Passion for power in snow

In her spare time, Wanaka snowmobiler Torte Lyons enjoys "freestyle" riding, wherever she can...
In her spare time, Wanaka snowmobiler Torte Lyons enjoys "freestyle" riding, wherever she can gain permission. Photo by Catherine Pattison.
Torte Lyons does not look like your average ''horrible little bogan'', as her mother jokingly calls her.

In fact quite the opposite, with her bouncy, blonde curls and big smile, but bring up her penchant for snowmobiling and her baby blues take on a steely tinge.

The conversation swerves towards how grunty her own 800cc Summit snow machine is and the fact that it is a ''154 long track with two-and-a-half-inch paddles.''

Basically, it's built for high-octane antics in the snow.

Indulging her passion for ''freestyle'' snowmobiling around Wanaka requires a certain amount of ''sweet-talking'' local farmers into letting her let loose on their land. Miss Lyons (32), of Wanaka, points out that there are respectful ways of riding which don't damage the ground, or the valued relationship with the owner.

Come next weekend however, there will be no holding back as she competes in a hill climb event at Roundhill skifield. Competitors attempt to ride their machines up a ''scary'' 650m rise over 1.5km towards the Richmond Range's summit. The highest rider wins.

Also a keen dirt bike rider, Miss Lyons is in an enviable position of being able to enjoy what she does for fun, pretty much every day as her job.

She works at the Snow Farm as Over Snow Tours owner Barbs Poots' ''right-hand woman'' and also for the Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground, doing ''a bit of everything''. Her next few days will be spent snowmobiling film crews around Cardrona Alpine Resort and Ohau skifield.

Then it is back to her base, taking snowmobile tours, doing hut gear drops for cross-country skiers and anything else that comes up requiring an experienced snowmobiler.

''Any given week, I don't know where we are going to end up,'' she says, with a laugh.

The varied nature of her vocation , suits her perfectly.

''It's fun. It's really fun, actually.''

Working in snowy surrounds is nothing new for her, after eight winter seasons employed at the Snow Park.

Enjoying the ''snow bum'' lifestyle, Miss Lyons ''got sucked into doing back-to-back seasons'' and spent the New Zealand summers snowboarding in winter-bound Salt Lake City, in the United States.

 

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