Mates on a mission hit slopes

An Australian adventurer and his longtime Kiwi friend will soon hit Queenstown’s skifields as part of a three-month, 4000km journey to raise $75,000 for Save the Children.

Environmentalist, writer and fundraiser Huw Kingston and former New Zealand mountain biking rep Laurence Mote expect to arrive in the resort today as they bike the length of the country on their ‘Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa’.

Towing trailers carrying their skiing and camping gear, they’re spending at least a day at each of NZ’s 24 ski areas.

Kingston, who spoke to Mountain Scene while riding into a "stiff headwind" on the Otago Central Rail Trail, says they plan to spend four days in Queenstown, where they’ll ride their bikes up to Coronet Peak and The Remarkables.

"If you see two guys skiing together in orange jackets, there’s a good chance it’'ll be us."

They’ll also attend a function organised by Save the Children, for which Kingston’s an ambassador.

Since departing Cape Reinga on June 25, they’ve had to drastically change their South Island route due to a lack of snow on most of the Canterbury skifields.

Ironically, the lack of snowfall has chimed with the purpose of their journey, which has so far raised just over $30,000 for a project to build climate-resilient classrooms, adapted from shipping containers, in Vanuatu.

The Pacific nation’s lost more than 100 classrooms in the past two years as a result of "ever-larger storm surges and cyclones", he says.

"Kids are sitting in tents trying to get an education."

Kingston’s raised hundreds of thousands for Save the Children through various schemes over the years, including a similar journey in the Australian Alps three years ago.

After leaving Queenstown, the pair will cross Lake Whakatipu to Walter Peak, from where they’ll ride to Bluff before doing a U-turn and heading north to Wānaka. They’ll then ride over the Haast Pass and up the West Coast before returning to Canterbury to knock off more skifields.

They expect to finish up in Christchurch at the end of the month.

Despite the lack of snow, Kingston says they’ve had some "pretty stunning skiing", and especially enjoyed the laid-back nature of NZ’s club fields.

"It’s a side of NZ skiing that many wouldn’t be familiar with — these small club fields in out-of-the-way places.

"If tows don’t open, or things break down or whatever, people don’t give a shit.

"They’re just like ‘well, that’s the deal — we’re up here, we’ll grab a pie and a beer, and we’ll come back next time’."

To support Huw and Laurence’s fundraising efforts, see: alpine-odyssey-save-the-children.raiselysite.com