A snowboard instructor examiner, Mr Stubbs turned his hand to feature writing, photography and website design to help supplement his snowsports lifestyle and the move has won him a gold medal from an international publishing heavyweight.
At a recent awards ceremony in New York, Independent Publishers awarded Mr Stubbs' book on Japan's skifield tourism industry a gold medal.
The medal came as a "massive surprise" to Mr Stubbs.
"My publisher entered it on a whim.
"Even to make the finalists was awesome and to hear that we'd won the overall travel section was massive," he said.
He hoped the book would be a "pilot" publication for a series that explored winter tourism destinations and skifield industries the world over.
"I've dubbed it the `Lonely Planet' of snow," Mr Stubbs said, in reference to the series of travel books which are a "must-have" for many backpackers visiting international destinations.
If his publisher, WSG Media - behind the international magazine World Snowboarding Guide - gives its approval, Mr Stubbs could be packing his snowboard in preparation for another writing stint.
Possible books on southern hemisphere skifields and resorts - "New Zealand is too small for one on its own" - and on Austria and Switzerland were planned, while a publication on Eastern Europe's winter destinations was ready to to be printed, Stubbs said.
As part of his "work" for the book, he spent three years "researching" and visited about 90% of Japan's skifields, along with many of the country's resorts and tourist attractions.
Southern snow profile
Keith Stubbs (29).
Job: Snowboard instructor-examiner, travel writer and photographer.
Based: Wanaka.
The lowdown: Mr Stubb's book Snow-search Japan won gold at the Independent Publishers awards ceremony in New York recently.
