Having been on skis almost as long as they can walk, Dane Spencer and Erik Schlopy are both experienced members of the United States national ski team.
It is a demanding lifestyle - training on snow every morning and then hitting the gym most afternoons.
They only get two months of summer sun a year - but neither of them minds.
"It isn't good to get too hot," Spencer said.
Both men agreed competing at Olympic level was special - but they both said they loved their "job" generally.
"It has been a great opportunity to explore the world, the cultures I otherwise wouldn't have seen," Schlopy said.
However, despite enjoying a jet-setting lifestyle, there is no place like home - the Salt Lake Olympics in Utah were extra special for Spencer as it was only a five-hour drive from his hometown of Boise, Idaho.
"I had so many of my family and friends there," he said.
"I didn't perform at my personal best - but it was the best experience."
And with a 7-month-old son, Schlopy says that fatherhood has raised a "different perspective" on the constant travel which regularly takes him from South America to Europe and New Zealand.
Still, he feels "very lucky to be able to make a living doing what I love".
"It is the highlight for me - a very drawn out highlight," he said.
The pair have just finished their "summer training" - two months on Coronet Peak and rate the skifield highly.
"Every year it gets better," Spencer said.
He was particularly impressed with the new base building - and the racing course in Rocky Gully, which he said had helped with slalom race training.
They said it would be a boon for New Zealand skiers but it was still very hard for them to break into the elite levels of the sport because of the travel and expense.
They were competing against skiers from countries like Austria, which had a "culture based on skiing", Spencer said.
"That is something the US has had to overcome - and I think New Zealand has just started to do that."
The pair have been training with the team on Coronet Peak for four years - and before that they went to Treble Cone - so they are very familiar with the area and love to show it off to friends back home.
"I have been making everyone back home jealous - showing them everything on Skype," Spencer said.
Schlopy was so keen to explore further that he came to New Zealand 10 days before the start of the Coronet Peak training camp to honeymoon with his wife around the South Island.
Since the rest of the team returned home the pair have stayed with Lake Hayes couple James and Sue Lazor.
"We have been very lucky they helped us out," Spencer said.
