Extreme mountain athlete Eva Small, 14, of Lake Hāwea, has been following in her parents’ ski and bike tracks since she was a toddler.
The daughter of ski guide Geoff Small and alpine guide Anna Gillooly was 3 years old when she set and achieved her goal of hiking to the 2088m summit of Treble Cone with her dad.
This year, the year 9 Mount Aspiring College student has been piling up more outdoor achievements.
She won her age group competition at the South Island Secondary Schools Mountain Bike Championships in January and is now preparing for her first foray at the National School Mountain Bike Championships, in Christchurch from October 7.
She also punched above her weight this winter to win the under-18 New Zealand Freeride Junior Tour of Treble Cone, the Remarkables and Mount Olympus.
That has earned her a wildcard invite to the Freeride Junior World Championships in Kappl, Austria in January 2025.
"Dad’s been coaching me a lot. I have been doing lots of days training with Dad. I got into it because Dad, he’s a champion," Eva said this week.
Her dad is indeed a champion. He was involved in freeride skiing during the sport’s infancy, collected many New Zealand and North American titles, won a freeride world tour in 2000, and even after switching to endurance mountainbiking, has never hung up his skis.
While Eva’s ski season finishes when skifields close this and next weekend, her training will not stop as she prepares for upcoming competitions.
"My favourite ski area is Treble Cone, but also Cardrona skifield, which has a really good park in the main basin for practising tricks and freestyle skiing ... It is not just about leaping off big rocks. Well, sometimes it is, but it’s about skill," she said.
As for mountainbiking, her favourite discipline was downhill, although she tended to do better at cross-country and enduro, she said.
When she first tackled big mountain ski terrain, it was easier than she thought.
"You just have to come into the jump, the cliff, with good balance and keeping your hands forward."
As with mountainbiking, it helped to think about where you were going rather than the rock in front of you, Eva said.
Her dad outlined their strategy.
"It is about a slow progression. You don’t take the biggest thing and go for it. You ski today to ski tomorrow. It is such an intense sport you want everything to be in your control, and know what you can handle," he said.
Eva’s snowsports heroes include Ohakune’s big mountain skier Jess Hodder, the 2022 World Freeride champion, and Wanaka Winter Olympian freeskier Finn Bilous, who competes in slopestyle and big air disciplines.
She also looks up to her parents for encouraging her and her brothers Seb, 16, and Kobi, 9, into the outdoors.
Last year, her parents enrolled her in Cardrona’s High Performance Programme based in the terrain park, so she could improve her aerial skills.
"Eva does have a few decisions now because halfpipe is on the pathway for the Olympics. A couple of years ago we were keen on her following that path," Mr Small said.
But now the international ski federation, FIS, has become involved in Freeride competitions.
For the first time, this year’s NZJunior Freeride Tour was sanctioned by FIS and there was a goal of getting big mountain events into the Winter Olympics within four years, Mr Small said.
He said although his daughter was "a natural on skis" the family was gobsmacked when she won the under-18 New Zealand Freeski tour.
"We were not expecting this. It was shock to us that Eva came on to the stage so soon. We are still in awe. We have only had two weeks to process. It is not something we have planned for, but it is a golden opportunity to go and get the experience, knowing that the [big mountain] sport is now tracking towards the Olympics," Mr Small said.
Eva’s trip to Austria will be self-funded and the family are considering fundraising ideas.
