I was meaning to post this story I wrote over at Powder Magazine, but I ended up heading to Argentina (where I'm currently at now) and never found a good enough internet connection, so it slightly slipped through the cracks... This story is going to take you back in time, only a couple weeks prior, where I headed to the West coast of New Zealand with Daron Rahlves and Martin Steinbach.

Written by: Chris Benchetler

Is it normal to bring a wet suit, hood, and booties on a ski trip? No... Was it the best decision I ever made? YES Before we left the states I made sure to send out a quick email to the crew informing them that we would be staying on an island surrounded by big/good waves. I actually only knew that the surf was really good because of a personal experience I had two years prior with Jp Auclair. Jp and I had the pleasure of surfing the Catlins (far Southeast of the South island) the last time I was in NZ, and still talk about it as if it were yesterday. It was one of my most epic (we actually refer to it as Great Day 2007 ) trips to date

Sure enough as we made our way across Aurthors Pass (from the Clubbies to Wanaka) and hit the West coast, the waves were firing. Unfortunately, every person who we stopped to ask about boards on the way looked at us as though we were the pioneers of surfing. I even asked one woman at a caf about surfing and finding surfboards, and her response was- Sure you can go surfing If you want to die... So, after what was quite possibly the saddest day of my life, we hit Wanaka and found our beloved friend Jossi Wells. He thought we were just as crazy as the Caf lady did, but he supplied Daron, Martin, and myself with boards to go try our luck.

As predicted, it was AWESOME! Offshore winds, 6-10 foot, pretty messy, but the only warnings we had to beware of were rips, rocks, and sharks Sure it was a little spooky being the only one in the dark deep water. Sure it was a little cold (10 C) and Daron started hyperventilating. Sure the current took you a mile down the beach within 10 minutes. But, it was one of the best days I ve ever had. Surfing with snow-covered peaks in the background is a site to see. So, I m going give you that site with these photos

Photography by: Chris Benchetler, Daron Rahlves, & Martin Steinbach