Ski Turoa

Saturday was a very good day indeed. I'd taken some time away to be up at Ohakune to get some skiing in.  Thursday and Friday had seen some fantastic midweek skiing but cloudy afternoon conditions had kept my skis reasonably with in view of the area boundaries.  However the weather smiled on Saturday with reliable clear sky and a low risk stable spring snow pack.  This made a afternoon ski tour an immensely attractive option.

During the morning I'd made use of the short lift queues and spent an enjoyable morning hanging out with the Turoa Hosts exploring the new groomed faces on the South East Basin where the old High Flyer is due to be re-located. The run that has opened down the Cinch and runs out through Once Only is a new favourite. It will be a great entree for Turoa visitors in the future to get a taste of the backcountry without having to put on skins or climb for it.  The host I was skiing with, Jason, had a cunning plan that exited Once Only at the lower car parks. So we hung out for a few minutes and caught the Turoa shuttle back up to the base. 

At the altitude it is, the spring now just starts to release earlier than the rest of the off trail runs higher up. It was such a good mid morning option that we all had to repeat it straight again after.

The Cinch, South East Basin, Turoa.
New groomed terrain for 2011.

By lunch time the skins were itching to get on the skis so I took them out for a trip over far west into the Mangaturuturu Glacier.

The snow was classic Turoa spring corn, varying from firm packed wind drift up to 5 - 10cm deep soft corn. Sweet and untracked.

Skin tracks pointing the way behind

After about a 2 hour ski tour on skins and a reasonable climb on feet to gain altitude I crested over the saddle above the Mangaturuturu. I was rewarded with a quick view of the crater lake at the top. Unfortunately, as you can see from the photo, cloud around the summit plateau was starting to encroach so the visit was all too short.

View of the Mt Ruapehu Crater Lake from the SW saddle.
Cloud encroaching.

However I took the moment to get a decent shot of the southern head wall above the crater lake and the way the snow ridge line curves around to meet the saddle.  Taurangi Peak, the summit that sits above Turoa, is in the background.

South headwall of the Mt Ruapehu Crater Lake.
Tahurangi Peak in the background.

The following shot shows the way out and down the glacier. The top of the saddle is covered in interesting delicate sastrugi and ice formations. While nice to look at they are not so interesting to ski on though.

View down the Mangaturuturu Glacier from the saddle.

After working through the sastrugi, the ski out was epic. Untracked virgin spring corn, with not another soul in sight. Wide open bowl with pristine creamy corn.

First and only tracks in Mt Ruapehu spring corn
on Mangaturuturu Glacier.

The final shot shows the rest of the way out in the untracked open bowls.

Creamy spring snow awaiting tracks on the
Mangaturuturu Glacier.

Needless to say the run out back into the Turoa lift terrain was brilliant and relished with a vengeance.

This is skiing.

No people, no tracks, no queues, no noise. Just simple freshness, freedom and farness to the sweet rhythmic sound of the skis arching and carving round symmetric turns in the snow under boot.