The Southern Hemisphere ski season is just starting to pop. Unofficial Squaw has a few of our own headed down to South America this year, and the festivities for the 2011 World Heli Challenge are just starting to get underway in New Zealand. While you’ll have more accurate coverage of what’s going down in SouthAmerica than ever before with Unofficial Andes this season, our Unofficial Squaw Backcountry Reporter Brennan Lagasse will also be dropping several articles in the next couple of months to help you plan for some memorable adventures on the South Island of New Zealand.
Whether you’re already going, plan to go, or just hope to travel to New Zealand at some point in your life, the New Zealand Beta series will offer advice on the smoothest methods of travel, where to have the most fun, and how to do it relatively cheap. It’s one of the most friendly to travel, gorgeous, unpretentious locales in the world. If you ski, or even if you don’t, everyone with the means and desire to travel should get to New Zealand at some point in their life.
For now,the SOS Launch Party is set to go off this Monday night, July 25th, and will feature films from professional skiers and riders shot on location in New Zealand, live music, night riding, and a silent auction. The start of winter, and more specifically, the beginning of the World Heli Challenge is a big deal for the Kiwis. People are pumped, and ready to kick the season off in style! Every ticket purchased will not only go towards SOS Outreach, but also enter you in a raffle for the chance to will a day of heli-skiing with Southern Lakes Heliski. From what Brennan’s told us, it sounds like the best heli-operation in the country.
You can get the full scoop, and learn more on what’s happening with this year’s World Heli Challenge at their website.
