Amelia in Action on Skis

Last weekend we were up in Ohakune with the Bergquist and Cakebread families to get some skiing in. Despite the weather forecast the morning turned out fair enough to take the girls up for a ski during the morning.

I'm not so great at movies by any stretch, however I tried my hand at getting a movie of Amelia skiing for prosperity. I took it using my phone, while skiing backwards down the Alpine Plateau on Turoa. So the quality is not great, but you get the general idea of how Amelia is developing with her skiing.

Here goes.

I'm not sure which was harder, holding the phone steady and keeping Amelia in shot, or skiing backwards while trying to avoid the others on the slope.

Its good to see Amelia using balance by holding hands forward to keep her weight over the centre of her skis and seems more or less under general control of direction and good control of speed. Its starting to come along for her now.

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.

Ohakune Dusk

Was up in Ohakune for a long weekend.  The rural backdrop over the fence catches some picturesque dusk light. I got these two shots of the sun setting on fence lines and farm buildings.

The range of dusk colours in the first shot was what caught my attention.

The second shot is all about over use of lens flare.

Skip Training

Amelia learning how to skip from the experts.

Ngaio Snow

Last week in snowed in Wellington, which is a very rare but welcome event.  The snow was only a few cms worth and very, very wet, almost slurry. However it was snow. It came on the Sunday, and snowed on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, each time in the evening.

I've included an few shots of the snow, just for the record. They are not terrific shots but never the less, here they are.

The first is looking from the back lawn, over the house and onto the Ngaio hills behind.

The second is over the lawn while the snow was heaviest, on Monday evening.

 Finally, overlooking the Ngaio hills on Tuesday morning, with the moon setting.

There are more photos of the snow around the house and hills are here.

Long Weekend at Ohakune

Last weekend we took off on Thursday evening for a long weekend at Ohakune with our friends the Cakebreads. Friday was cold and windy but Saturday was calm and clear so we took the girls up for a ski lesson. The lesson was a roaring success for Amelia and Lily and seemed to build quite well on their skills learnt to date.
More details are in a previous post.

However four kids take some entertaining when not on the snow.  Luckly there is a great climbing wall that has a perfect set up for kids in Ohakune. Here is a shot of Amelia getting into a new found sport she is really enthusiastically enjoying.

In a near by paddock to our house there are a herd of cows that are sometimes grazing. The girls, particularly the young ones, are fascinated by them; Lucy loves to practice her "mooing" on them. The livestock are pretty vocal back for a reason known only to themselves.

A major snow storm was forecast for the country on the Sunday. So we got out of Ohakune before we got snowed in. Here is a shot of the rain setting in before the snow hit. 

Cold Day on Turoa

Caught this shot while hanging out in at the High Noon cafe on Turoa last Friday. It was a cold blustery day, but with lots a fresh dry snow on the main trails.

It was a balance between enjoying the snow and tolerating the cold wind chill on the lifts.  As you can see by the shot, there were not many people up to tolerating the conditions, but when the sunlight managed to pierce the gloomy snow storm it produced a interesting ethereal light.  The tables look like they are lit artificially from above.

On Saturday I took the girls up for a lesson. To fill in time before getting in skis, Amelia decided to make a snow angel.

Amelia and Lily improved dramatically during the lesson. Now they can ski and navigate a way through the masses on the Alpine Meadow top to bottom unaided. Almost even better they load onto and unload from the ski lift by themselves.

Here is a shot of the girls enjoying themselves afterwards.