Shelly Gotlieb goes Heliboarding!

August 22nd, 2010

The team here at Harris Mountains Heli-Ski would like to send out a huge congratulations to Shelly Gotlieb, New Zealand’s top female snowboarder, who took 2nd place last week in the Slopestyle finals of the 2010 Burton NZ Open at Cardrona Alpine Resort. Go girl! Each winter season Shelly steps up and pushes herself and the sport, a real inspiration for all girls who love to ride.

To see all the action from the Burton NZ Open Slopestyle finals, check out this report from Robett Hollis and the team at NZsnowboard.com – and look out for the interview with Shelly G.

Last winter season SnowSports NZ awarded Shelly ‘New Zealand Snowboarder of the Year 08/09′ – an outstanding achievement which prompted us to reward Shelly with a day of heliboarding with us during the 2009 winter season. Here’s a few snaps from that day… which just so happened to be an epic day of blue skies, deep powder and high fives!

Photos: Sarah Mulholland

A perfect bluebird day and a sweet view to start the day from Aspiring Airstrip in the Matukituki valley, Wanaka.

The day’s crew led by guide Jef Desbecker… first drop, amped and ready for action! And yep, that’s Mount Aspiring in the background.

Shelly sends it!

Flying up for more, lap after lap of powder goodness… checking out our lines on the way.

Touching down in a snowy valley for lunch… yeah!

Shelly was buzzing all day, super stoked! Life doesn’t get better!

Fresh lines in the North Buchanans range all day long.

A little stop to take in that epic view of the Southern Alps!

Shelly and Jef… and some well earned beers at the end of the day.

Ladies, don’t miss out on our awesome event next week – the Harris Mountains Heli-Ski Girls Day Out taking place on Wednesday 25 August. Whether you are a hardcore chick who rips, or an intermediate / first time heli skier or snowboarder – this event is the perfect opportunity to come together for a heli day with like-minded ladies. You’ll be skiing / riding powder in specific small groups with girls of a similar ability, led by our team of all women guides – Anna, Karen and Katie. For more details, scroll down to our special Blog post. It’s only a few days away and places are limited so give our friendly team a call on 03 442 6722 if you would like to book.

Powder month!

August 10th, 2010

It’s mid-winter in New Zealand and after a dry spell during July, it’s starting to really dump. The snow gods are smiling on us again and August is living up to it’s reputation of being the powder month! The Southern Alps got hit hard by last weekend’s storm and our terrain received 40cm+ of fresh snow. Following that we’ve had perfect bluebird days with hardly a breath of wind. Winter weather is hard to predict, but August is definitely off to a great start!

August is also the month when Queenstown and Wanaka really start buzzing. With the 2010 Burton Open kicking off at Cardrona Alpine Resort today, Wanaka is definitely the place to be if you want to check out all the action, mix with the pros and party it up. And don’t forget to give us a call, if you want a powder hit. It’s epic out there right now!

We’ll be back soon with a video update of the conditions since the huge snowfall over the weekend, but for now sit back and enjoy this footage from our day heli skiing and snowboarding in the North Buchanans range on 4 August.

Check out the Harris Mountains Heli Ski Vimeo Channel or YouTube Channel for regular vids. Subscribe, add us as a friend and we’ll make sure we bring you plenty of powder stoke all winter long. If you’ve been out with us, we love to see your photos and videos too, so feel free to post them up on our Facebook page – where you’ll also find daily updates, snow reports and lots more!