Sophie Caldwell: New Zealand Week #2

Somehow we only have two days left of skiing in New Zealand. It seems like yesterday that we got here and took comfort in the fact that we had over two weeks of skiing ahead of us. Then just like that, it's over! I suppose that means we've been enjoying ourselves. It's always a good sign to be sad you only have three days left rather than be counting down the days until you get to go home. I've said it already, but the Snow Farm really is the ideal place for a training camp. Aside from a couple days of rain or snow (that we happened to time nicely with our off days), we've had ridiculously good weather and training.

One of the many gorgeous mornings at the Snow Farm

A lot of training leads to a tired Sophie, which leads to a few more falls than usual

Getting ready to go for a ski with Ides (Noah photo)

Anouk and Liz sporting their Friends of Liz Skida hats!

The past week we've been able to do a little more exploring off of the rock. Our new outerwear sponsor, L.L. Bean, came to New Zealand for a couple days of shooting photos. They took pictures of a few training sessions and then we went down to Wanaka for a photo shoot in their casual wear. It happened to be a beautiful evening and we were able to watch the sun set over the lake. Big thanks to L.L. Bean for making the long trip over!

Simi, me and Jess on our way to the L.L. Bean photo shoot. Loving our new down jackets!

Evening on the lake in Wanaka

Functional and comfortable :) (Noah photo)

And a jumping photo in Wanaka (Noah photo)

Soaking in some sunshine at our L.L. Bean photoshoot (Jessie photo)

Our other day of adventuring was on our off day. On Monday morning, we chained up the vans for the trek to Queenstown. When we left the Snow Farm, we were in the middle of a snow storm. Some slow traffic, one broken chain, and two and a half hours later, we finally made it to Queenstown where the sun had started to come out and the ground was dry. We enjoyed exploring a new town, eating some tasty food by the water, and taking the gondola up the mountain to go go karting. The drive back was dry, beautiful, and took half the time, so it ended up being a successful adventure.

Paddy and I enjoyed an off day beer for our Grandpa John

Ben found a kiwi to ride

The chairlift ride up to go go karting (Anouk photo)

Some SMS T2ers in Queenstown (Jessie photo)

Dorked out and ready to do some go karting! (Jessie photo)

So here we are, tired and happy after two amazing weeks of skiing. We've put in a lot of hours and had a few really tough workouts. I'm exhausted, but the thought of leaving New Zealand already makes me sad. I'm going to miss the perfect skiing, delicious food, our french buddy Anouk, and having all my teammates just down the hall, but I guess that means we'll just have to come back soon! See you in a a few days, USA!!