Yo dudes - new here, but saw this Nz thread and had to jump in. I am lucky enough to have just returned from a 12 day trip from Queenstown up to Christchurch, and the place is all that. The fact that everyone says it looks ever better in full bloom of summer is a rediculous notion - there is clearly no room for improvement there. 30% of the country is national parks that will never get developed.
So I was at Treble Cone for 1 day down in Queenstown - the best views I ever saw - but kinda icy conditions. Early August. We chose to do other stuff like dartboat river rives instead of riding further down there, waiting for it to snow. Treble Cone is a must see in powder, I can't imagine how awesome it would have been. I shall return - at least we had clear weather, and seriously, we spent about 2 hours just admiring the vantages.
Then the big snow hit, with that 1+ meter dump at Hutt. At the time we were at the Ohau lodge, which is an awesome place to be - but they never opened the mountain. do you know how frustrating it is to be stuck in a lodge with many FEET of powder to ride... and no way to ride it? Probably not. But it sucks. But not wanting to ruin the last of the American reputation that hasn't been soiled, we simply got sloshed in the bar for 2 nights, then gave up to head to Christchurch. Mt Dobson was also closed for 2 or 3 days, which was the alternate plan. All I know is, whoever got to the powder the next day (Saturday) was a very happy camper, with my powder and their own. Someone owes me a drink.
But then it all came together - I went for 3 days to the Broken River ski club west of Christchurch, and the place was off the hook! Tons of powder, any more and avalanches would have been all over. They had a few small sloughs in the outback, and a big one took out the tow rope at neighboring Cragieburn, so didn't get over there. But there was way plenty to tear up at Broken River, once you got up there. Alot of hiking on sketchy switchbacks, and the drive was a bit scary, slipping all over the road. But it's the kind of drive that might trash your car but won't kill you - unlike many of the other roads nearby. Scary by American standards, not Nz. The last challenge (BEFORE you get to the snowboarding) is the tow ropes, which were mmm 200-300% harder than all the reviews indicate, especially on a snowboard. I'll just leave it at that. 4 tries to get up the first tow, 10 tries to get up the 2nd tow which is goofy footed on a snowboard.
Once up top, there was so much glory! On a weekday there weren't many people... at all. Like maybe 40 or so. There were times when I looked up from the bottom, mid-afternoon, and didn't see a single person. Anywhere. Apparently the day before on Sunday they had a record 250 people or so. Which would have made it real, real hard to learn how to ride the nutcracker rope tows. So I kinda lucked out in the end
3 days of pure bliss (aside from all the pain).
PS - Thanks for the image tip Killz, still not displaying hmm oh well. Looks like you can post them from my post, but I can't post them in my post, unless they are hosted elsewhere?
New Zealand and Australia Reports
glad you got some boarding in.
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