Rivers to Snow

Last weekend the rest of the family was up in Auckland for the end of school holidays so I headed back up to Ohakune to try and get more skiing out of a tough weather season.

Saturday, predictably, was yet another closed day on the mountain so I packed up the fishing gear and drove over to Turangi in an attempt to catch an elusive trout. I think river fishing is more and art than a sport.  Its definitely tough to be proficient enough to get all the factors right to hook a fish. I only get to go fresh water fishing very rarely so I have little success in discovering what all those success factors are. While I had a peaceful and interesting time on the side of the Tongariro I didn't catch anything. The best thing about fishing on the river is that it almost doesn't matter if you strike out; the surrounds, sights and sounds that you find yourself casting away in are very therapeutic. There is something about the whip and rhythm of casting nymphs into the stream that enriches this. I found a perfect pool nearby Red Hut pool however and saw a fish jump. Just to taunt me, no doubt.

A day on the River

 Every cloud has a silver lining - despite the lack of fish I did managed to hook into a magnificent pie outside the Turangi bakery. Pie of the year award material.

The drive back over the volcanic plateau yielded a nice shot of the sun on the wide open spaces on the expanses of alpine desert tussock.

Afternoon light on the Volcanic Plateau

Sunday dawned patchy with a clearing in between spring frontal systems. It turned out to be a magically memorable day.  After clearing the ski lifts up after the previous weather cycle it was a late opening. After a late start I found myself up the mountain with few people and a fresh 5-10cm of new snow over the mountain. The car made first tracks in the snow in the car park so I knew that was a good sign.

And it was.  The phantom High Noon Express had resurrected itself after being closed for extensive repair just as I arrived. This opened up an easy expanse of fresh snow right off the lifts. While it was quickly tracked out, there remained excellent quality deep fresh dry snow skiing for the rest of the day.  The Slider bowl went into epic mode. The skiing just west of the cornice was quite perfect - boot high dry untracked snow. Dropping over the Slider bowl cornice in steep soft reverse spin drift on the vertical faces was a dream like sensation. The edges on the steep fall lines in the deep snow had to used with attention. A mistake would of been very dramatic on the highly steep bowl sides. After sessioning a traverse out to Sliders, a drop over the bowl into the deep stuff, a traverse out of the east Slider into Branchline and determinedly back into the Main Trunk bowl, a couple of fresh tracks off the bowl cornice and then directly back over to the High Noon lift - the lift run of the day was discovered. Maximised best snow and terrain of the day without having to take the skis off.

The last run of the day I reserved the best for last. I traversed out past the Solitude bowl and out to my 'best bowl' that I'd spent last Saturday in. The snow was just as perfect this time, with the snow perhaps fresher and drier. With a nice routine now, I mounted my skins and skinned up further so 30 minutes to gain some better elevation. The rewards was a perfect blast in new snow though a wide gully with a wind lip and a repeat back through the 'best bowl' snow. Not a person nor other track in sight the entire time. Freshness, freedom over a virgin snow pack. Within 8 days I had to leave the same bowl behind, with the same regret, this time with only one set of extended round tracks to mark my visit.