Club ski fields are the beating heart of New Zealand culture and something found nowhere else on earth.
The full club field story has never been told to a mainstream audience before. It seems like high time to change that.
Telling the soul story of the clubbies
This year, I’ll be working with club fields and knowledge holders to pull together content. The aim is to create a rich, visually gorgeous coffee-table book that talks to the themes below…
Clubbie communities: powered by awesome.
Every clubbie is a community run by collaborative volunteers from all walks of life.
The infrastructure is basic, the hospitality is warm, and the skiing is served up as full-bodied joy with a side of adrenaline.
In a world that emphasises disconnection and pay-per-view consumerism, it’s time we told the story of what it’s like to show up and build something awesome together.
Clubbies and freeride
Clubbies are closely intertwined with the origins of NZ’s freeride culture, where skiers and snowboarders navigate steep and challenging natural terrain features like cliffs and narrow chutes. NZers have historically punched well above their weight on the global freeride stage. This is unlikely to be a coincidence… further investigation is needed.
Clubbies are in transition and at the sharp edge of climate change.
The story of club fields is also a story of climate change.
Clubbies are in transition, grappling with a present and future that involves less snow. But there are pathways to carry the clubbie story forward. What happens next, matters. Let’s talk about it.
theclubbiesstory 