enn zed shred
When:
Sun, 09/25/2011
Where:
Mount Hutt, New Zealand
State / Province:
Alaska
Who:
Me, LT, J
Temperature:
25F
Conditions:
From bluebird to whiteout
Landed in Christchurch on Saturday morning after 32 hours of travel from Montreal. Woke Sunday to cold grey rain at sea level, but trusted my friends decision and we began the drive up to Hutt. Things looked grim the whole way up, we'd heard about wind and snow forecast, and the visibility up the access road wasn't great. But in a classic NZ scene, we punched through the cloud about 100 metres below the base lodge to arrive at bluebird conditions and about 30 cars in the carpark. It was on.
A few rusty sidehits and roller ollies to warm up and I was feeling better. My knees will need a slow buildup and some strengthening but all around good times for my first day on snow since May. We got around 2 hours of sun before things closed in completely after we'd stopped for lunch. Classic NZ vertigo-inducing whiteout conditions. No trees or features means when vis drops it is ROUGH and the jetlag wasn't helping. Another stop for coffee (so nice to be able to get great coffee on the mountain) and things improved just enough to do a few final laps before the drive home.
Day summary (from the fancy access card in my pocket) - 11 runs, 5126 vertical metres.
I love snowboarding.
Other Reports From This Writer
Tue, 04/03/2012 LCC
Temperature: 45F
Conditions:
Typical spring conditions. An hour earlier would have made for a better descent with the surprise crusty patches
Bailed out of work at 4:25 and was hiking by 5:45. A quick mission up to a favourite low-angle spot to get some exercise and get away from it all for a little while. Thanks to Mogul Mike for showing me this spot. I'm keen to get further back into the canyon and have a look around.
Mon, 02/27/2012 Brighton
Temperature: 15F
Conditions:
Dark, Powdery! Last night we probably got 3-4" from 6-9. Night pow slashes are so fun.
Not your typical 7YW report, but I thought I'd throw one up anyway. Being a weekend warrior and someone who doesn't yet have a lot of sick days to call in for pow, I normally head up the hill at least one night a week after work to get my fix. We have a good crew of 3-4 of us that go regularly.
It...
Sun, 02/26/2012 Pillow Park
Temperature: 25F
Conditions:
A mix of conditions, some good turns and some wind affected crust, all in perfect light though.
After spending 6 hours outside doing my Backcountry 101 refresher course on Saturday (98% of which was in split mode, digging up transceivers!) I'd planned on a lazy Sunday. Got a message at about 1:30 to ask if I was keen on an evening hike, and I'm glad I took up the offer.
A mellow 50 minute...
Sun, 02/19/2012 Solitude
Temperature: 20F
Conditions:
*Fartnoise*
After a full-day of forecaster hype: "20-30 inches forecast for the Wasatch Front! Epic times ahead! The parking lots will be full so you better get here early!" We woke up to check the snowfall totals.
Two freakin' inches.
Massive disappointment. A worthless number of inches and a morning of...
Thu, 02/16/2012 Wydaho
Temperature: 20F
Conditions:
Corduroy, Chunder, Pow, no complaints
Road trip for a friends bday just to get outta SLC for a little bit. Grand Targhee made us an offer we couldn't refuse (stay 3 nights and lift tix are free) so the destination was set. We also managed to squeeze in a day at Jackson in between. I need to get back there for an extended visit....
Sun, 01/29/2012 Little Cottonwood
Temperature: 35F
Conditions:
Weather was warm & sunny, snow conditions were sketchy.
Things are sketchy right now in Utah, but on super low angle slopes there are turns to be had if you do your homework. After one snowboarder was killed in a slide yesterday in BCC I thought about not going today, but we decided the least we could do was go for a look and make our own assessment of...
Sun, 01/15/2012 The Luge
Temperature: 35F
Conditions:
It wasn't about the conditions, just about getting out and about
After finally putting all the pieces together to complete my split setup last week, Mike was kind enough to set up a great intro day to splitboarding. Just a quick afternoon mission, but fun all the same.
Short flatland traverse to the stash-point (I only fell 3 times trying to use crampons in...