Comment
Share
Posted on Wednesday September 1st at 5:53 p.m.
Tweet
After loading our gear onto the goods lift at the base, we parked the car as far as possible up the road and began the 40 minute walk up to the Temple hut. On arrival we met with the rest of the Canterbury University contingent who had arrived the previous night, along with skiers and riders from Otago and the token Lincoln participant. After settling in we set off to scope out the venue for the days Gnomes Free Ride competition.
The recent snow fall had left a slightly heavy layer with a bit of crust in the sun, but anything in the shade was rather nice. The hike up to the competition start was a bit gnarly with some icy faces being scaled and various unlucky people taking some unplanned slides.
The Otago boys went big, although the crust proved too much for the majority and competitors were doing well to stay on two feet the entire way down. Once again my MCL failed on me in the crust, ending my weekend early but Tyrone Lowe from Canterbury took home the males category. This victory along with other placings earned Canterbury the number one university spot, and the victory shot ski was used to distribute the prize liquor.
After a day back in Christchurch for some necessary restocking and recovery, we headed back over Arthurs Pass to set up base in Castle Hill for the K2 CHILL Big Mountain series. Nothing beats staying out close to so many clubbies and with a log fire, a spa and no cellphone reception, we couldn't ask for much more. With two days planned at each of Craigeburn and Olympus it was set to be an epic week with many big names turning up for the world free ride points event.It felt like a spring day at CV, but the snow was still chalky and wintery, and better than was expected for the first day of competition. With a shot knee I was resigned to watching from the day lodge and cruising. The weather packed in on the second day of competition and our crew at Castle Hill resigned to a day of caving and exploring around the area.
As the weather packed in I headed south for the weekend and scored some great days in the southern lakes. Tuesday morning we left Wanaka to head back north and as we rolled into Tekapo at mid day the sight of Roundhill was too much to bear. We shot up the mountain road to 35cm of amazing fresh pow and a near empty mountain. It wasn't going to get much better. As the weather slowly clears in the Canterbury region after almost a week of snow, we are gearing up for clubbies for the end of this week. With so many to choose from, where to go?
Til next time.