Lauren Staveley: My Concussion

words by Lauren Staveley

All I can remember from the 10th of August is driving up to Snow Park in the morning. The next thing I woke up in the hospital throwing up strapped to a back board in a neck brace.

What actually happened after I drove up the mountain that day is...

I was having a great day on the jumps at Snow Park. I had landed some switch back 5's, a trick I have been working on for ages. My coach said it was my best day of snowboarding all season- until I went too big on one of the jumps. I landed on my heel side edge fell onto my back and then hit my head.

I was never knocked out but I did suffer from retrograde and anterograde amnesia. After falling I kept on asking, "Did I land it?", "Did I grab?" for about 20 minutes over and over. I was taken to the medical centre at Snow Park on a back board and in a neck brace. Because I was obviously shaken up and not making much sense the ski patrol decided to air lift me to Dundedin hospital where I had a CT scan on my back and head. The scans only showed concussion there was no bleeding or breaks in my skull... I was moved from the emergency room at about 8.30pm into the neurological ward where I spent the next two days. 

I was pretty confused about how severe my injury was and what had happened since I had a 12 hour memory blank. The doctors at Dunedin told me I would be ok but it would be a fair while until I could return to snowboarding. I spent the next two days in the hospital doing absolutely nothing. I couldn't stimulate my brain very much so the most exciting part of my day was doing memory tests with the occupational therapist. 

I was released on the 13th and stayed in our apartment in Cardona until the 17th when we flew back home to Melbourne. It was probably the most boring week of my life. When we got back to Melbourne I was still getting headaches and couldn't look at bright lights or be around noise without feeling horrible. 

Once we were back in Melbourne I visited Doctor Makdissi at Olympic Park Sports Medical Centre. He is a sports physician who specializes in head trauma. He cleared up a lot of my confusion about the injury. He told me concussion is a very individual injury, and it is hard to predict exactly how long it will take for me to get better. So for now I just have to slowly ease back into life and not aggravate my symptoms too much. I have been cleared to snowboard but not to do anything where I am likely to hit my head again (jumps or rails). 

It's now the 3rd of September and I am still suffering from minor headaches, I am sensitive to noise and find it hard to concentrate for more than a few hours. Concussion is a very frustrating injury to have, physically nothing appears to be wrong with you. It's not like a broken leg, you can't just put your brain in a cast and say it will be better in 6 weeks. You just have to rest and take everything really slow. Which is frustrating for someone who snowboards as a career, it's been a big change! 

I have an MRI on the 5th of September and then visit Dr Makdissi again on the 7th. We are hoping he will give me the all clear so I can start training again. 

Its been a long ordeal and it's not over yet.  With cases like Torah, Kevin, and Sarah it has really made me think how lucky I was. But the one thing I can take away from this is to always wear a helmet, because my helmet saved my life that day. 

The Chill Series

words by Hanna Fisher
photos by Cassie De Colling

Don’t be fooled by the name, the Chill Series may be one of the most laid-back Big Mountain competitions out there- but it is anything but chill. Set in the rugged club fields of the Southern Alps of New Zealand, the competition is home to some of the craziest terrain around - steep mountains, big cliffs, and chutes, such as “Plake’s Mistake,” named after the legend Glen Plake. 

Hiking the Cragieburn ridge to the start

Add to that not only some of the best Kiwi skiers and boarders, but also international talent from the far reaches of the globe - France, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, USA, England, Russia, and of course, two sweet ladies from good ol’ Australia, and you’ve got yourself some wild skiing. The competition is run over four days and two different resorts- Mt Olympus and Cragieburn. Competitors ride one run a day- their best 3 counting to the overall score.

After a rather tumultuous drive up (I’m talking one lane unsealed dirt roads, no guard rail, and a steep drop off just inches from the wheels), we made it up to Mt Olympus for Day One. The club fields bring skiing back to its’ roots - no chairlifts or even T-bars here - just a rope tow, and an intimidating metal device called a nutcracker. The locals tell stories of pro riders that come to film at their ski field, high, mighty and decked out in the latest gear, only to end up storming off in a huff because they can’t get the hang of the nutcracker! But that did not deter Nat and I, and after a couple of rather unsuccessful attempts on my part, we soon mastered it. 

Mt Olympus

Having only spent two days skiing at the Thredbo Chicks with Stix session this season, I was a bit nervous, and my legs felt more like jelly than the pistons of steel that they should have been (this is probably also due to a distinct lack of pre-season training...next year, I promise I’ll do more...). Luckily, the run was the mellowest of the four days, not super steep or crazy, so I took an easyish line, with two rock jumps of a couple of metres each. I had a little side tap on my behind half-way down (think I just got a bit lazy and distracted) but after finishing I felt the surge of adrenalin and a yearning to go bigger and harder the next day. Nat, being the pillar of strength that she is, conquered first day nerves, and rode a solid line, stomping all her drops.

Day Two, and things stepped up a notch. We had about a 45 minute hike up to get to the start, a huge face full of steep chutes and big cliffs. Oh yeah! I’d been checking out one cliff since the day before, and was pretty keen to hit it. Sometimes things like that just jump out at you, and you can’t get them out of your mind. But it’s often hard to know whether to follow your heart (jump off the big cliff) or your brain (it’s pretty big, quite a flat and hard landing, and a big hole to clear at the base). It can be a fine line between pushing yourself, knowing what is possible, and what you are personally capable of. Getting it wrong can result in serious injury. I know that all sounds a bit serious, but it’s happened before, and so is constantly at the forefront of my mind. We’re not allowed to actually go up and ski the face beforehand, so you just have to look through binoculars, and sometimes, such as at this venue, you get a side view from the hike up (but often you can’t). So it’s a matter of trying to figure out exactly where to take off, where you should land and how much speed you need to clear it. In this case, it was all quite clear cut, no rocks in the in-run or landing, so all that was required on my behalf, was commitment. And commit I did. I skied the top part cleanly, jumping off a nice smaller rock, then fighting that urge to slow down too much before the drop, I stomped it. And that is why I love Big Mountain competitions! The challenge of doing something that scares you, pulling it off, skiing out, and just thinking, man, I love skiing. 

Hanna sending it- courtesy of Chill Series

That night, we drove a small convoy over the pass and in to the Craigieburn valley. Day Three, and another beautiful sunny day. The face was a new one for the competition, with plenty of cliffs, and some steep, steep faces and chutes. Very nice indeed. Unlike at Olympus, nothing really jumped out at me, and I was having trouble picking a line. So I just decided to go for a fairly cruisy run, with a couple of small rock jumps. Turns out most of the girls had the same idea, and we nearly all skied the same thing! When watching the guys later, Nat and I kept thinking, man, we should have gone there, ooh, that looks like fun, and so on. 

Cragieburn

Luckily, we had a fourth day of competition, and got to do just that - with all the girls picking the steepest part of the venue. The wind was howling as we trudged along the ridge to get to our lines, almost losing my balance a few times. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long at the top. I had a nice run, jumping off one super fun cliff at the bottom, and finishing off with a few long hard-packed pow turns. It’s always a bit of a relief to end a competition, so we were all on a high at the bottom. 

Nat scoping her line

One of the things that always stands out to me at these competition is the camaraderie between the girls. There’s usually not as many of us as there are guys, and so we always wait for each other at the bottom of the run, and I always come out of it having made some new friends. It’s sometimes almost a pity that we get scored and that someone has to win, and someone has to lose.

choosing lines at Cragieburn

In the end, Nat and I were tied by our best three rankings for first place (we completely dominated the competition!). To settle the tie they then added up the actual scores from the days, so placed Nat 1^st and I took out second 2^nd. Altogether a successful and fun competition!

driving down to Wanaka via the West Coast

Check out some of the action from Mt Olympus:

Perisher Freeride Session

words by Ali Deane

Another NSW Chicks weekend, and another epic weekend of snow. Chains were required on the way up on Friday night, but it was truly a winter wonderland.

On Sunday Perisher didn’t know what hit it, as over 60 chicks took over on one of the season’s best days – bluebird and beautifully groomed packed fresh stuff. The event saw a big contingent of boarders, in the program’s only second year of encompassing both disciplines.

Headed up by three coaches Olivia Coates, Laura Williams and Ali Deane, some of the boarders branched off for some freeriding out at Mount P with Liv, and Laura and Ali headed straight for the park with a keen group of girls from all over, Wollongong, Canberra, Cooma, Beechworth, and Queensland.

With the sun shining down, and some perfect park jumps to hit, the girls got straight in, some trying table-top jumps for the first time, and others spinning their first 180, and even stepping up to some cab 180’s and backside too.

On the way back for lunch we couldn’t help but check out the half pipe, Australia’s best, and it was looking good. The pipe walls may have been daunting for some, but everyone gave it a go, starting low, keeping it cruisey, and while most of us took a break for lunch, some of the Chicks couldn’t help but keep taking laps.

I was truly stoked when I heard that it was the best day riding for some of the girls, and was happy to play a part in their progression. Sunshine all day, and smiles on dials, what a day!

The lucky winner of a Roxy board!

Zoe talking to CWS

Morning Session

Torie Hamilton-Wilson

After an epic week of snow fall the Chicks with Stix crew were pretty excited to be shredding in 60cm of fresh pow! Not only was there fresh snow, it was also bluebird and with the session filling up weeks in advanced there were plenty of chicks to make the most of it!

In the morning I had a large group of girls focusing on park progression. We took a few laps there, setting goals along the way and watching everyone progress exceptionally quickly. The jumps were the perfect size for 360s- one of the girls Emma was up to perfecting her style only a week after her first try! We continued shredding through the park after lunch, heading to the front valley to see what we could conquer in the big park. I was stoked to watch 10 year old Abi kill it on the rails and super excited to watch her progression in the future to come.

Chicks hanging out on the chairlift

This was the final session of CwS for 2012 until the throw down at Hotham. Every weekend has bought me so much enjoyment skiing with all the girls. It's so cool watching you all attempt new tricks and progressing so quickly. Working with all the girls who have come to the sessions has been amazing, at the end of every session I can see that you have taken away a new skill to work on. Keep being confident and showing those boys down in the park! 

See you all next year.

Kate Blamey and the chicks!

Afternoon Session

Kate Blamey

In the afternoon some of the skiers and I headed over to Blue Cow to ski some real bumps on the Brumby mogul course. On top of blasting through the bumps, my group of 8 also managed to learn and stomp 180s which was a great achievement- especially since no one seemed to keen on the idea when I mentioned 180s in the morning. They all gave it a go and their hard work definitely paid off! 

The afternoon mogul session wouldn't have been complete without fitting in some synchro skiing. While our formation was to pretty at the start it was a challenge to keep everyone turning rhythmically. By the end of the day everyone felt a little more comfortable in the bumps and on steeper terrain- a great success for Team Bumps.

Prize Giving and wrap up

Thanks everyone for such a great day! If you haven't seen it already check out the Perisher Report with CWS!

Blue Skies, Pow and SkierX

Words by Katya Crema

What a few weeks it has been! After an awesome Chicks with Stix weekend in Thredbo, I was pretty excited to show the girls what I do in the ski cross National Championships races at Hotham. This weekend, I've really had the best of both worlds.... 65cm of fresh light powder on Friday and Saturday, then blue skis, firm snow and a great day of ski cross racing on Sunday. I honestly couldn't ask for anything more from a weekend of skiing.

Saturday's race was pushed back to Sunday due to excessive snow (damn... another day of powder skiing!) On Saturday night, the clouds finally cleared and the stars came out, freezing the snow for a great race. Considering the difficult conditions, Hotham managed to build a fast and fun ski cross course overnight. The aim was to hold both races on the Sunday, however we only managed to get one complete race off, and another qualification run (counting for race number two.)

Being the first ski cross race of the season, I was quite nervous to see where I was sitting against the competition (my teammates on the National Team). Back came the good nerves and race butterflies, and I switched my competitive edge back on. I won both qualification runs by over a second, so I was extremely happy with the result. In finals I couldn't quite grab the lead out of the start gate, and finished in second place behind Jenny Owens.

1st Place, Run 2, Australian Skiercross Championships

So all in all, I finished the National Championships with a 1st and a 2nd place. Not a bad start to the World Cup racing season to come! 

Mum and I enjoying the sun at Hotham

CWS Freeride Session Thredbo

Looking over Thredbo Resort

What a weekend!! Whilst a long drive from Melbourne I always love returning to my favourite resort Thredbo, and this visit did not disappoint! As Tori and I corned around the corner from Dead Horse Gap on the road from Victoria the warm glow of the village appeared and with some speckles of snow still suspended from a recently flurry. Now we all know Thredbo has more to offer than just excellent skiing so we quickly popped into a local restaurant to say hi to some of the Thredbo regulars and the rest of the Chicks with Stix crew who had come together to catch up.

Chicks with Stix had the opportunity to connect with local skiers on both Saturday and Sunday in Thredbo and we had a range of coaches and ambassadors there to share their hard earned knowledge and experience.

Zoe introduces everyone to the program

Local snowboarders were able to connect with Ali, Olivia, and guest Roxy rider Biba Turnbull who was fresh off a second place in the Billabong Bro Down in NZ.  Jess Rich, Olivia Coates and Ali Deane took the boarders up for a few leg-warmers, then on to the Merritts park to work on 50-50’s, boardslides, straight airs and 180’s. The snow was perfect – and all the new recruits had a blast picking up a few pointers in technique, park safety and taking the next step.

Ali, Olivia, Biba and Leonie loving the sunshine on the way up for anotherone oo Merritts

Leonie our wakeboarder pops some sweet air

Seeing the girls make small adjustments to their techniques, commit to riding switch, try things for the first time in the park, and conquer goals was really cool, and by the smiles and giggles all day, it was pretty clear they were truly stoked.

Olivia goes over some tips in the park

Tori, Zoe, Katya, Hanna and Karinya led the skiers with local Thredbo ambassador Anna Segal also spending time with the skiers as well as CwS ambassador Jenny Owens.

The conditions were brilliant and we saw a mixed group of seasonal staff, locals and those even from other mountains meet at Friday Flat with one having driven up from Sydney for the day!! There were a couple of familiar faces from last year which was fantastic to see and the progression they had made was incredible! With such a strong line up of CwS coaches and ambassadors both skiers and snowboarders had a variety of skills to develop and experience to learn from. 

Stunning day at Thredbo

Olympians Jenny and Katya shared some skier cross tips through their group on the Saturday and similarly the current Slopestyle World Champion Anna Segal with those keen to learn new tricks in the park on Sunday.  Big mountain skiers Tori and Hanna showed the group how to tear up the Bluff which had a range of natural features and some of the steeper pitch on the mountain. KT mixed it up with a session on how to conquer the moguls below the Basin T-bar which were soft and a great place to progress technique.

Sunday morning saw Zoe and Ali squeeze in interviews for Rush TV and on the mountain they managed to capture some footage of the different groups including some of the girls skiing down huge moguls on the face of the bluff.  This footage will be available on ABC.

Zoe getting down with Rush TV

To cap off an awesome weekend we presented many of the girls with prizes generously provided from our sponsors including Armada skis, Dragon goggles, Shafted ski poles and Roxy which all the girls were super stoked to receive such great incentives. 

Prize giving!

The Chicks weekend at Thredbo could have been any better! We can’t wait for next time, and hope you guys remember the awesome feeling of progression. Keep ripping, and see you guys back on the hill soon, wherever that may be!

Nat Segal: Oh hello my dear friend SNOW

Treble Cone celebrating the snow

Reporting live from Wanaka, we have snow. It may have only snowed 10cms last night but it was the first time I saw snow in the Treble Cone resort parking lot, so I was ecstatic!

I've been in NZ for just over a week, I landed on Saturday 28th in Christchurch and made my way down to Wanaka for the start of the 2012 World Heli Challenge. 

The WHC runs over 2 weeks, we fly 2 compete altogether, one day of freestyle and one of big mountain. It's an amazing event to be a part of. When we are not competing, there are heaps of things going on in and around Wanaka. Today the team headed out to the West Coast for a day of surfing- I was planning on going but after checking the pow alert at 6am I got my ski gear ready and headed up to Treble Cone with Janina Kuzma and Lyndon Sheehan.

Janina and Lyndon

Storm riding is a funny thing- you want to be the first people out there getting first tracks but usually you can't see much. I guess it's the nature of the beast and why bluebird pow days are so treasured!

Nevertheless we found some great turns! NZ in general has been a little dry since I've been here, a warm event melted a lot of the early base and the hills are only now recovering. In saying that, the terrain here is next to none, tussocks, steeps and incredible views so I can deal with a week or two of snow drought.

Powder 8s- you can see them if you look closely!

Snow Happy!

We skied all morning in the clouds, I was on standby to compete, so I didn't want to tire my legs out! After a beautiful long run down one of the ridges we were talking about heading home when we spotted a little friend and a very good omen.

As I was turning around to ski off, Janina spotted this little beauty. He or she was hanging out amongst the tussock. These mammals are an introduced species and over the years they have been hunted down as pests or for sport. Those that live in the surrounding mountains are quite rare- it was a special find. I think there is nothing more beautiful than seeing an animal in the wild, especially a mountain goat.

 A rare spotting- Chamois or Kiwi Chamy

With an even bigger smile on my face than before, we headed down the mountain to home for an afternoon of stretching and hot tubs! The World Heli Challenge Freestyle day kicks off tomorrow at 7am- that means helicopters and powder snow. It's gonna be good!! Keep your eyes open on facebook for all the updates!

Lauren Stavely: NZ update

Cadrona Resort, Southern Lakes

It's been busy so far this season. I started off spending 3 weeks at Mt Buller which was a lot of fun, they had a sweet rail park set up so I spent a lot of time there. I am also the newest Mt Buller ambassador so I got to do a lot with the media up there. Over the three weeks I ended up working with  Sunrise, Southern Cross 10, 96.9 Star FM and ABC3 which was awesome and heaps of fun! So be sure to look out for all of those. 

Landing in Queenstown

I have been in NZ for the past two weeks having an awesome time. We have been riding Snow Park mostly. They have their big jump line up and a bunch of sick rails. 

Rails at Cadrona

I am set to compete in the Billabong Brodown on Friday so hopefully this storm we are having clears up so we can get some speed for the jumps (although I'm not complaining about the Pow)!

Handplanting it up.

I'm here in NZ for another 3 weeks and then I am heading back to Aus for mule high and style wars both of which I am really excited about! I'll be sure to keep you updated but keep checking my website for what I'm up to!! 

Kate Blamey: Update from NSW

Freshies anyone?

 It has been an amazing start to the season in New South Wales with the resorts receiving a lot of snow in late June. There has also been vast amount of cold nights which has allowed for a large amount of snow making. As of Monday all lifts are now running at both Perisher and Thredbo, which means there a large variety of runs to shred. We are also expecting another little top up of 20cm later in the week, so lets keep our fingers crossed. 

Some of many snowguns working hard!

The last three weeks have been crazy up here with a ton of different freestyle events taking place in both Thredbo and Perisher. During the school holidays two Interschool mogul events took place with over 200 mogul skiers competing at each event. The stand out was a girl in division 4 (Grade 5 and 6) who completed a 360 as her jump, this is awesome as it is so great to see a young girl attempting such a hard trick. 

Thredbo Interschool Mogul Course

Last Saturday night was the first of Perisher’s Night Slpoestyle Series for the season. A handful of girls were competing against each other for the amazing prizes and cash giveaways. The girls were out there giving it a go, some competing rails for the first time, hitting the jumps and performing crazy 360’s or just a simple grab. Every girl who competed was seen walking away with a prize, some of which included a pair of K2 skis, ski gear and/or cash.

One of the many bluebird days at Perisher

The next event of the series is on August 18th, it would be great to see more girls out there giving it a go. So why not come, learn and practice your rails and tricks at our Thredbo session on the 11th and 12th of August and enter the next competition for a bit fun and an awesome experience.

Birdie taking in the view at Blue Cow