Ziggy Williams

It was my mum, Sally's birthday on the weekend. So we took advantage of this and used it as an excuse to buy a puppy...
With no further adeu this is the new addition to the Williams family, Ziggy.


He is a Schnoodle. A cross between a Shnauzer and a Poodle, and I suspect a little bit of Awesome!



JW

Movember.

No, I will not participating as I have very poor facial hair growing abilities. However it is a well known fact that my boy Pat 'The Big Man' Davis - Meehan grows a mean moussi, and sometimes beard. So I will be putting all my support into Patto and his mates in team 'Mo Crescent'.


It's for a great cause [Proceeds go towards mens health], so if you want to get behind the boys and donate click here or visit au.movember.com/mospace/859742/.



Don't forget to check back here for a picture of The Big Man's ridiculously epic mo!

Peace.

isft. Gala

On Friday i ski for tommy hosted it's gala at The Savage club in Melbourne [an amazing and unique venue]. The purpose of the event was to celebrate the success of isft. over the past 12 months; present the Victorian Melenoma Service with a whopping donation; as well as thanking the supporters of the foundation... and to have a good time [of course].


I was also lucky enough, on the night, to be announced as a new ambassador of isft. I have known of this for a month or two but we kept it on the down low so it could be announced with a bang at the gala. At the start of the night everyone was aware there was going to be a new ambassador, but very few people knew it was me. Its a massive honour to be so involved in the foundation and I am very excited as to what the future will bring.

Anywhoo, the Gala was a very successful evening, everyone had an awesome time. I think big props are deserved by Mark Ciccello and his band of helpers [inclusive of my sister Ellise] aswell as the supporters of isft. for their ongoing passion and enthusiasm.

Thats it for now.
JW

Back To The Real World.

Yep, after a long winter spent between Mount Buller, Jindabyne and New Zealand I am home and straight back on the tools. I flew in from NZ about two weeks ago and the very next day I was on the job site to resume my apprenticeship.

Not much interesting has occured in these past two weeks. Aside from work I have been trying to catch up with as many freinds as possible and managed to sneak up to Buller this weekend for one last shred and to watch the AFL final [and celebrate the result] with some good freinds [even though none of us support either side].

In the next few months before I return to the winter world [The Northern Winter] there will be very little on the snowboarding front to report. Never fear as I will continue to post about anything eventful or interesting that you [my loyal readers, whom I am almost certain consist only of my Mum] may find interesting. So I thought I might start now by posting my snowboarding playlist from this season.

I am pretty passionate about music. That said I am not musical at all. However one of my favourite things to do is trade music with freinds and maybe share or stumble across something new and exciting. So I hope that using this forum you might find something you like. These are some of my favourite songs from the past few months including some new tracks along with some old favourites.

-Under the Sheets - Chiddy Bang
All of you have probably heard of these guys buy now, they are amazing! This is off their Air Swell Mixtape and samples Ellie Goulding's song by the same name [love her voice].
-Crave You - Flight Facilities feat. Gizelle
This is an incredible song from a few months back. When Nate first heard it in NZ it was on repeat for weeks and weeks.
-Daylight [Ninjasonik Remix] - Matt & Kim
Got to love good hip hop remixes of already great songs.



-Work - Gang Starr
This song inspires me, and it just so happens to be one of the best hip hop beats in history. The MC of Gang Starr died earlier this year. R.I.P. Guru
-Evil Woman [feat ELO] - Hoodie Allen w/ Mike Posner
This is such a cool song, I think it helps that it samples ELO.
-Cudder Is Back - Kid Cudi feat. Vampire Weekend
Two of my favourite artists Kid Cudi and Vampire Weekend. It can't get much better.
-I Need A Dollar - Aloe Blacc
How To Make It In America is one of my favourite TV shows at the moment, and this is the theme song which happens to be pretty incredible.



-Heard It Through The Grapevine [Xaphoon Jones Remix] - Marvin Gaye
Xaphoon Jones is the A.K.A. of Noah, the producer from Chiddy Bang. Xaphoon does really epic remixes and mash ups, this is one of my favourites.
-Worse it Gets [RAC Mix] - Penguin Prison
For some reason I feel this would be a good summer roadtrip song, will have to wait and see.
-Who Do You Love - Museum of Bellas Artes
The sounds that make up this song are odd, but somehow work... its just a simple and fun track.

If you have'nt worked it out already you can click on the titles to listen to/view the songs on YouTube. Enjoy! If I get good feedback, who knows, maybe I might post again when I get some new tunes I'm excited about.

JW

SoO

Vote Team Victoria in the Shred of Origin!



I suppose I should be diplomatic so here is the Team NSW edit too.



Click Here To Vote

Secret Sessions...

Cardrona has been completely closed for the past two days now due to some maintenance issues. However yesterday we heard some whispers on the streets of Wanaka that some kiwi's had a private traning session in the Cardrona pipe and they might be doing the same today. So our coach made some calls to see if it was on for today, and to get us in on the action...

We were pretty lucky to ride the pipe today. As I mentioned the Cardies was closed to the public and The mountain was pretty much desserted. The only other people we were sharing the pipe with were: a small group of Kiwis; Byron Wells + Simon Dumont; and some North Face skiers + snowboarder [Kaitlyn Farrington] doing a photo shoot. We had to wait for a little while before getting into the pipe because The North Face crew were shooting with a heli, but it was'nt all that bad just kicking back and watching the chopper.


It was a fun day. The sun was shining, there was a good vibe and the pipe was still in pretty good knick when despite the fact that it had'nt been cut and there were some pretty cool tricks being thrown down by all.

Check out Sam's post on today by clicking here.
JW

New Zealand is Closed

There are gale force winds charging through that have caused Snow Park, Cardrona, Treble Cone, The Remarkables, Coronet Peak and I'm sure a few other mountains are completelly closed... this weather in NZ is getting pretty, pretty annoying.

Earthquake!!!

This morning at about 5am I woke to my bed wobbling, the hanging light swinging and the walls swaying. I though I must've just been having a dream, but then I realized Nate was awake to and he confirmed that I wasn't crazy and it definatley felt like the house was about to fall over. The tremers continued for a few miutes and I was pretty quick to fall back asleep. [I stole this photo from the internet]


When I eventually got out of bed, I mentioned it to the boys, who slept through it and attributed these happenings to a ghost, and our Coach, Benny, who said he felt it also... we joked that it was an earthquake, but sure enough when we flicked over to the News channel we found out that a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit about 30 clicks out of Christchurch [I should mention that we are about a 6 hour drive from Christchurch]. Check out this video of the damage.



JW

Cardies Closure

Today I woke up, rolled over, grabbed my laptop and checked the web report for Cardrona. This is what I saw.


It's easy to see why when you look at this webcam of the halfpipe.


I promise you that is the halfpipe.

Based on this intel we pretty much wrote the day off, the boys had a sleep in and I watched a doco on submarines... but then we got a call from Coach saying that snowpark was sunny. Initially I thought it was a joke but when I looked on the webcam I could'nt beleive my eyes, it was sunny. We ended up going to Snow Park even if it was just to get out of the house but it turned out to be a pretty fun day. We shredded the jib line [the fresh snow and strong winds did'nt allow us to ride anthing else] but that was ok with me as I can honestly say I cannot remember the last time I spent a day hitting nothing but rails and boxes.

Fingers crossed the weather clears up soon.
JKW

SoO AirTime

SoO AirTime is video based freeride competition for the Aussie snowfields. It has two components... the Open Edit which is open to everyone, and the Shred of Origin [SoO] which pits the best Victorians and New South Walshmen/Women against each other [For more intel head here].


Any how it is all going on at the moment with the Open Edit videos up and ready for voting, and the SoO kicking off at Mount Buller.
These videos are from the first twos days of the SoO.





So get amongst it. Visit www.sooairtime.com. Watch and vote!

JW

One Sunny Day

We have not had the best of luck in terms of weather lately and it does not seem to be getting all that much better any time soon. There was a small window [two days] in which the weather was good to ride. The first was on tuesday when we could'nt see Cardrona so rode Snow Park instead [Sam posted about Tuesday here]; and yesterday which was a perfect blue bird day. We took advantage of the beautiful day by riding pipe all morning and in the afternoon hiking out to get a few lines in one of the back bowls at Cardrona. The snow was'nt incredible out the back, but it was alot better than riding shredded up groomers or sitting on the couch.


I will post more from yesterday afternoon soon!
JW

Happenings...

So we did'nt have internet for the last couple of days. Not much has happened during these days, but here is a quick run down.

Nate placed second in the Junior Worlds Halfpipe. [Well done Nate!]


We had two days off to rest up after a long stint on snow. We did'dt do much with these two days off. Just alot of couch time, some pool shooting and a walk down the lake.


Today we went up to Snow Park but unfortunately after three runs we ended up here...


Yep, Charley fell in the pipe and dislocated his shoulder... no fun at all. He is about to head down to the medical center to get an X-Ray, so hopefully the results are good.


This is a photo I took out of the window while Charley was getting checked out by Patrol.


Thats all for now. I will let you know how Charleys X-Rays turn out... fingers crossed.
JW

Junior Worlds: Qualification

We left home at about 7am this morning for the boys to compete in the first heat. To be honest I was in the cafe when they were comepting so I'm not sure how they rode. Nate qualified through to Semi's though, coming 3rd in the first heat.

I headed up to the pipe a bit before 10am for training. The pipe was in incredible shape and there was not one cloud in the sky. I did two training runs before the heat started. I dropped around the middle of my heat and landed my first run [The same run I was doing during the Northen Winter - Cab 7, Front 9, Back 9, Straight Air], it was a bit scrappy though. In my second run I kooked my Frontside 9 and ended up with the wind knocked out of me and a bloody nose. I ended up 7th in my heat... about 22nd overall. I missed out on finals by just .1 of a point, which is kind of upsetting but I'm sure I will get over it.

Scotty James came 5th in the third heat, which put him through to Semi's. It should be a good event to watch tommorow [Even though I'd much rather be in it than spectating] as there is alot of talented kids from all over the world here.

This is what Cadrona was looking like this morning... I can think of alot worse places to be.


It's Jason's 19th birthday today [HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASE!] so I think we are heading out to dinner to celebrate.

JW

Junior Worlds: Training

The last two mornings we have had official practice in the Cadrona halfpipe. It was really good to get back into their pipe after a fair stint at Snow Park. We have been pretty lucky with the weather so far and pipe was/is in awesome condition. I can't wait to ride it again tommorow.

This is how the pipe was looking this morning.
[I stole this photo from Sam... Taken by Benny A]


There are three qualification heats tommorow. I am in the second, Scotty James is in the third and all the other boys [Nate, Jase, Sam and Charlie] are in the first. The top two riders from each heat advance directly into the final on Wednesday. The next four placed riders in each heat advance into a semi-final also to be held on Wednesday. Six riders from the semi go through to make it a twelve man final.

To check out scores during the day: live scoring will be posted here, or if you are tech savvy [Like my Mum who has already downloaded it] there is also an iPhone app available here.

Fingers crossed that all the boys and I do well. I will be sure to keep you posted.
JW

Junior Worlds

Today was the official opening of the 2010 FIS Freestyle/Snowboard Junior World Championships here in Wanaka. This afternoon we atteneded the official proceedings including: a march through the town of Wanaka [which was pretty crazy, the police closed roads and there were people in town cheering on all the competitors]; a traditional Maori welcoming peformed by the local primary school; and the usual speeches from big wigs that make events like this one possible.

We are competing on Tuesday, and possibly on Wednesday [depending on finals qualification] at Cadrona. Until then we will be practicing either at Cardrona or Snow Park.

Here are a couple of photo's from this afternoon.



Sam put up a pretty cool post about today with more photos @ samuelmurphy.com
JW

DJ Knows

This video explains itself pretty well. It features RJMC [RJ the Kiwi] , DJ Dork [Alex Cordingly] and DJ Perplex. There is also a brief cameo of Remi doing his thing, so keep an eye out!



JW.

Boredom and a Barber Kit.

This is what Sam Murphy looked like earlier today.


This is what he looks like now.


Yep, after a few days of contemplation and a few minutes in the chair while I was wielding a pair of scissors, Samboss's lushious locks are gone.


Sam's initial intentions were to shave his whole head to a no. 3, so I didn't hold back at all in terms of going the hack. Upon second consideration he decided to keep a little bit of length. This resulted in a is a less than salon grade hair cut that Samboss is happy to run with. For now anyway.


To hear Samboss's outlook on his new haircut click> here

JW

Where Did Snow Park Go?

So those clouds I took a picture of that were rolling through the valley yesterday... well they decided to stick around and do what clouds do - make it rain/snow. We thought we would try our luck anyway and took a nice little drive up to Snow Park. The closer we got the more likely it seemed that it was going to be a below average day up the hill. This is what Cardrona looked like from the road up to Snow Park.


After surviving the sketchy roads we pulled into the car park only to find that we could'nt see Snow Park. Where did it go? To answer this question we sent Jase and Samboss on a Reconnaissance mission to see if it was still there.



Upon return they concluded that Snow Park was still there, it was just really really hard to see, and it was pretty wet too. Due to this intel, we made the call to turn around and try again tommorow. It sucks today was a write off but I guess we will try to make the most of it by going to the gym and perhaps sipping lattes.

JW

Today Was A Good Day

This morning I woke up feeling rested, I got well caffinated and then headed up the hill. The sun was shining, the pipe was in good shape [in comparison to yesterday] and everywhere I looked/went there was a familar and friendly face smiling.

I took this photo from the top of the Pipe just as the clouds started rolling through the valley [I'm pretty sure I will be posting a bunch of scenic shots while I'm over here. This place is so beautiful. Everyday I see something that is amazing].


It was one of the funnest days shredding I've had in NZ so far. The weather was good and I no longer have a cold. I just worked on some of my more simple tricks today, I'm looking foward to tommorow when I can start working on my run for Junior Worlds [which is on next week in Cardrona]. I'll be sure to let you know how things go.

JW

Another Lay Day

We had another day off snow as the NZ Open was on up at Cardrona and Snowpark got hit pretty bad with rain yesterday so hardly any features were open. I wasn't super happy to be off snow again as I have'nt been snowboarding in way too long due to illness and bad weather. I embraced the day anyway, with a pretty cruisy morning involving several cups of tea and the purchase of a crossword book [The last month at home I got addicted to the daily crossword, but the papers here just dont live up to the caliber of the Herald Sun].

This afternoon, however, we decided to confront cabin fever buy heading the 10km's out of town to 'Have a Shot' to play some putt putt mini golf and so Samboss could let off some rounds in the shooting range.

Samboss after shooting.


Some putt putt happy snaps: Jase gets an honorable mention for the only hole in one [Even though he came last], but I came out Victorious with Sam and Charlie tied for second.




We also hit up the Transport and Toy Museum which was across the road before heading home. Although we didn't make it past the foyer, there was some pretty cool stuff to be seen.




Well thats it for now.
JKW

One Day in Queenstown

We had the day off today so we cruised down to Queenstown with the intention of seeing a movie and so some of the boys could do some shopping. It was snowing like crazy on the drive over so we ended up missing the movie showing.. twice. We just ended up eating lunch and heading home after the boys did thier shopping. We took the long way back to Wanaka to avoid trecherous snowy roads in our sweet MiniBus and in a split second decision (as in the turn in 400 metres sort of decision) we decided to go to the cellar door of a winery to do a tasting. Here are some photos from the day.

The Barrels aging the 2010 Pinot Noir at the Peregrine Winery


The Boys and I wine tasting.


This is one of the buildings at the winery.


This Gondola is in Queenstown, I have no idea where it goes but it is ridiculously steep, so I took a photo.


We saw this sheep farmer at the bottom of Snow Park yesterday. This place really lives up to the cliche, there are sheep everywhere!



JW

New Zealand.

On Monday I flew out of Melbourne Airport bright and early to Queenstown via Auckland. I am spending the next 6 weeks in Wanaka with Nate Johnstone, Jase Maxfield, Sam Murphy, Charlie Steinbacher and our coach Benny A. So far we have done 2 days at Cadrona and one day at Snowpark. Both reorts have pretty awesome parks and pipes, not to mention some pretty amazing veiws from up top.
Here are some photos:

Cadrona Village


Cadrona's Pipe


As always keep posted because this should be a fun trip. You should also check out Nate and Samboss's blog by clicking thier names up there ^^
In the not too distant future I will post some photo's of the Dew Hut Jam from last weekend.

Until then
JKW

Get Better Soon PDM!

So yesterday my boy Patto broke his ankle pretty bad. I'm sure he will put a post up on his blog soon, so I wont go into detail but I just wanted to wish him a speedy recovery. Pat is always fun to ride with and has been an awesome training partner so I'll miss him heaps while he's on the mend.



Heal up quick Big Man
JKW

Gnarcade.

This is a video my freind Thommo sent to me. It was mde by the crew from High Cascade at Mt. Hood. It is a ridiculously awesome video. I had to pick my jaw up from the floor after watching it. So I just thought I would share it with everyone. Enjoy.



JW

Surf Safari

Yesterday was my day off snow. So rather than sitting around in my cabin at the Sport and Rec Centre (Where I live up here in Jindy) all day I went surfing with my coach, Benny A and one of the moguls coaches, Jerry.

We left Sport and Rec at about 6:15 another morning on the road before the sun was up...


It took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Merimbula where we got Maccas before going to check the surf. There were'nt really any good waves breaking around Merimbula so we drove a little further north to Tathra.


I had an awesome time, it was so good to get in the water, even though it felt like I had never surfed before. Jerry and Benny both got some pretty sweet waves. I definately have the urge to go back really soon. These are some photo's I took during the day...

This is Tura Beach.. obviously there was no surf, so we moved on.


The Lagoon at Nelson Bay (where we ended up surfing at Tathra)


This one is just a pic I snapped from the dunes.


This is Jerry when he got out of the water. As you can see by the look on his face he was stoked on life.


I hope to go on another surfing adventure soon! Hopefully next time I do better, but either way I'm sure it will be just as fun.

JW