One of the greatest things about digital photography is that the photos are so accessible.
I was hunting for some images recently and ran across some photos from an NZ climbing trip. Damien, a school friend and "professional" climber, and I were in NZ to try to get some winter climbing done on the main range in the winter of 2000. However, the snowfall had been heavy and our trip changed focus to skiing.
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| One of the great thing about NZ, cheap choppers! |
By chance we ran into a friend, Helen a fellow telemarker who I had skied with in Australia. She was in the Cafe in Twizel which is at the turn off to Mount Cook Village. Helen and her boyfriend were in NZ for a couple of months ski bumming and living in a tent near the club field of Ohau. I suggested a ski trip to the West Coast and they were keen. So we drove to Franz Joesph and hired a chopper for a flight to Pioneer Hut and some skiing on the Franz Joseph and Fox Neve
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Antenna array of Pioneer behind our skinny skis
while digging our first of many pits |
Conditions on the main range were amazing. There had been some massive snowfall but it snowpack but it ha not been accompanied by the normal strong winds. We landed near Pioneer Hut but when approached from the south, the only visible part of the hut was the antenna array on the roof. We had to dig down the verandah and dig that out before clearing the door to get inside.
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| Helen in good form with Douglas in the back |
Needless to say we were a little concerned about the avalanche conditions and there was much pit digging and discussions before we did any skiing. There wasn't much wind loading and the pits were reasonably stable. Still, we decided on slope of 30 deg and under. Then we set out on some day trips onto the Neve's
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Damo skiing back to Pioneer after a
trip to Franz Joseph Glacier,
Tasman Sea in the background |
The good thing was that there was little concern about the crevasses while skiing down to the glaciers. When we called in for our radio sched, it became apparent that we were the only people in Westland Park, a great feeling.
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| Me skiing down onto the Fox |
It's funny looking back, I was on a pair of Tua Mega which were 95/67/85. My current powder skis are a pair of Moment Trusts which are 108 underfoot! W had a great couple of day with wonderful ski conditions and were choppered out before the next front came in
