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Posted on Wednesday August 12th at 4:10 p.m.
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Friday morning, a little late after getting the kids ready for school I arrived at the Mt Hutt turn off at 8:20am. I know that the buses leave Methven at 8:00am so I knew that the drive up would be... well longer than if I had arrived ahead of them. This morning was particularly hazardous with dust and sun strike.
They say though that getting there is half the fun. I can say quite categorically that some people were dying to get up there. On the way up we passed 3 cars and a campervan descending the road. Blind corners no obstacle for some drivers racing for that slightly better carpark. I wonder if they ski & board like that? Reminds me of that old adage;
"Never underestimate the stupidity
of the general public."
Dusk hazard and sun strike on the Mtt Hutt mountain road.
Out of my way!!
City folk need coffee... and.. better.. carpark.
Dying to ride!
Anyway, once up there there was room enough for those idiots to get lost in the wide open slopes of Hutt.
After two weeks of nor-west conditions I was rather expecting Hutt to be stripped back to its core. I was pleasantly surprised, early May snow had consolidated to a point where it was not going anywhere. Upper Towers and South Face were closed due to ice but with them fancy newfangled winch thingies them slopes were firm with a powdery coating, nice and grippy too. Perfect for a few laps of the Summit Six.
Wide open pistes groomed to perfection.
Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day.
Hutt, you still got it.
Lunching at the bottom, just enough people for the management to be smiling without overcrowding, so everyone way happy then.
Fantastic on piste, queue time 4mins.
The pumping magic carpet area.
Being almost in the middle of the South Island, the views from the top of Hutt are pretty sublime with the Pacific clearly visible across the Canterbury Plains and the Southern Alps stretching for as far as the eye can see from the south west all the way around to the north east towards the Kaikouras.
Looking due east towards home. (Chch)
Great views of Olympus to the north...
Mt Cook to the west...
and the Pisa Range to the south-west, with Alpure Peaks, Fox Peak, Dobson & on the other side Round Hill.
So then, the numbers. 104km from Christchutch to Hutt, on the snow by 9:45, riding hard at 123456789, 6000m vertical (according to Simon's fancy altimeter watch) and then home again by 3:00 in time for a 3:30 meeting. A good day.
Parting shot: The glistening ridges might look intimidating, but everywhere a groomer has touched, and some places down the triple they haven't are still in great condition. And the off-piste, oh well, more snow this weekend.
A big thanks to nzski.com for the media pass, it was much appreciated.