Tuanu Kaveao: Eat Shit or Die Hungry
Photo by Georgia Andersen @georgia.dng
Tuanu Kaveao, better known as TK, was raised in Fielding, New Zealand. The first chance I had to ride with TK was during his third season snowboarding at Turoa on Mt. Ruapehu. We rode the Alpine Meadow park during early season, hiking tubes and clicked right away with each other. TK is easy to get along with. We’ve grown close and I’ve watched his riding explode over the years. TK is now supervising the shapers with Turoa Parks. Even though TK didn’t start snowboarding until he was 21, his talent and prowess on a board was apparent to many, including TCB Ohakune and Dragon Goggles NZ. He is a gifted rider. Actually, the fact that TK is still snowboarding right now is a gift within itself, and in TK’s words “snowboarding saved [his] life.” TK’s story is wild, inspiring, and full of so many lessons.
NP: “When did you start snowboarding?”
TK: “I grew up doing BMX and didn’t even consider snowboarding until I had my first season over in Canada in 2018/19 at Hemlock Valley. Then in 2019/20 I met Nae [Renee Clark] at Sunshine Village. It was my first day of work in lift ops and I had to shadow a senior lifty and that lifty was Nae. I will never forget the first words she said to me.”
NP: “What did she say?”
TK: “She shouted at me from the lift shack as I was walking over. ‘Chuurrrr cuzzie! You must be TK bro!’ I hadn't heard a slice of home in so long. It was so good to see someone kiwi. We introduced ourselves and the rest was history. So I had to shadow her my first day of work and that's how we met. It was the best entry into Banff.”
NP: “Hahaha that's such a Nae thing too.”
TK: “Yeah it is! Then covid hit that season and we came back home to New Zealand. I was just back home in Fielding when Nae hollered and was like ‘want a job up the hill?’, and she helped me get a job. She even found a room for me. I felt like she rolled out the carpet bro. It's those things and those iconic people in town that keep me here for sure.”
Photo by Nol Digital Photography @nol_digitalphotography
NP: “People like that are what keep the industry and community growing. Paying it forward and helping someone out. Can we talk about your accident? What happened?”
TK: “Yeah for sure. It was my first quiz night and only my third day in Ohakune. Kune can get rowdy at times, which I have now learned. Nae invited me to come out to quiz night so I could get the chance to meet some people. We decided to skate to the pub that night and I had a skateboard deck, but unfortunately it had a few missing bolts. After a great time at quiz night, the idea of bombing the hill came up. I bombed the hill, wrecked, and I don't remember a thing. Especially from that night.”
NP: “From what I’ve been told, you were completely unconscious and seizing?”
TK: “Yeah that’s what I’ve been told too. They tried to get a helicopter into Kune but there was a lot of low level cloud that night and the heli couldn’t land so I ended up being transported by ambulance to Whanganui Hospital. I can’t remember how many days I was basically in a coma but when I woke up, I thought I needed to go to work up the hill and that's when the hospital lady told me I wasn't gonna be leaving for some time. It didn't really hit me that I wasn't gonna be okay. I had some serious mood swings and was stuck in this ‘time loop’ basically.”
NP: “What were your injuries?”
TK: “I had a fractured skull, fractured c-spine, and minor brain bleed. I nearly had to have my head cut open for surgery for the brain bleed. The brain injury was the worst because it affected my personality, my memory, my smell, my taste, and I was deaf in my left ear for months. I’m no longer deaf but I still struggle with memory problems and have never regained my sense of smell or taste.”
NP: "That's heavy. How did your recovery go?”
TK: “I don’t have much memory of my time in the hospital. I only have flashbacks. The worst flashback in the hospital was being told that I may never walk again. I was in a wheelchair and needed help with everything. I was in complete denial hearing those words. I basically said, ‘fuck you, I’m not gonna be in a wheel chair forever,’ so that’s when the rehab started. I had bad mood swings. I used to cry every day in the hospital. They used to give me two household items before bed that I would need to remember when I woke up the next day, and I couldn’t go home until I could remember those items. [Example, remembering the words “fork and toaster.”]
Photo by Sebastian Mathias @sebastian_mathiasx
TK: "At first I couldn't remember so I would just bawl. It was shitty. Finally, I got my two household items. They honoured their word and let me go home, but I had specialists coming to my house almost every day, physio, neurologist, other ‘-ologist’ people. I had to re-learn so much, even my speech was affected. My memory was bad and I was stuck in a ‘time loop’ where I couldn’t remember new things. Like when I called my family, they kept saying that I was asking repeated questions and every sentence I spoke was about the same.”
NP: “So kinda like Dori from Finding Nemo?”
TK: “Yeah bro, exactly like that. I was no better than a gold fish at the time. I was just stuck in a loop for months, until I got back to Ohakune in October. But I wasn't really supposed to be there.”
NP: “What do you mean?”
TK: “The day before my last x-ray on my neck, I took my neck brace off and went riding. Honestly, I shouldn’t have done it and I did get a talking from the mates about it, but my soul needed it. It got me out of that loop. I just wanted to snowboard so bad. When I found snowboarding it changed the whole trajectory of my life. It's corny to say, but I owe my life to snowboarding.”
NP: “I get it. Halldór would too. While I don’t preach ignoring doctors, I understand exactly what you mean about snowboarding saving your life and being a tool to aid healing. Some people don’t understand that the physical risk is worth the relief from the emotional pain. How has that accident changed your outlook on life?”
TK: “Appreciation, first and foremost. Anything can be taken at any day. Tomorrow isn't promised. It doesn't sink in hard until you're right there looking at death. Gratitude: Be grateful with the time you have with people because time is short. Don't take life too seriously. Stay grounded. It gets pretty hundy snowboarding sometimes and you gotta take a step back and recognise it's all for fun. And lastly, never give up on yourself.”
NP: “Can we talk about ‘Eat Shit or Die Hungry?’ I will never forget the first time you told me that. I was just about to drop into Vertigo with the crew and head to the park when you tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘I got something for you…eat shit or die hungry! Fucking get it!’ Hearing that phrase touched a place so deeply in my soul, and I immediately replied with, ‘I’m getting that tatted.” [I did in fact, get that tattooed.]
TK: “The origins of 'Eat Shit or Die Hungry' is from me and my buddy Conor Stevenson, he’s a wild friend. Growing up, we lived at the skatepark and he was throwing down all the time. He was saying that phrase, ‘eat shit or die hungry.’ I did not understand what this guy was talking about. At first I was like ‘I don't wanna do that ... who wants to eat shit?’ Then it kinda clicked what it means. If you don’t try the trick you’re working on, it’s going to keep you up at night. That hunger keeps you up at night. That feeling of ‘I shoulda, coulda, woulda’ is painfully aching. More painful than the fall you would have taken from just trying that trick. This is what it means. We have been saying that for almost 20 years now. Eat shit or die hungry!”
NP: “Bloody OATH! I appreciate you sharing that with me. Do you mind if I share the rules with the readers?”
TK: “Share that shit homie”
Eat Shit Or Die Hungry: The Rules
Live by & honour the motto
Share the motto with those brothers who will live by Rule 1
Never claim it as your own because Rule 2
NP: Who are your inspirations in snowboarding?
TK: Inspirations as a snowboarder come from people like Peips [Ethan Peipi] and honestly, like you. You guys are crazy frothers. Especially you, riding after a night of snowmaking or grooming with no sleep. Like when you were learning backtail sameway. You’d be hiking the same rail all day long, not landing and taking heavy slams. You may not get it but then another day comes and you get it. It's the battle as a snowboarder. You taught me that. It's your passion for it all. People like you and Peipi who don’t take snowboarding seriously. You guys taught me it's not about talent, it's about froth.”
NP: “Mate I’m at a loss for words. That's really kind of you to say.”
TK: “It’s true bro, you’ve had a big influence on me. Peipi has too. Silky Wilkie (Matui Wilkie) is another big influence. He always said if you want to learn a trick, you have to hike a rail and one rail only. You get intimate with it, get a connection and learn where that rail stands with you. Then you figure out how to own it and land the trick. You guys are out there riding for you, not for the gram or for likes or anything and I rate that. I am also really inspired by Khom Yin. That guy gets nothing but better with age. Like bro, what are you feeding yourself, can I have some of it too? I guess I find inspiration from my direct community. I watch a lot of the Sunday in the Park episodes and the Crap Show at LAAX and I have always found riding with your friends to be the most inspiring. I love all the NZ Park Battle videos. I do like Zak Hale, his Bombhole episode really resonated with me. Kaito Hamada is my favourite rider stylistically, so fun to watch.”
NP: “Anything else to add?”
TK: “Kune is such a special place. The whole town is communal and we all hang out with each other. Everyone is so grateful to ride here because it isn't open every single day. To outsiders, they may think it's a shit day up the hill, but the town teaches you to be grateful for a day up the hill, regardless of the weather. The encouragement and the froth here is overflowing. Ohakune and Mt. Ruapehu are incredible places.”
Photo by Nol Digital Photography @nol_digitalphotography
