Last year, the then 6-year-old, from Pisa Moorings, clocked up 40 days skiing the slopes of Cardrona Alpine Resort to mark its 40th anniversary and happened to make more than $10,000 for the Cancer Society of New Zealand in the process.
Now he plans to top the feat by skiing the length of New Zealand — covering all skifields south to north, again to raise money for the society.
When Lochie was 4, his mother Rebecca Win, was diagnosed with a rare malignant adrenal tumour and it was his family’s experience with the society that led him to hatch a plan to give something back.
‘‘A couple of years ago, my mum had cancer, so we decided to raise money for the Cancer Society.’’
In his Cardrona mission he completed 25 consecutive days skiing over school holidays before completing the rest over a total period spanning about three months.
His father Luke Win was his ‘‘pit crew’’, he said.
Mr Win said his main job was to keep his son ‘‘fed and watered’’ but word of what Lochie soon spread and a Covid environment made completing the task difficult.
‘‘Covid kept changing things, especially in terms of where we could eat,’’ Mr Win said.
That required some improvisation.
‘‘I ended up setting up bit of a kitchen in the ute with a gas barbecue.’’
As the challenge progressed and staff at Cardrona twigged as to what the pair were doing things became easier to co-ordinate and part of that was Double Brown beer.
The ‘‘DoBro’’ was an affordable way to ensure the pair always had a prime parking space to ensure their mission went smoothly without much interruption.
‘‘They started putting cones out for us,’’ Lochie said.
Skiers on the slopes also were touched by Lochie’s mission.
‘‘We had people in tears,’’ Mr Win said.
Mrs Win is in remission but said the feat was ‘‘pretty special’’ and she was ‘‘really proud of both Lochie and his pit crew’’.
‘‘I really didn’t know if they were going to do it.’’
Lochie and his father admit their latest challenge will be a lot harder, especially when the travelling is factored in.
Mr Win said as well as the fundraising aspect it was the chance to highlight skifields, such as club fields that were a little more off the beaten track for ski bunnies.
Sponsorship was key to making it all possible and Lochie would be completing the challenge with US-made Mountainflow Eco-Wax — a plant based wax to let others know there were alternatives when it came to ski waxes which were traditionally petroleum-based.
‘‘Lochie is all about looking after our environment and after last year ... when he found out that wax ended up in the snow melt, he really pushed to find a better way.’’
Others supporting Lochie included the Cancer Society of New Zealand, Shaun Vining, the brother of Southland man Blair Vining, who died from bowel cancer almost two years ago, but campaigned nationwide to get better care for people suffering from cancer.
Most of the skifields were on board, Mr Win said.
Lochie’s adventure is set to begin on July 12 and could take up to five weeks.
