Scott Kneller

Last Friday night Russ and i had a really fun tramp session. Enjoy the edit Russ put together…

Tramp Edit 2010 from Russ Henshaw on Vimeo.

The View of Lake Jindabyne from Ramone’s Balcony

At the moment it’s all about paying my dues during the week so I come home and play on the weekend, and that’s exactly what I did this past week. I hit the books for four days then made the trip south on Thursday night. The traffic out of Sydney was horrendous though and what should have been a 5hour trip turned into six and a half hours. I woke early Friday morning for a radio interview with Terry Kennedy and Michael Slater on the big Sports Breakfast Show. I skied park most of the day with Russ and then we had an epic tramp session later that night. Russ is working on putting an edit together so will have it up soon.

The link to my Radio Interview

http://c1.libsyn.com/media/18798/2KY_1_ED3QC6.mp3?nvb=20100725101600&nva=20100726102600&sid=baa3d3046506d58a57cbc9de8aa8e08c&t=0304945985e0e155553c4

Saturday was another spectacular day in the mountains and I was lucky enough to be paired with Supermodel Anneliese Seubert for the Veuve Clicquot celebrity ski race at Thredbo. Anneliese and I took out the event and scored ourselves a magnum of the beautiful Champaign.

An Appropiate photo of my partner Anneliese

Russ

On Sunday I skied through lovers leap, the location for the new Skier Cross track at Thredbo. I spent a couple of hours with the Snow Cat drivers explaining my ideas and snow dependent I’m confident Thredbo is going to build an incredible track for the Freeride Series ridercross next week.

Back in Sydney at the moment paying my dues before I head back to the snow on Saturday.

I had an Incredible day yesterday. Went skiing in the morning then a tramp session at night. Will write a longer blog when i have a little more time this afternoon, i’m about to head up to thredbo for another bluebird day of skiing. I learnt a new trick at tramp last night enjoy…

Scott Kneller Tramp from scott kneller on Vimeo.

Driving back from Thredbo on Saturday i saw this car parked on the side of the road, I had to pull over and take a couple of pics. I think its fair  to say this driver may have hit a kangaroo!

Unfortunetly my uni holidays have come to an end and I am forced to migrate back to the warmer climate of Sydney. I woke early Sunday morning and battled the fog and wildlife for 5 hours heading towards the coast  It was an absolutely beautiful day in Sydney though and I spent 4 hours of the afternoon surfing at Maroubra. Certainly a contrast from leaving a heavy frost to arrive in a barmy 21 degrees Celsius.

My Sydney lifestyle is associated with uni so as nice as it was to go surfing, the reality of another semester of uni was a bit of a let down. I do enjoy my study but it’s a difficult workload trying to balance my education and sport. I realise I can’t ski forever so I have to consider my life after sport and whilst I’m skiing, uni is the perfect situation having flexible hours and a 4 month summer holiday. I was a little bored on my trip to Sydney to I made a little video, enjoy!

Jindy to Sydney from scott kneller on Vimeo.

I caught up with Steve Cuff on Saturday for an unbelievable blue bird day. I had to walk to find some untracked pockets but it was certainly worth it.

Finally snow has fallen across the Australian Ski Resorts with Thredbo recording 30cm of fresh snow on Wednesday. Its incredible how quickly the resorts spring to life with a little TLC.

The forecast was a little worrying early in the week with over 80ml of rain falling on Tuesday. The puddle on Friday Flat was big enough to warrant building an ark. But sure enough the temperature dropped as predicted and we were blessed with the natural phenomena we have all come to know as snow.

The sun eventually began to emerge on Friday and I was joined by Ben Hansen to embark on our adventure into Stanley’s Bowl. Stanley’s is subject to favourable wind conditions that deposits the snow into the East facing Bowl. The result was surprisingly deep. We took a couple of snaps before trekking over shrubs and trees for 45minutes to get back to the lift. Worth it! Check out a few of the shots.

Check out this video of my brother Luke and his friend Kris Evans skiing the park at Persiher

A day of skiing with Luke Kneller and Kris Evans from Kristofer Evans on Vimeo.

During the first two weeks of July the Australian Snowfields are subject to the most disgusting epidemic that is the school holidays. Every year school children and their families flock to this part of Australia to infest our peaceful town. This year has been particularly bad, with little natural snowfall it is practically impossible to going skiing.

With this influx of people come lines for the chairlift, lines for food, lines for the bathroom and a long line of traffic snaking up towards the mountain. For some unknown reason it seems every L plate driver feels that it is essential that they learn to drive on the one-lane highways that surround the snowy mountains. During the school holidays it takes longer to find a park than it does for BP to plug an oil well.

Yesterday I made the 45 min trip up the hill for a beautiful day of skiing however after one run I turned around and came home, the half hour lift queue was hardly worth skiing the run with 10000 other people.

I appreciate the school holidays is the most profitable time of the year for local businesses but the lack of snowfall this year has made it unbearable.

During this period I have no other choice than to rise 2 hours earlier and be on snow before the sun rises. Although the early rise is difficult the skiing is worth it. This past week I have been training with the Thredbo Ski Racing Club who have kindly let me ski alongside them. No people, no lines, great snow and beautiful sunrises. Check out a few of the photos my brother Luke took last Friday Morning.

During the last couple of months i have been training in the gymnastics centre at Homebush Sydney. The centre was built for the 2000 Olympics and is an amazing training facility for all athletes. Check out this short video of my double cork 10.