dinosaur

Hey there!

I've got a bit of a posse heading to NZ hills this season. Staying in a house in Methven. Does anyone have hints/tips/hookups for the area? We are going to be there for August. What are people's thoughts on the areas hills etc... We have all ridden (skated and boarded) around euro, canada/u.s. and japan as well as aussie hills. Some have been to Q-town's offerings as well. We wanted a change, but dont really know what its gonna be like. We keep hearing Mt. 'Shutt' as well as some other negatives from some people who have been there.

The season is lookin good though!!

Cheers all!

NzGnu

haha na Hutt has a good base and is looking to open this weekend so hopefully they keep getting the snow and get a good season. The hill isn't big with only three chair lifts but there's enough to keep you busy if you look for it. Top and mid Towers is good if you get fresh tracks and like chutes.
The pipe is decent, though its hardly ever open.
You should definatly try to hit up the club fields in the Canterbury area for example Craigieburn. a Mt Hutt season pass gives you free or heavily discounted (can't remember) lift tickets at Ohau, which is great little club field especially when it has fresh snow.
Where abouts in Methven are you staying?
As far as drinking goes you'd be wise to stick to the blue pub and steelworx (if its still open). The brown pub is heavily local farmers only who don't much appreciate the presence of ski bums in the town.

Grocery shopping is alot cheaper in Ashburton (about 25-35mins away) and Ashburton is also the place to go if you crave fast food etc.
Big Al's and Wombats are the best ski/snowboard shop in the area, avoid the other one (can't remember what its called). Richie, who works at Big Al's (I think he still does) or any of the older guys should be able to give you advice on which club fields to try.

The skatepark is good for days when the hill is closed, though you'd be better off trying to get the owners cell number as he's pretty unreliable with opening it so that way if you text him he'll come open it for you and might give you a sweet deal on a season pass for the park. Have seen Terje doing some crazy things in there.

bowie89449

Just my 2c but I love Mt Cheesman, I have both skied and boarded there and it is great (if you can do T-bars cos thats all they have) super quiet, natural snow, pretty close to Mt Hutt, small but pretty interesting terrain, cheap cheap cheap and friendly. I would check it out if you are in the area, but its not big enough to spend more than 1 or 2 days. Maybe 3 if you don't mind hiking a little. Hope you have a great time

dinosaur

Thanks heaps for getting back to me... Valuable information! We have a house sorta outside methven main town centre... I think its like 10 mins walk.
Blue pub it is... although, as long as the farm types dont mind, I will check out the brown pub as well! I look forward to hittin the area, it sounds well worth checking out... not so nervous now!
cheers!

NzGnu

Haha you'll be fine in brown as long as you show respect and don't go in acting or dressing like a dick.
But yeah all in all great place, just keep in mind its a small place and if your starting trouble you'll quickly get a bad rep around town and find yourself unwelcome pretty much every where. The pubs there impose 5year bans on people they don't like, so that can quickly put an end 2 ur night life for the season as the blue and brown are owned by the same guy.

But I'm sure you'll have a great time there, some of my mates have gone up today for opening weekend so will let you know how its looking after I hear from them.

dinosaur

Hehehe.

We have respect, no worries. Most of us are seasoned campaigners of some kind or another - so we know how to keep it low key. As visitors we dont wanna upset the locals at all. It ruins it for everyone.
How did the opening at Mt Hutt go?

nzboardlife

Rock solid ice off piste but the trails where supposed to be fine, the sun out, and the crowds not to large.

Sounds pretty mint for may.

NzGnu

I hear the ice wasn't actually that bad (on saturday) and then they got 5cm of fresh that night so i imagine it would've definatly been a good time. my friend who was there summed it up with one word

"Bluebird".

shredchick

Yeah, bulletproof is how I would describe off piste on Saturday but the trails were fine. Sunshine and lots of fun stuff to play around with. And not even that many people! I think the ski report which read "Off piste is CLOSED trail riding ONLY" put so many people off. But I'm not complaining...it def kept punters/gapers away!

Monday was bit softer with wind affected drifts but to be honest, there were still lots of icy bulletproof off piste bits. But combine some new snow with a public holiday meant busy busy busy. It was still a great sunny day though! Good to be riding this early on.

dinosaur

I am excited..
All we do these days is cruise and booze... Prolly gonna make hutt our base and peep the club hills as well as try and get some heli in... depends on some of the crew resources. Anyone recommend a good heli? It looks like they are all the same...ish..
This cover so early on is def a great sign! Pray for more. Does anyone have a name for the NZ god(s) of snow??
Cheers!