The downtown rain cleared and reports started to come in that the weekend could be the best of the season, 20-30-40cm of fresh snow it kept on piling up. For New Zealand this is a substantial fall due to the fast moving storms and wind loading, you can find some great snow around the Southern Alps.
Phone calls were made and the team was sorted Craig, Richard and Kristov called me to join them on a weekend mission to hike and find lines around our local hill. Knowing that this could be the busiest day of the season we organized accommodation and boosted out of town before sunrise, thanks to Hamish at Switch Espresso we were definitely awake for the morning.
The cloud cleared on the way and the drive up the hill was on. Mt Hutt is located only an hour and a half from Christchurch so you have be early to catch the pow! Rushing into the car park and seeing patrollers carving down Towers we had to hussle. Off the chair and a short hike through Morning Glory and down Towers was first. Then it was on to South Face, ripping through one of the best runs of the day, and down to the triple chair! Being an ex employee of Mt Hutt it was a quick conversation to my friends on patrol to see what was going to open and when “Heading to Bluffs to open” was heard over the radio, we were off!
A big traverse on the nice open cat track and down the chutes was on, outcrops big walls, carves and snaps were on wall-to-wall great coverage it was on! Quickly back to the lift and around for the next run through Bluffs, again we scored. Rakaia chutes were being bombed and after a little wait the seldom open run was on, known as Poor Mans Heli, it is short but well worth the traverse and hike for a slope to yourself. The day was about to end so we were on the hike to see if we could find a few more sneaky turns!
What an amazing day had by all. Sunday was upon us and the cloud packed in again, slowly it started to clear and the park day was on, freshly groomed jumps and good times ahead, there were more stashes to be found so away we went again.
Great times, good friends and incredibly stoked, it was ‘that’ feeling. You only know ‘that’ feeling until you get it. If you’re a snowboarder, surfer or skier you know what it is. We got it, and are still talking about it. It’s hard to get amazing lines at a commercial resort, but we got the goods.
Cheers Craig, Richie and Kristov, that’s what snowboarding is!!
Graeme
Thanks to:
SwitchEspresso.co.nz
MeltonDesign.co.nz
Nzski.com
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