Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show. Today’s guest is Trevor from New Zealand. He was here snowboarding in Niseko for the season. He’s back in New Zealand now for the New Zealand winter but a few days before he went back home he came to visit us for an interview.
The first thing I asked him was: Where are you from?
From, ah, Mt Hutt, Methven, New Zealand. Originally from, ah, Christchurch, North Beach.
STICK NEWS
Kia Ora, in Stick News today, China has just opened world's longest cross-sea bridge and hundreds of drivers have been fined for driving too slowly on the bridge.
China’s new bridge is 36 kilometers long.
It opened on the 1st of May. Reuters reports that since then police have fined more than 300 drivers, mostly for driving too slowly or illegally parking on the emergency lanes while enjoying the ocean view and taking photos.
Apparently, long lines of cars have caused serious traffic problems and led to a series of accidents.
But one driver complained: "I just wanted to drive a bit slowly and enjoy the sea breeze. Is that wrong?"
And that was Stick News for Monday the 5th of May.
Kia Ora.
#439 How did you find out about Niseko?
Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Trevor.
Sarah How long have you been coming to Japan?
Trevor It’s been, ah, 13, 14 years now. Yeah.
Sarah How did you find out about Niseko?
Trevor Ah, came here to ride for, ah, 540s, ah, Ross Carty from Pow Pow, he was, ah, the distributor for 540s in Japan. So I came here to ride for him and, and ah, rip Niseko up. A few friends told me about it and it sounded a pretty good place to be, so, over I came.
Sarah Has Niseko changed much since then?
Trevor Um, apart from the thousands and thousands of, ah, Australians. Um, yeah ... No, it’s changed a lot. The, the powder’s not there on the resort of Hirafu, ah, like it used to be. But it’s, it’s different and it’s, it’s good cause it’s faster and ah, it’s, it’s still a lot of fun.
Sarah You do winters in both New Zealand and Japan, don’t you?
Trevor Yep, yep, go from the winter there and ah, oh, a bit of spring and a month of summer or so and then get over here, I call my friends and wait for the bamboo to disappear and once that’s gone, I’m over here.
Sarah Are the conditions very different in New Zealand and Japan?
Trevor Well, we ... our slopes are open, rocky peaks and stuff. And we have no trees on the slopes so it’s all open field and big mountain riding kind of thing. And the snow is different, it gets more packed. Um, it’s ... the mountains are yeah, a lot different, but the, the powder here is, is often deeper and more fluffy, ah, lighter snow and with the trees, it just, yeah, it makes it a lot different.
Sarah You also skateboard, don’t you?
Trevor Yeah, cross over to the skateboarding. I originally started skateboarding and, ah, turned to snowboarding, ah, when snowboarding started, ah, old sponsors from skating sort of put me on to the snowboard and stuff and it was just a natural thing to do, so carried on with that. Started skating when I was six and yeah, I was doing contests and that at nine through sort of13 and stuff. Still skating now and having a good time.
Sarah Which do you prefer?
Trevor Oh, it’s a hard one, um, I usually say skateboarding’s my passion and snowboarding’s my living. But, ah, snowboarding’s a passion too. And, ah, they’re both so different. I find snowboarding so easy compared to skating - skating’s a very technical sport. Um, they both have their, their times.
Sarah Do you think there’s a difference between New Zealand and Japanese snowboarding style?
Trevor Um, I think the one thing that makes us a little different is, ah, New Zealand riders seem to calculate their riding a little bit more. Ah, the Japanese riders seem to just go for it. Um, there’s a lot of guys out there, the Japanese riders which will put their body on the line a lot more. Um, where the Kiwi guys, ah, tend to progress and um, and get there in the end. But the Japanese riders seem to get very good very quickly. And ah, yeah, but they’re often little guys too and they spin really fast. And, and, yeah, fun to watch.
Sarah Do you make a living professionally snowboarding?
Trevor I used to make a living professionally snowboarding. But, ah, as I got older and ah, the Japanese riders got better and better, the sponsors got smaller and these days I run an indoor skateboard park back home in my winter and, ah, come over here and help out over here a little bit too.
Sarah Have you ridden on many other mountains in Japan?
Trevor Yeah, when I used to ride for, ah, I used to ride for a shop down in Osaka called Sports Takahashi and ah, they sponsored us to basically go round and demonstrate and ah, and competition, boarder cross, ah, one make jumps, slope style and half pipe. So when I was there I got to travel all round Japan and go to a lot of different resorts and ride, so yeah, it was a good opportunity.
Sarah How easy is it to become a professional snowboarder these days?
Trevor I think for the New Zealand guys these days, it’s harder but it’s easier. It’s harder because there’s more riders, um, at a higher level. But it’s easier, because these days with the internet and ah, New Zealand riders getting out over the world and riding internationally all the time. If they’re good enough, they’re going to get the sponsors and they’ll get the video parts. Ah, and, but these days there’s thousands of riders out there which are trying to be professional. And, it’s a tough game, so, yeah, it has its pluses and minutes.
Sarah How do you get a sponsor?
Trevor Usually you’ll ride to the top level of your local area. And then you’ll, you’ll start to travel and stuff. And, ah, a lot of people are sponsored for competition, in their earlier days in sponsorship. And where they’ll move through competition and into video parts and stuff like that to keep their sponsors going. Ah, but usually getting some footage and getting some results and getting it to the sponsors. And, ah, yeah, that’s the way you go.
Haru No Taki Avalanche Story
as told by Trevor Ponting
Watch the video here.
There’s a lot of places on the mountain which, which do go naturally. And there’s some places that you do a turn and it’ll sluff. Um, backside Miharashi, always seem to go. Um, the back bowls of (H)aru No Taki seem to go.
I seen the result in an avalanche in Haru No Taki, many years ago. I, um, I was coming down, we used to ride Haru No Taki Bowl as a backcountry run, ah, before it was permanently closed. And, ah, we came down one day and, ah, we came across a guy who was frantically yelling that his friends had disappeared. And the whole bowl had, ah, cracked at the top and come down and, ah, and slid over his friends. They were in the valley floor having a picnic. And, um, the avalanche came. They tried to run, but didn’t run fast enough. And three of his friends got buried.
Ah, yeah, we came down from the run, found him, we, ah, got our packs off and our probes and beacons out and started searching for the missing people. Ah, as we were doing this, the patrollers and other people coming over the ridge from the resort to help, help the search. And, ah, they ... after an hour and a half we managed to find the, the first couple of people and then shortly after probe for the next one. It was another ten to fifteen meters down the hill.
Ah, we found the first girl, um, myself and a friend, with the shovels, we found the first girl. We came across her and she was very badly broken. Her legs wrapped up around her back, over her head, and um, with her snow shoes on. And checked her vitals and come to the conclusion that she was, ah, she was dead. And, ah, while checking the vitals, ah, managed to see a whole in the snow, a gap in the snow underneath her. And about a meter down an eyeball staring, staring at me, blinking. Ah, so, we, we got the first girl out and dug down to the, to the second girl. And, ah, she was getting quite frantic because more snow was getting on her as we were getting down to her. But we got down to her and told her she would be OK. And I’m pretty sure that the first girl had pushed her down in the snow and saved her life by creating an air pocket in between the two.
And, ah, so ... meanwhile doing this, I, my hands got so cold I had to get out of the whole and warm up. So I let somebody else continue digging for her and went up and found the first girl lying in the snow, getting covered by the snow from the wind from the chopper blades. And the helicopter had arrived to take away the people and ah, then asked the Japanese patrol if anyone knew CPR or why they weren’t doing CPR and nobody there knew how, so, ah, me and my friend, ah, my friend and I, Aaron Jamieson. Um, he was a young, young boy 17, 16 or 17 at the time. Myself, 19 or 20. We, ah, performed two person CPR on the dead girl for half an hour. And, ah, got her to the plane with a light pulse. But later got a phone call to say she was dead. It was a, it was a big day.
Ah, we, we got the guide out and we hiked, hiked the guide out, and he was OK, he came out as a frozen block of ice. And, ah, he had a, a mask of ice an inch deep on his face. With a, a hole smaller than a pen to, to breathe through. And, ah, but he was OK too. And ...
Many years later I was hiking in New Zealand with a bunch of Japanese crew and some New Zealand friends. And, ah, we did a, a turn, a couple of turn shots. And one of the Japanese photographers, he mentioned about the turn, nice turn, and I said I was a Niseko local. And he, ah, he asked how many years I lived in Niseko. And I said, oh, many, many years. And he asked if I was avalanche rescue, cause yeah, Kiwi guys, we helped in the avalanche. So I said yes, avalanche rescue Haru No Taki, many years ago. And, ah, he reply ... I said, three people we saved, two girls and one guy. And he replied I was that guy. And we had, yeah, an emotional time. A few cuddles and he had a few tears on. And ever since been friends and been snowboarding quite a bit ever since. So, ah, it was good times. Small world.
links
today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures
Trevor Ponting photos
music
show start
artist: BrunoXe
album: aprendiendo desde 2004
track: Mandrake
from: Jerez, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
cws start
artist: San Sebastian
track: Happy Sad
artist site
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: Groovetracks
track: groovetracks ending
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm
artist: Antony Raijekov
album: Jazz U
track: Chillout me 2004
from: Sofia, Bulgaria
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
end
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: The end of the line
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
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