Simply the best. Mt Buller CWS session #1

Simply the best was the song that Zoe Jaboor and myself were belting out all weekend after a proud and loud 80s Power Ballads session driving up to Mt Buller on Friday night.

tina turner rocking out

I personally feel that it was a great theme song for the first 2011 CWS freeride session, as it was simply the best, and Zoe definitely should have requested it on 93.7 Star FM during her Friday morning interview!

'Simply the best' is a big call but it was a big day, so let's give it the kudos it deserves.

First of all there were the Chicks with Stix Ambassadors, who lead and photographed the session, made sure there was adequate musical entertainment on the chairlifts and, in the case of Lorraine Lock (our PR manager), skied switch for the first time. You'll find that Nicole Lewis doesn't feature much in our photos, that's because she was taking them- yeah Lady!

Chicks with Stix Ambassadors: Lorraine Lock, Nicole Lewis, Nat Segal & Zoe Jaboor

Then there were the Chicks. We had all kind of chicks who came to meet us at Koflers at 1:30pm on Saturday afternoon. Tall chicks, small chicks, chicks who'd been on skis since the age of 2 and other chicks who had just celebrated their 7th weekend on snow. We also had one or two chicks who drove all the way from Melbourne just for the day to come and shred with us!

Nikki, works on the mountain and shreds for fun, killing it!

Follwing a little introduction, Zoe lead us to Little Buller Spur where we started by warming up our legs after a summer of snow deprivation.

Zoe getting started with intros.

skating to LBS

As always, our focus was skiing, fun, chats on the chairlift and getting creative. As it was the first day back for a lot of the ladies we spent the afternoon playing on our skis down Wombat, jumping, slashing and getting our switch skiing on.

Hannah, nice and steezy on Little Buller Spur

Nat Segal, talking about life in general, most likely serenading the group

Steph getting her edge on!

airtime!

zoe getting low

After the shred session, we headed down to the Mt Buller Community Center and treated ourselves to some yoga, hosted for free by CwS with the support of the Alpine Institute and lululemon athletica.

It was a wicked day, Chicks with Stix were so stoked to have so many enthusiastic young things turn up to support girls freeskiing. With 7 more events to come this winter, it's going to be a fun season! Thanks to all the ladies for coming to shred and all the supporters of Chicks with Stix for making days like this happen. There was a huge Power Ballads session on Saturday night to celebrate. More photos can be found on our facebook page!

YUM! dim sims after a big shred session....... Yeah Koflers!

Apres Ski Yoga at Mt Buller

CwS are really stoked to announce another addition to the Freeride sessions at Mt Buller on the 25th June, 9th & 23rd July, Apres Ski Yoga!

We all know that stretching and cooling down after high impact exercise like skiing is really important! Us chicks want to give all the ladies who come and shred with us all afternoon the chance to learn and enjoy some soothing yoga and stretching to help you relax and stay injury free during the winter.

Time: 5:30-6:30pm (25th June, 9th & 23rd of July)
Where: Level 2 Latrobe Center
Wear: Loose comfortable clothing
Bring: Yourself

The sessions are free but a gold coin donation would be appreciated to help us cover the facility costs.

Andie Rogers, who is not only a snowboard instructor but also a physio and yoga instructor, has volunteered to take the CWS yoga sessions.

We are also excited to announce the support of lululemon athletica who have donated some great door prizes for the yoga sessions.

All girls from the freeride sessions are invited to join in as well as any girls who couldn't make it! Feel free to bring your mums, sisters and friends along. Just make sure you register with us either on the day or by email at chickswithstix.skiing@gmail.com as there are only a limited number of mats.

So get your socks ready for some sweet stretching and some happy relaxed Apres Ski muscles!

Big thanks to the Alpine Institute, Andie Rogers and the Mt Buller R&B board for helping us make these sessions possible.

sponsor lovin'

we are totally stoked to be able to bring 'chicks with stix' to the slopes this season and more importantly, to be able to offer it to all you chicks out there for FREE !


we couldn't do it without the input of some pretty amazing people.... so today we're going to create a great big love bubble and tell you all THANKS !

pic: DANI

everyone that works on CwS gives freely of their time and their ideas and it's so much fun to watch our little movement become a bigger and bigger movement !

Carly from Soderstrom Creative designed our logo and our poster and some new postcards that we're getting printed real soon - she's amazingly talented!

Lucy and Antonia at Roxy happily supply all our tees and hoodies (our logo printed on prime ROXY clothing) The chix at Shafted Ski Poles are giving us some cool stuff for giveaways.... And Armada Skis came to the party in a BIG WAY with prizes and a sponsorship !

Andrea, the physio from the Mt Buller Gym is taking yoga classes for us after the shred sessions. Chris at Koflers (aka Kofler Hutte) lets us call her deck home and lets us stay there after hours eating hotdogs and donuts! (and yes its true the hotdog has its own FB page)

A few weeks ago Hannah Studd said "hey why dont we do a snowboard session at Hotham" so we are ! And now someone else says theyre going to do the same for Buller ! (watch this space)

Miss Snow It All gives us so many plugs over at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and we keep saying "thanks" but its not enough so she's getting some chicks merchandise in the post real soon.....along with Tess Cook at mountainwatch who is cheering us on and planning some crazy good chix ideas as well....

aussieskier even has a missus who thinks we're pretty swell and decided to blog about us.....(this year one of our sessions is on her birthday - so cake could be the order of the day - PINK CAKE!)

Everyone we ask a favour of says YES - well except the printer guy round the corner who refused to print the posters for free :( BUT lucky us....... that's where Mark Adams Real Estate comes in - a truly enlightened male who thinks that Chicks with Stix ROCKS ! he's printing our posters for us, so next time youre thinking of buying a ski lodge .... you know who to call !! thanks Mark :)

then there's Gina at Hotham; Susie at Thredbo; Tina at Perisher; Rhylla at Buller and Guy + Leona at Baw Baw...... are you starting to see a pattern here !?  yep - powered by a hefty dose of girl power !

Beyonce must have been thinking of us !

So thanks to the chix who are supporting us and the enlightened guys - Mark, Richard, Guy and Andreas, along with Patto from TBR the home of Chicks with Stix and the start of all good things and Michael Kennedy from SSA (ski + snowboard australia) who said "go for it"!

we did !

roll on ski season 2011 !!! xxx

big love as well to Nicole, Katie Anna, Nat, Katya..... and the men in our lives who get it !

from Zoe + Lorraine

poster

how amazing is our new poster designed by the uber-talented Carly of Soderstrom Creative ?!  do you love it as much as we do ??!!!

t-shirts

we love the new 2011 tees from ROXY !!! and you will too.......

come to the CwS sessions across the Australian Alps this season and buy a t-shirt to remember the fun times and rock the Chix message!.........

or drop us a line via facebook / email and we can express post a t-shirt out to you.....

these tees are at CwS headquarters right now, but they're just itching to hit the slopes this season !

aren't we ALL ??!!! 
its no fun living in a box......so come on.......free the tees !

Buller sessions

Just over a week to go till our first Buller session and as a bonus to all you potential CwS shredders out there, we will be running an extended three hour session first up !

We start on June 25 and will meet up at  Kofler's [Chix home base and a superb skier's refuge which is a quick slide from the Holden Express Chair].

yep......... that's next weekend !

The session will run from 1.30 till 4.30........we'll be out till last lift, so come and take advantage of the new snow, the excellent company and the free hot chocolates !

Hannah @ Hotham

If you have been paying attention, you may have noticed that Hotham local Hannah Studd is a new addition to the CwS coaching team.

A few people have scratched their heads and asked "huh? what's going on?" .... while some smarty-pants even figured it out (you know who you are).

So now we're really pleased to confirm that YES! the Chicks with Stix session at Hotham, on Saturday July16,  will have a snowboard component led by local shredster and all-round rad chick Hannah Studd!

If you already hang at the slopes of Hotham you would have seen Hannah shredding Mary's or hiking in the back bowls - she's pretty impressive, so kinda hard to miss.......

Hotham is our first 'away game' for the season and Hannah is our first snowboard coach, so there's a lot of firsts coming our way and we couldn't be more stoked !

So, get in line ! drop us a note at chickswithstix.skiing@gmail.com and let us know if you want to hang with Hannah at Hotham!..........

Shafted Ski Poles Joins CWS

We are pleased to announce that Shafted Ski Poles has jumped on board as the newest sponsor for Chicks with Stix. Shafted was born in the mountains the Southern Hemisphere but is set to conquer the freeskiing world!... Just like us :)

We will be holding a series of online competitions to give away a few pairs of these awesome shred sticks, so check back in the next week to enter.

Take a peek at the Shafted range on their website at http://www.shaftedskipoles.com. As of now, the only place you can buy Shafted poles in Australia is via their facebook page. To grab a pair before the season starts go to http://www.facebook.com/shaftedskipoles?sk=info and click the 'shop now' button under their profile pic.

Buller Opening weekend

Charis Mckittrick, Nat Segal, Katya Crema and me- shredding Buller on the best opening weekend I can remember.

Join us for the first CWS session on June 25th! To register, email us at chickswithstix.skiing@gmail.com

Moving Mountains

Neu Productions and Pro Skier Jen Hudak Announce Fall Release of “Moving Mountains”

Breckenridge-based production company releases trailer for a fall 2011 web-based ski film series featuring professional skier, X Games Gold Medalist and Olympic hopeful, Jen Hudak

BRECKENRIDGE, COLORADO- April 27, 2011 – Neu Productions, a Breckenridge based production company, proudly announces a new short film series featuring two-time X-games gold medalist and women’s freeskiing advocate, Jen Hudak. “Moving Mountains” is a four-part film series that follows Jen through her 2010-2011 season as she travels the globe, pushing the limits and pursuing her dreams.

As a 2014 Olympic hopeful, Jen hopes this series will motivate others to commit to what they are passionate about, as she has done with her skiing. Jen explains, “This is not just about the skiing- it is about everything that goes into it and everything you get in return. It is about the hard work and dedication, the triumph, and the failure.”

The first film in the inspirational four-part series is scheduled to be released in September, 2011, and a full-length TV show will be available on The Ski Channel in late fall. In Jen’s words, “The series takes a really honest look into one of the toughest seasons of my career. I was given obstacles to overcome, and in doing so I grew as a human being. There are always lessons to be learned from these situations. You always gain insight into another piece of yourself.”

John says, “It is amazing to work with Jen, her ability to perform at the highest level, articulate her struggles and triumphs, and smile along the way is inspiring. Simply, I can’t wait for people to see this project, we focused a great deal on story and hope to reach an audience not just within the core ski community but on the mainstream level as well.”

Similarly, Jen states, “John Roderick’s cinematography and editing is amazing. From the second I saw his work, I knew I wanted Neu Productions to produce my project, I couldn’t be happier with our decision to collaborate.”

Channel 7 Sunrise at Buller

Last night I drove up to Buller, all alone :( and arrived at an empty, freezing cold apartment. After wrapping myself in three doonas and setting up two heaters by my bed, I could still feel the chill creeping in. But I was happy. This is a good sign for the aussie ski season. The ground is covered with snow and the trees encrusted with white stuff. I can't remember the last time I saw Buller looking so good in June.

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn to meet the channel 7 crew over at the Chalet Hotel. No coffee was offered to me, so I stole Harro's. He was drinking a Red Bull, so I figured he didn't need any more caffeine.

My stint on TV was short and sweet. I skied a few turns, jumped to switch, almost caught an edge, then met Grant at the bottom for a quick chat.

Harro and Gill helping out

Ahh! So many cameras on me. Even though it was only a few questions, I was pretty nervous.

I arrived back home to this beautiful view out my window. Iphone pics never do the landscape justice. But you get the idea.

- Anna

Lululemon Athletica Ski Fit Series

This Tuesday night, Chicks with Stix, in collaboration with Lululemon Athletica, held a free Ski Fit Session at their Chapel street store in Melbourne. Former Olympic snowboarder, turned personal trainer, led the class and absolutely killed it. We had such a good turn out that there almost wasn't enough room to fit us all in the store. Joh, took this challenge by the horns and succeeded in having us all with burning quads and red cheeks by the end of the class.

We were joined by Katya Crema (Olympic Ski-Xer), Belinda Price (VIS aerial team director) Nat Segal (Chicks with Stix Coach) plus a whole lot of other enthusiastic faces.

This was just an introduction to Lululemon's Ski Fit Series, which will officially start on the first Tuesday in July and continue through the month, each Tuesday night from 6.30-7.30pm. The classes are free and you don't need to be a skier or snowboarder to attend. Anyone looking for motivation to get off the couch should come along.

Hope to see you there in July

x

Anna

The face of Mt Buller 2011

CwS coach, photographer and air-traffic controller: Nicole Lewis

The girl who taught me a lot about skiing, dancing and enjoying life, ripping hard at Mt Buller. Thanks Nicole. Nat

happy dayz !

What more could you ask for on a Friday ? The Friday before the official season opening weekend and with snow on the way? We know you've been waiting for dates and here is a sneak preview of our almost-finalised-schedule for the Chicks with Stix skills workshops for 2011.

There are 3 skills workshops at Buller and one each at the other resorts (with a special bonus for Hotham but more on THAT treat later).

The end-of-season throwdown will also be at Buller, on our home turf (and TBR base) Chamois ski area.

Will we be seeing you this year? Email us with your good intentions at the email address below and get yourself in the running for a CwS prize pack !

chickswithstix.skiing@gmail.com 


- June 25th Buller
- July 9th Buller
- July 16th Hotham
- July 23rd Buller
- Aug 13rd Thredbo (TBC)
- Aug 21st Perisher
- Baw Baw (TBC)


- Sept 3rd Buller (Throwdown) TBC


oh and you know it's FREE right?! okay just checking.... :)

longboarding in spain

check out these spanish chicks, carving up in the mountains near Madrid


Carving the Mountains from Juan Rayos on Vimeo.