But for a young Cromwell athlete, a wrong move in his chosen sport can mean serious injury or death.
Sam Smoothy (26) is No 4 on the world freeride tour and a favourite to win the current world heli-ski challenge, near Wanaka. He won last year's event.
Freeride skiing is the sport where skiers and snowboarders plunge over cliffs and down chutes, planning to avoid the rocks and maintain their balance when they hit powder snow.
When that plan goes astray, careers - and even lives - can end suddenly. Smoothy accepts it is one of the more dangerous forms of skiing and says some he has competed against have been killed.
"The reason why I do it is that I love skiing and I love being able to dance on that sort of edge and push things as far as I can.
"At the same time, it's just a beautiful environment.
"It gives you a great feeling: skiing and having a good time.
"And part of that is pushing yourself."
Smoothy was born in Dunedin and educated in Cromwell.
His parents, physiotherapist Ellen and retired bank manager Ron, had a house in Wanaka and Smoothy and his younger sister Anna were introduced to skiing at Treble Cone at a very early age.
"We basically grew up there."
He was a regular slalom and giant slalom skier until he tired of that at age 17.
"Pretty normal teenage sort of angst; I just wasn't having a good time and just wanted to go skiing with my friends."
He started freeriding for fun and then his first big (career) break came in 2003 when he finished third in the New Zealand freeride open at the Remarkables.
He hit the European competition circuit and in 2010 broke through with a win at the St Moritz Invitational "Engadin Snow" event.
In the next event, four days later, he broke his leg.
He was out again early last year with a damaged knee and he tore another ligament in his knee earlier this year.
"You just get used to that. I've been lucky though. I haven't done the medial [ligaments] ...
I've been pretty lucky. Touch wood."
He spends his downtime working, his most recent job landscaping in Perth, and studying.
He is halfway through a BA at the University of Otago although the degree is on hold while he follows the tour as a professional, sponsored by German ski manufacturer Volkl.
Smoothy said he enjoyed the heli-ski challenge because it was not an event requiring a "massively competitive attitude".
"I just want to try out some new stuff skiing-wise and if you win it that would be great, but I just want to have a really fun time with a great bunch of people really."
Smoothy is one of about 35 freerider skiers and snowboarders in Wanaka waiting for the two-day weather window necessary to hold the heli-ski challenge.
World Heli Challenge media manager Tania Pilkinton said yesterday that because of the cloudy weather forecast for the start of this week, the first "fly day" was likely to be Thursday.
Competitors were being kept busy in the meantime with a "Helicopter Olympics" fun day at the Lake Hawea Hotel yesterday and a surfing trip to the West Coast scheduled for Wednesday.
