Snowboard/Skiing Thread!!

[Hang11]

2500??? wow, here a pass will cost you like 3-5 hundred, and you get 5-7 mountains usually.

It's kiwi $$ - so about 1 US$ buys 2 NZ$.

it's $699 for each adult and $399 for each kid - two adults, 2 kids, plus another $200 for me to get the early lift opening, which gives me a couple of hours for the dawnie before the tourists are allowed on, and then another $89 to add an extra mountain to that lot.

It's a fair bit of financial pain but those are early season prices, they double in March, and go up about 50% more in April. And that gets me three mountains to ride - Coronet Peak, Remarkables and Ohau.

I'm a bit gutted, where I used to live, I could have got 12 mountains for the entire family for $1300, but I'm living in a ski resort now, with big commercial fields, instead of funky little club operations. On the positive side, I'll get to ride every day before work and Friday nights after work, and two of the mountains are only 10 minutes away from home, instead of 1.5hrs drive away, so the fuel costs will be lower. And they all have chairs instead of T-Bars and rope tows, so the access is easy, although that does mean that there isn't much of a gaper filter.

Treble Cone is about $2k per person full season prices. Which must be a killer for people living in Wanaka.

At least helis are pretty cheap here, I can do a full heli day for about $400, so will get a couple of those in this season.

[Real Pol]

At least helis are pretty cheap here, I can do a full heli day for about $400, so will get a couple of those in this season.

Sweet!
I think the plan next season is to have a couple days heli boarding or at the very least going up in a cat.

[Hang11]

At least helis are pretty cheap here, I can do a full heli day for about $400, so will get a couple of those in this season.

Sweet!
I think the plan next season is to have a couple days heli boarding or at the very least going up in a cat.

A couple of my mates have skied here:

http://www.helipark.co.nz/home/

Supposed to be sick, and works out pretty cheap, though about 5 hours drive from where I live.

This cat-ski operation quite close though, again, supposed to be the mutts nuts if there's good snow:

http://www.alpurepeaks.co.nz/

And this one is just down the road - private heli accessed ski field. Quite a few $$ to stay there, and the accomodation is a back country hut, so not even close to flash, but it looks like great fun

http://www.invincibles.co.nz/

[tomcat360]

My season pass was 700 which includes one mountain with less than 100 skiable acres, haha. A little lame but gets expensive when they have to make every flake of snow.

Hang, where did you live and live now? I personally like the sound of the old place, just kinda a little podunk field.

[Hang11]

Hang, where did you live and live now? I personally like the sound of the old place, just kinda a little podunk field.

I was living in Christchurch, in Canterbury, about the middle of the South Island, on the East Coast.

These were all my local fields, mostly an hour and a half drive away from home - http://www.chillout.co.nz/mountains.asp

All really cruisey places, mainly ungroomed, hard work to get to, and shitty lifts, but uncrowded, cheap, and friendly. IMO one of the best kept secrets in the world when it comes to snowsports.

I'm in Queenstown now, so further South - probably the most popular ski area for Australasia. It's really different, much more commercial, lots of gapers, but still some sick terrain to be had if you fire up the poor man's heli (aka hike )

My local hills, are Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, both are about 10 minutes from home, on the way to work, and my pass covers me at Ohau as well, which is a cool place to ride, much more laid back. Cardrona and Snow Park are about 30 minutes drive away, and Treble Cone is about an hour away.

I guess it's just a bit different, I like the little places where I used to live, and really don't mind the xxxxx lifts and hassle of getting up the hill - no gondolas, so it's a mission in a proper 4wd in the snow on rough off road tracks, but it was also a complete PITA taking the kids to a lot of those spots, and this year I'll definitely get a lot more riding in, should crack 60 days easily enough, and the kids will get heaps more time on the hill. I'll be back up in Christchurch for next season anyway, once the job I'm on finishes up.

[tomcat360]

Thanks for all the links and such! Sounds like it's awesome no matter what happens, haha. How does the snow its self compare?

Here is me doing a little bit of gate bashing in our last race. The flannel is for comic relief while people getting the same times think they need a $900 GS suit.

[RJD]

I'm gutted.

My mates who lived in Canada (BC!!!) are back in NZ to stay before I had the chance to get over there...

The good thing is there driving down to Dunedin as we speak and that place has some sweeeet surf breaks!!!

[Hang11]

The good thing is there driving down to Dunedin as we speak and that place has some sweeeet surf breaks!!!

It's also got without a doubt, during daylight hours, the highest concentration of butt ugly women on the planet

There's this one real big one that sits on a bench outside mcdonalds on George St that just eats burgers all day. Every time I go there she's sat outside eating quarter pounders. If I was brave enough, I would look under her armpit, because there must be so much food stuck in there somewhere.

There's a huge amount of extra overweight, supremely stupid, gingers there as well. Must be the scottish roots they all have.

There's also another guy that regularly drops trou and takes a dump on the pavement. Seen him a few times, never pleasant.

It's a funny old place, definitely a few chromasomes missing in the local population.

Great waves tho, and when the sun goes down and the student honeys come out to play, it's a very top spot for a night out. Just be back inside before sunrise or when the dole office opens.

[Real Pol]

The good thing is there driving down to Dunedin as we speak and that place has some sweeeet surf breaks!!!

It's also got without a doubt, during daylight hours, the highest concentration of butt ugly women on the planet

There's this one real big one that sits on a bench outside mcdonalds on George St that just eats burgers all day. Every time I go there she's sat outside eating quarter pounders. If I was brave enough, I would look under her armpit, because there must be so much food stuck in there somewhere.

There's a huge amount of extra overweight, supremely stupid, gingers there as well. Must be the scottish roots they all have.

There's also another guy that regularly drops trou and takes a dump on the pavement. Seen him a few times, never pleasant.

It's a funny old place, definitely a few chromasomes missing in the local population.

Great waves tho, and when the sun goes down and the student honeys come out to play, it's a very top spot for a night out. Just be back inside before sunrise or when the dole office opens.

Hahahaha!

My mate is from there and in typical NZ/Ozzy fashion talks longingly about where he's from all the time. I think I'll copy what you wrote Hang11 and pass it onto him. I'll say I took it from a travel website!

(I'll ignore the Scottish roots comment as the rest was gold)

There's a good pie shop too if I'm not mistaken.

[Real Pol]

And this is what he replied back with:

That is about right… there is certainly a good proportion of wierdos living there. The best surf beach is to the south of the town, which also happens to be where the cheapest housing is, the largest dole office is, and where there is an unnatural number of fast food outlets.

We purchased our first house there for a bargain, sold it for a profit, and got the hell out…

But good nights out to be had in the north Dunedin bars, especially during semester!

[Hang11]

First big snow of 2009 here this week - cleverly timed by me to go on a fishing trip to a couple of high country lakes. Having to put snow chains on the truck to get in there was a bit worrying, having to dig a hole in the snow to put my tent up was somewhat concerning, trying to clean my teeth and findin g that the toothpaste was frozen at 9pm was worrying, not being able to make a cuppa at 6am was the end of it for me - minus 6, frozen milk and sleeping in a tent is just a bit too harsh. Caught a beautiful 5lb trout though, and then dragged a salmon out of a hydro canal for dinner on the way home too.



Lake Pukaki, and Mt Cook

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

its still snowing like crazy here, but its warm too, so powder doesnt last. im over it. ready to surf.

[libby]

Aaaaaaaah I camped at the wilderness camp at lake pukaki after cycling 40km to get there, and went for a nice icy swim when i arrived, happy days

[Hang11]

Aaaaaaaah I camped at the wilderness camp at lake pukaki after cycling 40km to get there, and went for a nice icy swim when i arrived, happy days

It's a nice spot there! I stay in Twizel, which is right by it, quite a lot during winter, love it round there - the snowboarding is awesome - Ohau goes off when the snow is good, then going for a fish on the way home at Pukaki, and bagging a nice salmon to have for dinner pretty much makes it a perfect day

There's a really good thai restaurant in Twizel too, run by a lady boy. It's the sort of town where the one horse left 20 years ago, full of hard southern blokes that shoot a lot of deer, and clean their ears out with their ute keys, and really not the sort of place where you would expect to find a raving queen selling food that isn't roasted or a pie.

[Hang11]

30cm on the ground, 72cm due over the weekend, first hill opens in 5 weeks, but I think there will be some sick snow to hit with a bit of a hike next week.

[tomcat360]

My passport is in the mail!

Do you know anything about CPIT in Christchurch?

[RJD]

Kinda its just on the corner of Hagley park opposite where my wife works.

Dunno what the place is like for gaining an education tho.

[tomcat360]

Hmmm. Well I'm not stoked with the program I am in now, and CPIT is one of our "sister schools" so I was thinking about giving it a go. International tuition will actually be cheaper than what I'm paying right now.

[Hang11]

Christchurch is an hour and a half to two hours from loads of great hills, and not far from some quality surf at Kaikoura or Banks Peninsula.

Being a student must be a sweet deal there, you can get cheap mid week student passes for the mountains, and get up there without the crowds.

Hey RJD, I didnt know there were any strip clubs in that part of the city?

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

Hmmm. Well I'm not stoked with the program I am in now, and CPIT is one of our "sister schools" so I was thinking about giving it a go. International tuition will actually be cheaper than what I'm paying right now.

you must be paying a lot