card entries like Whistler’s Jenn Ashton or Squaw Valley’s Jamie Burge who will have to be reckoned with this season. The field is deep. Very deep.

As for the female side of the snowboard list, the names are just as impressive. Think back to the early 1990’s at what Montana hard-girl, Julie Zell was doing in Alaska. Consider the lines Renaissance woman Tina Basich pioneered in California. And what about defending WFT champion Ruth Leisbach of Switzerland? Seems like she has a pretty good claim to top rider status. Ouf. And then there’s…

Stop. They’re all great. Each one, in their own time and place, has shown the world not only what sliding on snow is all about but also what living life to the fullest really means. For in the end, freeriding stands for far more than just another way to compete for glory and make money. It’s a way of life too. And all these riders – whether Windstedt or Michaud or Crabtree or Klassen or Saugstad or Leisbach – are star ambassadors for that kind of existence. So give it up for the world of freeriding and its crazy denizens. They might not have the answer to the world’s current economic problems. But they certainly know how to have fun!

- See more at: http://around.freerideworldtour.com/history#sthash.evE2U8IH.dpuf

Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara's calling to help his nation heal

 

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I worked in Sri Lanka for three years after the brutal end to the ethnic conflict in the north of the country. The Red Cross while doing a lot of construction of houses (20,000 plus) also did a lot for reconciliation. The name of Kumar Sangakkara was mentioned a lot ad it was easy to see the role he played as a national healer. Here is that story.

Kumar Sangakkara is more than a cricketer.
When he scores runs, Sangakkara is not just playing a game or plying a trade. The great Sri Lanka batsman is treating a nation whose body still floats on the putrid waters of the civil war and the 2004 tsunami. Sangakkara serves his country when he bats. He is a man from beyond the boundary.
Does that sound grandiose to you, a little far-fetched? It is hard to think otherwise in this golden land where for many sunburn is the biggest daily danger. But when Sangakkara speaks of "the potential of cricket to be more than just a game ... a sport so powerful it is capable of transcending war and politics", he is thinking of home.
My Sri Lankan doctor friend put it simply. "Cricket heals," he said.
Perhaps we should think of Sangakkara as the Great Healer. Every time he went down on one knee at the Basin and rippled a cover drive to the ropes, Sangakkara was tending another countryman left desolate or homeless by civil war and flood. Neville Cardus could have been thinking of Sri Lanka when he wrote, "Without cricket there can be no summer in that land."
Sangakkara's first cricket coach, D H de Silva, "a wonderful human being who coached tennis and cricket to students free of charge", was shot on a tennis court by insurgents. They put two bullets in his stomach. As he lay on the ground, the rebels pressed the barrel to de Silva's head. The gun jammed.
Such tales are Sangakkara's history. He grew up in the damp hills of Kandy where frequent drizzle moistened a pitch that was forever green. As a boy Sangakkara learned to play against swing and seam and bounce and carry. His current teammates from Colombo may have looked on this Basin pitch as a foreign surface, but when Sangakkara came out onto the green grass, he saw only home.
He wasn't an heroic boy, not like Mahela Jayawardene. Crowds of 10,000 used to come to watch the 13-year-old prodigy bat in Colombo. Sangakkara was just another lad with a bit of talent. Fittingly when he came down from the hills to the big city, he did not join Colombo Cricket Club, with its colonial history of tea and timber, but the Nondescripts.
Back then Sangakkara did not tell boyhood stories of his Tamil friends who hid in his Sinhalese parents' house in order to avoid being butchered in the race riots. He talked instead of his dream to one day play for his country. Sangakkara's team-mates sat back and laughed.
None of them would have believed that this boy from the hills would become perhaps the greatest batsman of them all, greater than even Arjuna Ranatunga and Sanath Jayasuriya and Jayawardene. Sangakkara's current test average of nearly 60 is even more astonishing given that his first 40 tests were played as a wicketkeeper-batsman who went in at No 3. Purely as a batsman he averages nearly 70.
It was a privilege to be at the Basin on Saturday afternoon when the people of the capital gave Sangakkara a standing ovation on passing 12,000 test runs. The next day Brendon McCullum ran to shake Sangakkara's hand when he reached his double century. The reaction from crowd and captain did New Zealand proud.
Many may not remember that Sangakkara and his team-mates were in a New Zealand dressing room when the early sketchy news of the devastating tsunami first leaked in by text on Boxing Day in 2004. Typical of the man Sangakkara returned home and joined Muttiah Muralidharan's relief convoy, taking food and supplies out to people whose lives had been smashed.
In the MCC spirit of cricket lecture that he gave at Lords in 2011, Sangakkara remembered: "In the Kinniya Camp just south of Trincomalee, the first response of the people who had lost so much was to ask us if our families were OK. They had heard that Sanath and Upul Chandana's mothers were injured and they inquired about their health. They did not exaggerate their own plight nor did they wallow in it."
Cricket heals.
When Sangakkara is out of touch, as he was early on this tour, and driving everyone mad with his endless demands for throw-downs in the nets, it is partly because he must give something back to his people.
Five years after the tsunami, Sangakkara was on the team bus in Pakistan, on what seemed like a truly 'nondescript' day, when terrorists attacked. "As I turn my head I feel something whizz past my ear and a bullet thuds into the side of the seat, the exact spot where my head had been a few seconds earlier. I feel something hit my shoulder and it goes numb."
When Sangakkara returns home, he is told by a soldier, "It is OK if I die because it is my job and I am ready for it. But you are a hero and if you were to die it would be a great loss for our country." Sangakkara is overwhelmed. "How can this man value his life less than mine?"
So when Sangakkara is asked to not retire, he cannot refuse. When he wins the man of the match in the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup, Sangakkara knows that cricket is more than a game. When he hits the four that takes him to his 200 on Sunday afternoon, it is not a destructive shot because Sangakkara is a healer.
He says, "With me are all my people. I am Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly Sri Lankan."

  Thanks to  the the Dominion Post for permission to run parts of this article.