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New Zealand 2024

Rashika

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
You would easily do the Tasman and even though its pricey its certainly worth it, a true bucket list experience. Its super cruisy you literally point and go, its thats easy and the heli landing is really wide and flat , none of the usual heli ski knife edge ridge stuff.
Lol yeap, dh did heliskiing last year and I saw his video, amazing but a big nope from me! Whereas I've heard ( also from DH) that Tasman is really good, not too hard and I would cope fine, and definitely on my bucket list
 
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AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
So its been a a super sad week here in Canterbury with the news that a much loved guide sadly lost his life in an avalanche on Tuesday and with this being such a small community it has hit people really hard so when Temple Basin announced a "Pop Up" weekend (they closed in early September due to lack of snow) to take advantage of the new snow that has fallen in the last few weeks it was a "heck yeah" from us and many others who needed a bit of cheering up.
TB is a club field (you dont need to be a member to ski at the Clubbies though) which sits much further West than the other local ski areas and is therefore a bit more vulnerable to low snow years but when it does snow boy does it snow!
The 2.5km slog uphill tends to filter out a few and then the rope tows usually dissuade the rest so youre left with a hardy few who know how to enjoy the spectacular environment.
Its also where I learnt to ski waaaay back and my family has a long history with the Club its also where I met DH and many a lifelong friend so it holds a special place in my heart.
There's some pretty serious terrain with the exception of the runs directly off the tows which means that it attracts some pretty amazing skiers and has hosted many a world class Big Mtn/Freeride athlete in its time.
Because of my back issues rope tows are now out for me so I was just up there for the exercise and the social side !! DH and many others had a blast though, here's some pics for your viewing pleasure xx

DH heading off up the track20240928_092309.jpg

The beauty that is Temple Basin


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Looking across the valley at Mt Rolleston
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You can just make out Temple Tow that takes you to a walking track round to Downhill Tow.20240928_143406.jpg

Downhill Basin in all her Spring corny glory.
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santacruz skier

Angel Diva
It's so sad to hear that a guide was caught in an avalanche and died. I'm sorry for you and your community.
 

Magnatude

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Truly shocking news. And not long after another avalanche burial outside Treble Cone's boundaries -- which luckily had a much happier outcome due to a quick rescue by the victim's companions. We've had some very strange weather patterns this season, which I guess has contributed to the risk.

Temple Basin looks great right now. (Never been -- maybe someday). Mt Hutt was rock solid yesterday, with the off-piste locked up and shiny all day, due to a cold breeze. Fascination was liberally sprinkled with gravel from the previous day's wind. International was softer, but there was still a solid bed of "hard pack" under the shallow slushy top layer. Perfect conditions for the racing that was on. We left at 2. One of my favourite Mt Hutt runs, Muesli Bowl (from the South Face ridge down to the bottom of International) has lost most of its snow, so unless there's another good dump before closing, I won't get to ski that this season. Otherwise, coverage still looks not too bad.
 
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AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Truly shocking news. And not long after another avalanche burial outside Treble Cone's boundaries -- which luckily had a much happier outcome due to a quick rescue by the victim's companions. We've had some very strange weather patterns this season, which I guess has contributed to the risk.
Yes I know one of the people involved in the TC avy and she was at TB yesterday so we had a wee chat about that. I think a lot of people are still coming to terms with how things have panned out over the last 2 weeks. Its been very sobering and I for one dont know how to process it all even though we werent close to Brett but close enough.
The weather patterns have been crazy this season and really unpredictable.
DH was meant to be flying into the Fritz Range yesterday with our son and a couple of other guides but Sam flew over and did a recce on Friday and pulled the pin .... weather not great, conditions not great and an overall feeling that it wasnt a good idea .... we watched Cody Townsends series on You Tube and one of his lines was "it takes 100 Yesses to get to the top and only 1 No to turn around" and thankfully DH has kept this line in the back of his mind at all times. I'm thankfull they chose not to go.
 

Rashika

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thanks @santacruz skier , quite honestly its been the worst Winter on so many levels and this event has just made it worse.
Yeah it's a pretty sad week for a lot of methven people. Dh knew the guide pretty well and spoke to him a week or so ago and also spoke to another friend yesterday who was there at the time and it was a hell of a shock to them, doing everything right while trying to get him out and sadly not in time.
I guess we forget at times that this is a potentially dangerous country and skiing (especially back country stuff) is right up there in danger.

I remember u saying that your Dh was going this weekend and I kinda share your relief that they decided not to go. Sometimes the safe call is the best call.
 
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Rashika

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
So its been a a super sad week here in Canterbury with the news that a much loved guide sadly lost his life in an avalanche on Tuesday and with this being such a small community it has hit people really hard so when Temple Basin announced a "Pop Up" weekend (they closed in early September due to lack of snow) to take advantage of the new snow that has fallen in the last few weeks it was a "heck yeah" from us and many others who needed a bit of cheering up.
TB is a club field (you dont need to be a member to ski at the Clubbies though) which sits much further West than the other local ski areas and is therefore a bit more vulnerable to low snow years but when it does snow boy does it snow!
The 2.5km slog uphill tends to filter out a few and then the rope tows usually dissuade the rest so youre left with a hardy few who know how to enjoy the spectacular environment.
Its also where I learnt to ski waaaay back and my family has a long history with the Club its also where I met DH and many a lifelong friend so it holds a special place in my heart.
There's some pretty serious terrain with the exception of the runs directly off the tows which means that it attracts some pretty amazing skiers and has hosted many a world class Big Mtn/Freeride athlete in its time.
Because of my back issues rope tows are now out for me so I was just up there for the exercise and the social side !! DH and many others had a blast though, here's some pics for your viewing pleasure xx

DH heading off up the trackView attachment 23693

The beauty that is Temple Basin


View attachment 23694

Looking across the valley at Mt Rolleston
View attachment 23695

You can just make out Temple Tow that takes you to a walking track round to Downhill Tow.View attachment 23696

Downhill Basin in all her Spring corny glory.
View attachment 23697
Love these pics! I've skied there a couple of times way back in my uni years, would b interesting to try again sometime.
 
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AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yeah it's a pretty sad week for a lot of methven people. Dh knew the guide pretty well and spoke to him a week or so ago and also spoke to another friend yesterday who was there at the time and it was a hell of a shock to them, doing everything right while trying to get him out and sadly not in time.
I guess we forget at times that this is a potentially dangerous country and skiing (especially back country stuff) is right up there in danger.
So terribly sad, there were a couple of people at TB yesterday who were there as well and it sounds like it was just an awful situation.
 

Rashika

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Truly shocking news. And not long after another avalanche burial outside Treble Cone's boundaries -- which luckily had a much happier outcome due to a quick rescue by the victim's companions. We've had some very strange weather patterns this season, which I guess has contributed to the risk.

Temple Basin looks great right now. (Never been -- maybe someday). Mt Hutt was rock solid yesterday, with the off-piste locked up and shiny all day, due to a cold breeze. Fascination was liberally sprinkled with gravel from the previous day's wind. International was softer, but there was still a solid bed of "hard pack" under the shallow slushy top layer. Perfect conditions for the racing that was on. We left at 2. One of my favourite Mt Hutt runs, Muesli Bowl (from the South Face ridge down to the bottom of International) has lost most of its snow, so unless there's another good dump before closing, I won't get to ski that this season. Otherwise, coverage still looks not too bad.
Lol I was at Mt hutt yesterday too and yeah the morning was hard going, still skiable but a bit of work, and after a migraine the day before I did find it mentally hard. We had my youngest there so decided to stay till closing for the first time this season, and so glad we did.after listening to some good tunes from king kapisi and a mulled wine lol we went back and the arvo was like a whole different field to the morning, sun came out and softened everything and some runs were just amazing!
Exhibition bowl got my vote as the best run, short but sweet, just off piste was super soft and lovely and I skied it like a pro! Dh said I looked good, that's high praise. I even did international again and the snow was much better there too.
Morning glory wasn't that good but the run below (wylies way), especially along the edges was fab and almost no one was skiing it. Oh yeah fascination with all those rocks was surprisingthe snow seemed ok but then it was weird with all the little rocks sprinkled over it
All in all a pretty good day, and worth staying till the sun did it's job
School hols this week and hoping to get a day with the kids up there. Big storm coming wed not sure what that may do to our plans but fingers crossed we get there for a day
 

Rashika

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
And two more days at Mt hutt, Friday and Saturday this time, took advantage of school hols and took both kids up on Friday. We started a little later than usual and didn't get on the slopes until about 9.45, it was nice to have a relaxed start without all the usual rush. And Youngest skied pretty much until closing so he had a good long day and was very happy.
It was practically a powder day as it had about 15cm from the prevuous day/night although it had a bit of rain as well so kinda wet powder (not that ultra light stuff we had a few weeks earlier). So it was fun playing in the heavy powder and I spent the day mostly on fascination and huirapa again, as it was great conditions there again. There was quite a few "training the trainers" sessions going on so that was interesting to watch at times.
And once the sun broke through it got a whole lot more springlike and slushy.
Saturday was early again for first tracks at 8 am and it was hard... Ugh... Spent that first hour heading down a twin track of recent groomers that was ok, the rest was just too hard and no fun at all. A few hours later it had all softened up and became much nicer.
After trying to convince my DH all season that he should show us he could actually snowboard, he actually did! We brought his board up and he spent the arvo going down Broadway and showing us what he could do. It was actually loads of fun, just doing mostly easier stuff, although we did a few exhibition bowl runs. I had another friend up there who is learning and I did a few beginner runs with her as well and that was great. So good to see people improve and gain confidence, made me smile!
And now it's one week until closing, a bit sad as it's actually been a good season for here and still loads of snow which is a bit unusual.
Oh and I made a cake for DH birthday this week, of course it's ski themed with us as the stars!
 

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Rashika

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
:thumbsup:
I am kinda proud of the cake, it's been a few years since I have made a fondant decorated cake and it came out pretty well. DH loved the detail of having all our clothing , boots and even skis the right colours. The green underneath of the C6 skis came out great too.
 

AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We went up to Mt Olympus yesterday which is just over the hill and around the corner from us .... a big hill and lots of corners !!!
DH was skiing but the risk to reward factor for me at the moment (I've a long history with having accidents in Spring esp when you add in rope tows and off piste) was on the wrong side of the ledger so I hiked up instead and spent the day socialising.
It stayed reasonably firm and not too slushy or sticky due to the cloud cover and wind.
Another friend of ours has done his ACL so we sat and watched on enviously.
With it being a Club field its pretty grassroots and has some amazing characters.


The access road, not for the fainthearted. Its about 3.5kms and basically dug out of the side of the hill.
20241006_150157.jpg



Top Hutt which is the main base. and location of many a party.
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Bus Stop sign halfway up Main Tow
IMG-20241006-WA0000.jpg

Main Face which as you can see slid in last weeks storm.
20241006_112059.jpg


Cant really see me getting back out there again this year but passes are about to be purchased for next season .... only another 265days to go :ski:
 

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Rashika

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Still want to get up there one day, but the rope tows do put me off a bit! Love those pics though
 
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AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Still want to get up there one day, but the rope tows do put me off a bit! Love those pics though
The rope tows at Mt O are some of the easiest so its a great place to learn how to wrangle a nut cracker and once you got it dialled you're set, there's always someone to help as well. Oh and the day lodge and food/bev are great esp the infamous Sloppy Coffee's !!!
 

Rashika

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The rope tows at Mt O are some of the easiest so its a great place to learn how to wrangle a nut cracker and once you got it dialled you're set, there's always someone to help as well. Oh and the day lodge and food/bev are great esp the infamous Sloppy Coffee's !!!
Yeah so really I should get up there huh?!
And actually I should know how to use a nutcracker as I have skied at temple basin but it was so long ago...
 

AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yeah so really I should get up there huh?!
And actually I should know how to use a nutcracker as I have skied at temple basin but it was so long ago...
Absolutely, its like riding a bike just dont take your best gloves and ski jacket !!!
And a high clearance 4wd , I nearly killed my old Rav 4 once on that road, it took her a long time to forgive me :laughter:
 

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