Hey Guys,
Just wanted to see how many kiwis we got here.
I know a lot of people tend to go to the south island with all the places at Queenstown/Wanaka.
Hey, this is probably directed best at Jollybored, but anyone else feel free to weigh in too!
I'm off to QT Friday -> Thursday. Thats booked.
But, from 1st of Aug me and a couple friends are planning a second trip, QT/Wanaka are on the cards, but after seeing your photos of Ruapehu last year, I'm second guessing.. Which would you take? The Mt. Hutt, Cadrona, Ohau, Remarkables, Coronet Peak road, or should I drop Hutt and Ohau and try Ruapehu for a couple days?
P.S. Kiwi.. and Aussie... Living in Melb - the place of no snow by the look of this season =/
Unfortunately I have not been down to the South Island. Was planning a trip this year but as I have just started a new job they wont let me take leave until later on.
Have a read through the first 2-3 pages of this thread, NZSnow has been around and seems to be quite familiar with it.
Personally I would go QT both times - my understanding is that the snow is generally better down there, but someone would hopefully be able to elaborate from experience.
i've been to all mountains in Queenstown . I've never tried north island (ruapehu) but this will be my first time 2013 as i bought a season pass and Its coz i work in auckland now .. but tbh this is from my experience down south
Is that in order from best to worse? Or just stating those 4 are the ones to go to? I've never been to the South Island before - been to Ruapehu, but not in winter...
i think remarkables fits both extreme ends , it caters to the beginners and to the pros . it has heaps of cliffs and thats how the guy nearly died.. he had a helicopter heli him out to queenstown hospital .
but I love coronet as its the only mountain that does night time snowboarding . Once u try it out 6 pm - that kick is amazing i tell you .. never had i enjoy snowboarding in that way before .. its totally orgasmic ... and this was when i first started snowboarding ...
Coronet is a good mountain, but snow can be sketchy at the best of times. Remarkables i really enjoy, I'm an intermediate and my girlfriend was a beginner last year, just got to pick runs suitable to your ability and only use the park features suitable to your level, it's great fun for trying some features and tricks and has some easy or more challenging runs.
Hutt is well worth a visit this year, it has over a 3m base already, great coverage, it's my local and this year is looking epic.
Ah fair enough! I'll stick to the south island then, Remarkables sounds awesome!
Regarding Hutt, I'm keen to hit every run at least once - possible in a day? (If my legs hold up.. maybe a stiff deck won't be the smartest for day on day boarding haha)
Nobody has spoken of Ohau, worth the visit or not so much? The lake and gully's look pretty sweet in the photos, but its a fair drive from anywhere :S
You could quite easily hit every run at Hutt, they aren't long runs. Stiff deck is best in the morning at Hutt, all day every run might tire those legs.
Ohau is meant to be amazing, I havent made it there yet, but all my friends rave about it
looking for buddies for some snowboarding fun)
will be staying in Wanaka between 16-23 July. Booked double room
will be happy to share...
anyway need a company to ski)
How was the first weekend up Ruapehu? Snow getting icy already? Would have tried to get up on Sunday but was hungover from Mardi Gras. Which was pretty awesome to be fair
That sucks dude. how long till it's likely to be right? Save all they money you'd spend from boarding this season and put it towards a trip to Canada at the end of the year?
Thought that would have been the case, makes me glad I never got up on Saturday. Was looking at coming up this weekend, but metservice is already looking like rain. Still, might just come upto Kune to get away from Welly for a bit.
Your friend break it on ice? or hitting some jumps/drops or the like? Or just bad luck?
Jeebus you guys get some butt raping on gear over there. I see some decent sale items and tgen other gear is like full price plus 10% here in the states and it is on sale. Dang.
There are some really good deals too. I suppose it all comes down to how it got there.
Yeah prices are pretty bad down here, even after allowing for exchange rate. Sometimes there's some good sale stuff but most gear (hardware and outerwear) tends to be a lot more expensive than in the US / Canada.
Take the 2014 Burton Cartels - I think the US$ RRP is like $250 or something. Versus NZ$450 at most places. At an exchange rate of 0.78 USD / NZD that's still a complete gouge in NZD terms. And Burton is one the most widely available brands in NZ too so you'd expect there to be a bit of competition on price.
It's the same with a lot of stuff though. A lot of importers use freight as an excuse but no way does freight make that big of a difference on each individual item. Some of the websites that have started up recently are a lot more competitive but don't always have a wide range of brands.
here's a video guys of the first day up the slopes .. mind my noobness up the mountain.. I just like filming and making vids .. any constructive feedback for the video would be appreciated
here's a video guys of the first day up the slopes .. mind my noobness up the mountain.. I just like filming and making vids .. any constructive feedback for the video would be appreciated
Speaking of gear prices, I had some store credit I needed to use and now have a brand new in plastic 2014 custom flying v 160 to shift. I paid $850 for it, happy to shift it for $700 as I am on my Antler for most of this season and don't think I will use the CFV. Any interest just PM me.
Hutt has been great when I have been able to get up there, good coverage, but bloody busy with the triple down and not much luck with wind and keeping open at the moment sadly. Off to Wanaka in the holidays, cannot wait!!
Mate, I'm so jacked up with paracetamol and cold and flu medicine that its making me go wonky. Should be all good for sat though.
Yeah, blizzarding at the moment and theres 30cm of fresh snow! I'll catch ya down there Saturday should be all good but theyre expecting strong gales on sunday.
Finally made it up for the first time this season! Unfortunately no pics this time around as the visibility wasnt that great.
Everything looks to be pretty good - there was quite a bit of powder on trails and it was closed at 1pm on saturday due to the blizzard coming in (stuck in the carpark for 2.5hours :laugh
Snow was falling prior that - collected about an inch riding up the chairlift!
Two and a half hours, you were lucky. I got up way early and was about three rows back, so we ended up getting off the mountain around five PM as we were in the last area to clear. So was pretty much a four and a half hour wait. Just glad the cafe had mulled wine
Haha gutted! Did you have a 4wd? we were at the rear of the top carpark - which I imagine you were too? We got around everyone else that needed chains. It was about 3.5 for us total.
At least the last hour made for some good snowball fights haha!
Yeah, got a 4WD so kind of annoying waiting for everyone else who doesn't. But it is what it is and hopefully they've learnt from it so its quicker next time. Figured it wasn't going to a be a good day up the mountain on Sunday either, so just had a boozy night and suffered the results on Sunday
Never had any snowball fights, though someone thought they'd be a smart ass and throw a snowball into my car when I had the door open and I was taking my boots off, probably just as well I didn't see who they were as I was less than impressed.
Was contemplating heading back up this weekend, but weathers looking pretty average and I may end up at work too :/
Anyone else manage to get up up the weekend? School holidays at Turoa and the place was completely mental on Saturday. So many people that they started sending people back down the mountain as they ran out of parking spaces at Turoa. Rumour was 6,500 people. Conditions were icy, but a fun weekend regardless. Seems such a comparison to last year when we were pretty much just confined to groomers.
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