This winter POW Australia Ambassador Huw Kingston is off on Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa. The 90-day journey, starting on 25 June, will see Huw and long-time Kiwi mate Laurence Mote take on a 4000km journey from the tip of the North Island, beginning 25 June, to the bottom of the South, skiing at all 24 ski fields in the country – many of which are increasingly impacted by a changing climate.
This follows on from Huw’s Alpine Odyssey Australia journey that he undertook in the winter of 2022. Many of you will have viewed the film of that journey.
Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa will cover a lot of ground by mountain bike, towing trailers with ski gear, camping gear etc onboard, but there are also ski touring and hiking sections. Laurence, who used to mountain bike for NZ and is proudly part Māori, is actually legally blind and still impacted by ongoing symptoms caused by a near-death brain injury from 2013 when he was stung by a bee, went into anaphylactic shock and suffered a stroke. Huw reckons Laurence is still twice the skier and rider than he is!
“In these strange times globally, it is important to not forget to help those most vulnerable. Your support will go directly to this pilot project, providing innovative solutions that protect children and families on the frontline of the climate crisis.”
– Huw Kingston
Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa is aiming to raise $75,000 for for an exciting new project to ensure children in Vanuatu don’t miss out on education in the face of climate emergencies. Save the Children’s first climate resilient shipping container classroom in Vanuatu.
We’re promoting Huw and Laurence’s fundraising and hoping you might support them. Their fundraising page is here. As well as making general donations, you can, like happened on the Australian version, ‘buy’ yourself one of the ski areas!
“I’ve been Huw’s plus-one on many adventures over the years here in Aotearoa, but nothing this long or this hard. Combining two of my favourite things, skiing and biking, had me convinced from the start. Traversing the length of my country, in deepest, darkest winter, seems both crazy and exciting. 3 months should also just be long enough for me to teach Huw to pronounce place names in Te Reo Māori!”
– Laurence Mote
Full details on Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa are here. You can also follow the journey on Huw’s Facebook and Instagram pages or sign up for occasional email updates here.
Donate to the Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa fundraising here.
You can also now check out the 4 minute film, by Matty Nethery, of the two backcountry hut screenings of Alpine Odyssey we held last winter.