In a quest to take his skiing to the next level, Kiwi world No. 4 on the freeride world tour, Craig Murray has teamed up with ski-mountaineering legend Sam Smoothy to take on one of the country’s most notorious peaks, Mt Avalanche.
In a challenge sponsored by Nutri-Grain, the pair has climbed up to the summit of Mt Avalanche, located in the Mount Aspiring National Park, then free-skied to the base of the mountain.
"It was Craig's idea to do this challenge," Smoothy tells Newshub.
Completing a heroic ascent like this requires tough preparation - not only to the body, but also the mind.
"I spent a lot of my winter skiing in the backcountry to get ready for the challenge," says Smoothy.
"I did lots of missions in the Southern Alps, which was a lot of fun and a great way to build up for the challenge."
The pair linked with Nutri-Grain Ironman champion Hannah Wells, who helped them prepare for a massive challenge like this.
Wells provided valuable insight on intensive strength and endurance training, which gave the team the edge they needed going into their trek.
"Hannah helped us so much and was such fun to work with, as well as being a great athlete," Smoothy says.
"There are a lot of similar aspects in our sports - stamina, endurance and the mental side are things that overlapped, and she was very helpful in that regard."
The pair studied forecasts for weeks, waiting for the perfect window where weather and snow conditions aligned.
"New Zealand is such a small island and we get changeable weather. There were a lot of clouds around, which made the approach difficult."
The ascent of Mt Avalanche comes with a massive drop off the side, giving the skiers no room for error. Inconsistent weather made the challenge even tougher.
While the freeskiing element will get most people's attention, the climb to the top was just as significant.
Mt Avalanche features three peaks - Smoothy and Murray climbed the highest west peak (2606m), before crossing to the middle peak and descending the south-west face.
The climb to the summit took 5-6 hours, but only one-and-a-half to two minutes to get down.
Once the pair reached the summit, they gathered their courage, clipped into their skis and tore down the steep slope, successfully navigating rocks at top speed, all the way to the base.
"With something like this, it's definitely a rollercoaster of emotions," says Smoothy.
"You have to be solution-oriented, because anything could happen - you just don't know. Once we saw soft snow, it was a huge relief."
At the base, emotions overcame both skiers, after putting so much towards this challenge.
"Seeing how much it meant to Craig and how over the moon he was, it was so special.
"It was so cool skiing up to him straight after and giving him a big hug that really capped off an amazing achievement."
After all the hard work and preparation, they had succeeded, proving you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
This might not be the last such challenge Smoothy attempts with overseas mountains beckoning, once our borders open.
"I would love to climb some of the bigger mountains around the world in the future, such as the Andes and the mountains in North America."
"It is really cool to learn and complete challenges like this on New Zealand's mountains, and then to try this sort of thing on the bigger mountains overseas, that would be amazing."
Stay tuned for more adventures from Craig Murray and Sam Smoothy.
Newshub will be releasing a diary Sam completed throughout this incredible adventure, that will take you through all the ups and downs of this incredible challenge.
Nutri-Grain believes with courage, strength and determination anyone can be unstoppable.
This article was created for Nutri-Grain
