Megan Ginter: New Zealand

August 24, 2009 - New Zealand has been amazing.  After breaking my ankle I have had a rough few months. I’m stoked to be in another country on pretty much my first international travel. Leaving Seattle on August 8th it took 2 days to get here. Flying into Australia was so pretty, I really wish I had time to stay a few days and check it out, see some kangaroos or something. But on directly to Queenstown where I realized they had lost my board bag.

After getting into Wanaka and realizing I had no where to stay either I was pretty down. I got a room and by the next day I was sitting on my only bag in the rain wondering what the hell to do.
Luckily I met some of the coolest guys down here that took me in and helped me so much. ISTC ( International Snowboard Training Center) took me under their wing. Ben Boyd and Brady McNeil are some of the best coaches out there and I am so beyond thankful that they were here to help me out. Boydy loaned me his boots and JJ’s binding that were way too big. Our qualifying day for the Open was awful weather. It was hard for me because I really hadn’t hit very much jumps yet since my surgery and amongst other personal issues I was dealing with I was trying to ride in horse shit weather in gear that I wasn’t used to or fitting in. Our qualifying got cut short due to fog and wind, but I still managed to get into 2nd that day. They gave us another run on Friday and well I choked and didn’t make the cut, but its all good. I placed 21st over all, the lowest contest placement I have ever gotten. In ways it made me really sad but I know that I was not to full capability of my riding. Since then I’ve been here almost three weeks riding Cardrona everyday. There is a super fun jump line although we have mostly been hiking the first jump to get some of my tricks back.

Wanaka is an awesome town and I couldn’t have asked for a better crew to be here with. The first few days I got to stay with some awesome girls. Indigo Monk is 14 now and I remember her shredding when she was just a tiny grom. She is killing it now getting 5th and the world cup slopestyle and nice features article in the local newspaper. Brennen Swanson and JJ Thomas shredding the pipe and some shredders Daino, Matt and Ten Pack ( Grant). We’ve had some good times on the town, creeping Queenstown, rallying the luge carts and spending entirely too much time on facebook.

Today it is raining and the lifts and park are shut down on wind hold. I thought I would take a minute to update because it had been a long time.

You never know how fast life can change and how quickly things can be ripped out from under your feet. and at the same time you never know when you might just get on a plane and fly half way across the world and somehow everything just works out. I finally after months have started to find a little piece of my happiness again. You never realize how much snowboarding means to you sometimes until you have that day that you can’t help but smile while your riding.
A huge thanks to Boydy, Brady and everyone with ISTC. Thanks for taking me in.. you’ve helped me get through one of the hardest points of my life whether you will ever know it or not. Thank you…
More NZ updates to come as I have just pushed my ticket up to the 5th leaving me another 12 days here..

Keep up with Megan: http://meganginter.blogspot.com/

Posted by Diana Sciandra on 09/20