The beginning of his life on skis was similar to that of many who grew up in the area. With both parents working in chalets during the winter season, picking up the then-unpopular sport came naturally on most family holidays at one of the local club skifields, Temple Basin. “We’d use towropes and trucks to drive up the mountain; wherever the truck stopped, we’d start skiing,” McDougall says. “As soon as it’d start snowing, you’d chuck on the ski and go up the mountain. Using the towrope was pretty hard, so that was an adventure of its own.”

“Mountains are full escapism,” he says. “It’s the sense of not thinking about much else but what’s in front of you that does it for me.” A free-rider by trade – which earned him podium spots at Engadin Snow Invitation (the world’s only parallel freeride contest), World Heli Challenge, The North Face Freeski Open and many other competitions – he dribbles between skiing, running, cycling, hiking and rock-climbing.

“Nothing beats being in that moment,” he says. “Whether I’m climbing Mount Roy with [French snowboarder and friend] Xavier De Le Rue and the sun is rising halfway up a 3,800m peak or jumping down a cliff, you can’t pay for those experiences, other than with hard work and your body getting you there. It’s your self-made adventure.”

McDougall’s twin brother, Hamish, is New Zealand’s freestyle Olympic coach, so he’s dipped into that, too. “Free ride is much more of an adventure sport than racing. There’s more of the unknown and it feels more inspirational, rather than directional,” he says. “A large part of the snowy side of the alps here hasn’t been explored; there are valleys you fly into or ski into, where there’s not a person in sight – just uncontaminated nature.”

That extraordinary backdrop serves as the setting for Loro Piana’s refined skiwear collection, which is now exclusively available online at MR PORTER – a selection of technical staples, après-ready layering pieces and loungewear that combine high-performance materials and functional details with the Italian luxury brand’s pared-back, understated design approach.

The collection’s adaptability is a fitting partner for McDougall, whose high-octane pursuits require a great deal of physical preparation. Free riding, in particular, is a highly demanding skill – “especially if you’re in New Zealand, where you have to fly, cycle or hike into the valleys”. However, whatever your body readiness may be, the pressure and fascination for the unknown remain the same.

“When you’re expected to jump down a cliff in the middle of nowhere, the fear and excitement go hand in hand,” McDougall says. “Sometimes you’re preparing yourself for broken bones when you get to the bottom, but once you’re in the moment, the fear goes away and you just really enjoy what you’re doing.”

While broken bones haven’t yet turned McDougall away from the slopes, his growing family has led him to a more thoughtful approach to his lifestyle. “When you have kids, you realise you’re not living for yourself anymore,” he says. And while his kids are taking their first steps – on skis, naturally – McDougall has found a new appreciation for the area, with the high mountain ridges forming a quite literal protective barrier from the outside world.

McDougall and his brother Hamish, along with other local talents (including the World Cup racer Ms Alice Robinson), have steadily been lifting the profile of Wanaka, which was once considered solely a holiday destination. Through funded learning programmes, the town has become a growing talent incubator for winter sports athletes.

“I was talking to Xavier not long ago,” McDougall says. “He’s been all over the world, from Alaska to the Alps, and said that nothing comes quite close to New Zealand. There’s a weird glitch in the system here – we don’t seem to be doing anything in particular really well, but we do really well all-round.”

As far as living in perfect harmony with nature and nurturing some of the world’s best talent go, they’re doing pretty great.