time to catch up...

Ok so I have been a bit slack and haven't written anything since my post on 7th August.

Over the next while I will endeavour to backdate the past 3 months adventures, eeek, there will be lots to catch up on! I may not post them in order but will back date them so they run in order once posted.

I have also written a little column on snow.co.nz, so click the link to read some stories there in the mean time.

Day 2 - Mount Hutt and Springfield

day 2! and 2nd day riding

WORST SLEEP EVER. Now I am thankful we went to sleep so early, cos at least I got a few hours in. I was aware of the band, but expected the noise, and lived with it... but the real party seemed to start somewhere about 3am when it was all over downstairs and all on out on the street below. At some point a guy was on the balcony outside my window and right by my head - and just as I was sleeping again (I think) - he yells at the top of his lungs "WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Now I know it wasn't aimed at me, but I was dying to say "what do you think I am doing? I AM F***ING SLEEPING YOU MORON". Then there was all the loud conversations 2 doors down and the knock on our door at 4 or 4.30... sleeping in didn't happen at all! Don't get me wrong, nice pub, nice food, simple but cosy rooms, recently done up bathroom, but best not to stay on a weekend if you intend to sleep? We should have known better.

the view from our room

Rant over. We packed up and went to a café for breakfast at 9am. Methven seems quiet compared to Ohakune at a similar time of day. I guess we are used to the constant stream on traffic up the only mountain road, it just wasn't the same here. Even the ski/board shops were quiet. We weren't even sure if the mountain we were looking at was the one we were about to ride on, there's so many to choose from with the alps right there. But the mountain shaped street lamps and park benches are just like home in Ohakune!

Heading up the mountain road the drive was more familiar this time. There was a bit more time to take some more photo's while we killed the hours. I was particulary fascinated with the wind clouds. Hoped it was gonna be ok up there. As we waited for the morning to tick over we went souvenir shopping, purchased some lunch, and looked at some cute dogs playing in the snow. It's a bit of a novelty as Ruapehu is in a National Park and dogs up the mountain is a big NO NO. I guess it's accepted at Hutt?

our car on the road up

worrying wind clouds out over the plains

We rode the Towers Triple Chair, all the way at the bottom, before the afternoon shadow started its journey over the field. Then with our friends from up north we hit our favourite run combo of the day up top several times, which was something like Fascination/Hubers/Johnny Doles/Broadway. Not sure, it's all new! There was a bit of a cool wind across the tops, and some snow swirling round, but not too bad and the sun/vis was perfect.

punters on the pack, in the wind, near top of 6

Top of the 6

Today's aprés of choice was a mulled wine, and a steaming hot strong brew at that! On the way down we stopped by some unusual snow fences for pictures saying goodbye to our time at Mt Hutt. At the bottom of the road there was Mr Whippy (icecream truck) PLUS a fundraising bbq. As we still hadn't gone shopping for supplies, a sausage wrapped in bread was going to be dinner for the night as we drove onward to our home for the next 7 days in Springfield. (Yes, just like the Simpsons, and they even have a doughnut sculpture) The second half of our dinner ended up being chips and dip from the general store. Yum.

healthy dinner

Well, we checked into our tiny little room, but managed to stack and poke stuff in such a way that would could live in each others faces for the next while. The bonus is a TV and DVD player in our room, so it was just perfect to lie in bed and watch telly, getting excited about the days ahead. We had done 2 out of 2 riding, and tomorrow will be the first on the Chill Pass. Porters ski area, and time to get the T bar legs on.

home for the week - little eh?!

Day 1 - Mount Hutt and Methven

Last night I packed and squished as much as I could into my snowboard coffin. Who knew how cold it was going to be down there, and how long I would need to make my clothes last, ie how many times I'd need to recycle a thermal or two. Ewwww. I thought I managed to keep the weight down too, but @ 26kg it was over the 25kg weight limit on Air NZ and I had to repack and move things into my hand baggage twice at 8am at the airport to comply. Perhaps those coffins aren't such a great idea when you can only have 25kg per piece on Air NZ...no exceptions.

CHCH Airport, our luggage but not our car

We arrived at Christchurch after a rather beautiful flight. The skies were clear over the North Island and you could clearly see all the familiar volcanoes. Bye Bye Ruapehu, we'll be back soon.

Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu

Organising the car seemed to take an age, but it was only an hour, and by 11.30am we were in our trusty hired Subaru station-wagon en route to Methven. The pub where we were staying wasn't hard to find at all, it's blue and called the "Blue Pub". The first bag explosion occured to find the snowboarding gear, all checked in, some beer supplies purchased and back on the road at 1.30, to be on the slopes by 2. Whew. We have 15 potential riding days, so we made it our mission to make tracks at Mt Hutt as soon as we possibly could!

The Blue Pub, and Methven's street lamps just like 'Kune!

It was the first of many unfamiliar mountain roads we were to drive on and WOW! While it is rather wide for most of the trip up, it sure was rough and bumpy! As we went up people were starting to come down. We thought maybe it was cos it wasn't that great up there, but turns out that the runs were being swallowed by the fast encroaching afternoon shadow. (Riding on the western slopes of Ruapehu, you forget that we get all that afternoon light.) The snow was actually rather nice today. We got warned by some helpful Australians "watch out for that ice". I couldn't see any blue anywhere, it seemed to be rather firm snow, and we could slice through it sweet as. It tricked us on our first warm up run on the Quad tho, as we came across bald white patches we thought it was going to be slick ice for sure. People don't know what ice is down here!

Top of the Summit 6, view of the road and the plains

We met some friends from up north who were in Christchurch for the weekend at the same time, doing runs off the Summit 6 and exploring the place, finishing off with an aprés in the shade at the café. Another bumpy ride back down the road, and I stupidly managed to delete all of the first days photo's hitting the wrong button while bouncing around in the car. DORK. Thank goodness I had a travel buddy on this trip so I could share her pics.

empty Hutt, a cool beer in the shade

We met our friends back at the pub, and as we hadn't yet been shopping for any supplies we treated ourselves to a feast of lamb shanks and other fine pub fare. After feeling earlier in the day that Methven hardly felt like a ski town, now the opposite was true. It seemed like the whole of CHCH had slid off the mountains and into the bar. Ahhh this was more like it. The sweet swish of snow pants and loud hubub of post snowtime chatter. We got talking with some locals next to us and explained that us 2 girls were about to embark on a tour of the clubbies. They raved about the area, but also said that more snow was needed as it had been a while since any freshies and things needed topping up.

By 8 we were all tucked up in bed at the pub. The band downstairs didn't start till later. We'd had a relatively early start to the day, and knew there were many more days ahead, and a rest up was needed. The next day we had hoped to hit our first field on the Chill Pass (Porters was the aim) however we are pleasantly surprised with the current conditions at Mt Hutt, so have decided to meet our friends there again. We'll do a half day again, as we didn't plan on paying for lots of day passes. So a big sleep in tomorrow hopefully!

our room

Licenced to Chill

The northern girl heads south to chill out, literally....

Soon I'll be en route to Christchurch to start the long awaited "Club Field Tour". (I see in the Winter 09 issue of the NZskier mag they have dubbed it "the Hot Tub tour" - hmmm, maybe we need to rethink this plan...)

It all started way back in Spring 08. The epic long season that sadly had to come to an end on the slopes of Turoa in the middle of SNOvember. It felt like we'd only just hit the beach when the Chill Crew announced a Christmas deal on the all mountain Chill Pass, so we dove straight in!

To date my only other trip to the southern fields was in Winter 08. We got fresh powder night riding at Coronet peak straight off the plane, 12 of us based in a huge house in QT for an awesome week at the local fields, plus a day trip up to the most beautiful Ohau. It seemed right to go back - but we wanted to see more and the Chill Pass was a perfect fit.

It's gonna be quite a journey. Two girls, a skier and a snowboarder, and we're about to master nutcrackers. The learning curve is gonna be steep, the scenery (and the snow) is going to be awesome, and I am really looking forward to visiting new places and meeting new people along the way.

Nutcracker and Harness - let the fun begin!

More Chill info here...

I'll post if/where I can, so stay tuned. Chonnie.

Goggle tan - whoops

I feel kinda bad for not writing anything last week as the last weekend of the school holidays was spent nice and dry indoors - but this weekend just gone was bluebirds and more than made up for it... especially for a weekend warrior like myself.

The weather immediately before the weekend was rather ick to say the least, but by Sat 25th it was clear blue skies and predicted to be that way for a few days. Both sides had a some freshies, it was cool and clear and the snow was nice off trail - so plenty of room for the weekend masses to spread around. (good spots of stash if you knew where to look too) Of note, there were obvious mini avo triggers close to the trails. Eg: Sisters, Amphitheatre, Hamiltons... some self triggered and some patrol triggered. Impressive booms of avalanche work continued in the morning.

The Spy/Elan Jib Nat's were on in the terrain park and I spent a couple of hours here, peeled back to a Tshirt and thermal under sunny skies. I was there to support an extended family member and a few other mates who had entered. I tell ya there is a hot new generation of skiers and boarders coming through, keep an eye out for them in the months years to come.


Into Sunday - cool clear and blue skies once again - stoked. Did anyone notice the crazy cloud over Taranaki way in the morning? It was weird - I wish I got a picture! Bit firmer than the day before and still plenty of people to negotiate round. But we spent another full day at Turoa pausing at the Giant cafe right before the lifts closed admiring the sun over the water on the west coast and soaking it all in before the last run of the day.


Monday - Groundhog day! I had booked this day off work ages ago, not expecting to get 3 bluebird days in. Another firm day at Turoa, and another big day. Goggle tan starting to take full effect... whoops, I hope the new sunscreen works a bit better than the old one...

Retro GS at Turoa next weekend - see you there.
Chonnie

a day at Turoa

Whoever put this sign up is a genius!

It’s been a good week for the first week of the school holidays – open all week with some freshies to boot. Being stuck at work you end up watching it all happen from afar – checking out the webcams, see the piccies on facebook, read the stories on snowco, and even here in the AK you can hear familiar Ohakune voices doing the snow reports on the radio.

But it wasn’t all sloppy leftovers at Turoa on Saturday. Yes chopped up, and shaved off to ice in some places, but people still stoked to be out on the snow which was still dry and lovely to ride up high where the crowds spread out. The weather was still good too before the gale force winds closed the mountain on Sunday.

Hiking to the summit at Turoa

For those more adventurous, hiking was on. Many people took the early season hike up to the summit (including my lovely boyfriend), and some also ventured out west with a little hike out depending where they went.

Skiers at Turoa

I did not mention that last weekend I tweaked my knee in a fall on the Saturday. For a moment there I thought it was all over and another trip off to the hospital. But it’s been holding up ok, and the week of rest did it good. No swelling or bruising, so it appears to be rather minor – whew! It was not 100% back on the slopes, so I had a cruisy day staying in nice and close spending most of my day in the vicinity of the Jumbo T.

Next weekend is Retro Day at Turoa! Saturday the 18th. Bust out the one piece, the old board or straights - see you there.

3 out of 3

On the drive down we heard on the radio that the severe storm alert/warning (or whatever it was) had lifted just as quickly as it was put in place - gotta love NZ weather!

If ever there was a day to say "if you weren't here you missed it" - it was Sunday at Whakapapa. I thought winter08 had some pretty epic powder days for our wee rock, but Sunday had to be the driest, softest, freshest I have ever been in. It was dumping while we were there too, and there's nothing quite like a big fresh layer of snow loading up your lap as you ride the chair.

Sunday on the Waterfall Express Chair

As hoped the upper mountain was all go for the first weekend of the holidays. On Sunday the Rock Garden was going off, Staircase was full, bypass round the Waterfall was all go, as was down the Waterfalls. Vis during the snowstorm was not the greatest, with soft landings all over that didn't matter. From the chair the only way we could tell the difference between skiers and boarders was the way their body was facing, as you couldn't see anything from their knees down.

RAL Snow School Instructor gets amongst it

The Waterfall T was open and this was where we stayed. There was no on or off trail, just snow! Even the trail markers were near buried. My friend did a flying squirrel at one point and her skis shot through the soft snow out of sight. Digging them out, we were up to our thighs in what can best be described as 'air' - and this was right by the T Bar line.

Monday we returned to Whakapapa, but unfortunately it had crusted over like vogels toast off trail. The sun was out and all the families had arrived for the school holidays. Te Heu Heu Valley was open so there more more groomed trails to spread around on. Add in our first day at Turoa and we got 3 out of 3 days, yay.

Monday - view up the Staircase

Monday - Valley T, ready to go

Saturday morning at Turoa

July School Holidays...

...start tonight! (end Sunday July 19th for those who want to know) Good news, there's been a heap of new snow this week. North and South. MORE due this weekend too. A storm warning has been issued by the met service, so the next few days might not be that pleasant, but then there will be freshies!

This morning we woke to the news that the Desert Road closed overnight. Volcano Watch gives us a peek of the view and what is to come. Enjoy.

Opening Day at Whakapapa 27/6/09

This week the snow making lake almost emptied - 72 million litres of water pumped thru the snow guns to make piles of nice soft snow. One main trail of the Rock Garden open, Happy Valley open, and the Waterfall Express chair running for sight seeing only.

Turoa was very busy cos of Mardis Gras, and despite only one main trail open at Whakapapa, it seemed like a ghost town! I am glad I followed my own tip and went here instead! Stormy weather due to come in didn't hit till Sunday, so we enjoyed blue skies (odd grey cloud), no wind, and best of all no ice! Great job grooming up for opening weekend. More snow this week, and more snowmaking will help establish the trails and open things up in time for the first weekend of the school holidays.

Rock Garden - groomed action

Hut Flat traverse from Centennial Chair to the Top of the RG trail

aerial view from Waterfall Express Chair - "Easy Way Down" trail to the left and a view of Hut Flat at top. Snowmaking guns can be seen, and great job pushing the snow to make trails.

checking out the new temporary cafe and the repairs to the chairlift return after the Feb 13th arson at Knoll Ridge

The Pinnicles

Mardis Gras 2009

Yep it's this Saturday 27th June - I dunno if I will even go yet, so will post a little info for you here beforehand....

Originally, as I understand it, the Mardis Gras was a bit of a party to get people into town and up the hill after the eruptions of 95 and 96 and the dismal flow on effects to the ski bizz and local economy... held the 1st Saturday in August since the late 90's (1997?). Now (since 2007) it has moved to the end of June to celebrate the beginning of what everyone hopes will be the best winter ever.

And when I say bit of a party, I am kinda understating it :)

"600m above sea level... 1000m away from the mountain... no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing"

The whole Junction end of town gets closed off and from the early part of the evening the party atmosphere begins - bands, DJ's, rides, and a MASSIVE fireworks display. The past few years more and more people have been dressing up, bit like the rugby 7's - so there is a real party atmosphere going on.

From about midnight as the street clears up and the little kids go home, it's time to spill into the bars for the finest DJ's from out of town and all over the country. It can be a pretty big night indeed.

More info, timetable, and line up is found here:

http://www.ohakune-mardigras.co.nz/

RAL (Ruapehu Alpine Lifts) relaunched their website today. It looks really good and a whole lot easier to navigate your way around. Make sure you check it out.

It's been clear skies this week, and still top to bottom riding at Turoa (although pretty narrow trails thru the bottom). Snow guns have still been cranking and the latest from the hill is there is enough snow to push around and open the Rock Garden and Happy Valley over at Whakapapa for their opening weekend. (God Bless snow guns and perfect snowmaking conditions) Not quite enough up top to push a T-Bar line and open a T-bar tho. If you are a learner or intermediate, I would recommend heading to Whakapapa on this Mardis Gras Saturday. Turoa could be pretty busy!

PS: Weather! Forgot the about the weather!
Umm, not looking toooo flash. Rug up!

Opening Day(after)

approaching 9km bridge - Ohakune Mountain Road

1st Chairlift ride for the season

a midfield view from the Movenpick Chair

fresh windblown snow nestled in the Why Not's

me and my shadow - top of the High Flyer chair

Turoa "opened" Saturday but was closed due to wind and poor weather. Only the Alpine Meadow was open and sounds like it was pretty busy despite the condtions. Snowed a little overnight, and on Sunday snow guns were running. It was bluebirds, cold winds, with stashes of windblown in spots too. The top car park filled, and it seemed busy at times, but generally no wait or a small wait for lifts. At the Giant Cafe there were no waits for food or "facilities" which allowed plenty of time to go riding.

Movenpick and Parklane Chair were running. As was the High Flyer quad. Groomed runs were (from the top) Upper Freeway and Yahoo, Boneyard, Clarry's Track. RAL worked hard all day grooming a couple more trails at the top. Tuesday's snow was a top up, and they have been able to make snow all week, harvesting and pushing onto trails if/where required. Top Job. The High Noon Express opened at 230 so by the end of the day there was top to bottom riding, including Snowbird and Little Bowl - yeee ha.

It's the weekend!

Turoa opens tomorrow - WOOP WOOP

Well the Alpine Meadow has been open for 2 weeks (which has been awesome for this time of year), and it looks like it will be High Flyer runs on the upper mountain for the official opening weekend. With all the snow over the past couple of months and a chance of a longer run in their sights, it should draw quite a few people into Ohakune.

It's been a cold week... that big snow came on Tuesday (even to sea level in Dunedin!) - and it was enough to turn Ohakune and Raetihi white again. Snow guns have been cranking all over Ruapehu. I am certainly looking forward to getting my skates on, even if it's just the groomers.

So no more updates till next week... in the mean time here's a movie from our little trip to 'Kune on the 30/31 May (the opening shot is from the 10th May) - Enjoy!

a smidge of rain

Alpine Meadow - Sun 14th June

So the Alpine Meadow poma and carpet lifts have been open for just over a week. Great to see so many people taking advantage of the early snow cover.

Bit of rain Fri/Sat/Sun (ish) stripped the ridges on the lower slopes (Turoa). Overall, it's not too bad up there, no reason to panic people! It was certainly a warm week compared to the freeeezing temps of the previous week, but looking set to get cold and snow again and tidy things up before the official opening weekend at Turoa this weekend. And - It's very likely we'll get some upper mountain action on an opening weekend (rather than just the Alpine meadow.) watch this space.

So it wasn't exactly hiking weather this weekend, the gear stayed locked away. Few more familiar faces in town (Ohakune), and a few more new one's too, great to see you all.

a peek of Turoa - Saturday evening

Winterless North? My ****!

There have been heavy frosts and icey cars all week. But this makes for clear blue sky days and cool clear moon and starlit nights. Beautiful!

We had an environmental challenge at work today to encourage as many staff as possible to find alternative, more environmentally-friendly, transport to and from work on 5th Jun 09 - finding alternatives to driving your car by:
• walking or cycling,
• catching a bus or train,
• carpooling with someone to get to work.

So, I left my car at home and walked for an hour to work... it means I have to walk for an hour home again, but I should get a lovely view of the sunset. Here are some photo's from the walk this morning. It was minus 3 overnight! (Link)

first run of the season

The thing about a 3 day weekend is it makes it a 4 day week at work and things are super busy. So, sorry for the delay… here is the round up from the weekend…

Took a leisurely drive down on Saturday 30th May, arriving in Ohakune late Saturday afternoon. We drove up to Turoa for a look at the snow, only to find 100 or so people had the same idea as us - the Alpine Meadow learner’s area was teaming with people on skis, boards and toboggans. And there was such good snow coverage they could well have opened for the long weekend. (HOT off the press today – Alpine Meadow at Turoa opens this Saturday the 6th!)

Turoa car park

There was no wind, and it was snowing gently as we hiked to the Wintergarden area. I hiked a bit further up to the top of the Boneyard for a bit of a longer run back down to the base before it got dark. Snow conditions down low here were smooth looking icy surface off trail and a churned up groomer track on trail. But when we can ride all the way to the car park for first turns of 2009 in MAY who are we to complain!!

Wintergarden, Snowflake Cafe

The Boneyard, And Giant Chair

Dawn in Ohakune was clear on Sunday. Then it didn’t take long for it to grey over and snow. It snowed ALL day but did not settle on the ground till late afternoon, a few cm’s and then it suddenly stopped?! C’mon, we were hoping to be snowed in!!

Turoa dawn

9km gate on Sunday morning

Ohakune streets at sunset

Ohakune sunset

closed at 3km

The mountain road closed to Turoa due to the snow and ice so on the way home on Monday we drove up the Whakapapa side for a look. Not as much snow on the NW side, it seems that last storm really nailed the south and the east (even snow out on Te Mata peak in Gisborne.)

So Taranaki and Mt Hutt are now open, and soon Turoa will be too. It’s a clear and crispy high over us this week. Ruapehu snow guns are now all go!