Our last polar blast was 2 years ago now....can't believe it and we were reminded of this as the last few days we have been flooded with emails and texts from friends back home wanting us to be there with them...(stop doing that, it hurts!) All that LOVE!!
In NZ you have to brace yourself for such an event as there is no infrastructure to support the snowfall. Power lines can't handle the weight so you have no power which means no warmth unless you have a woodburner, the roads aren't graded in most areas and all the airports are closed and each city and town is totally cut off from one another which I kinda liked, the isolation and all. Best of all no-one goes to work or school especially when the weather lifts as there are adventures to be had like these pictures below....
Back country boarding and skiing is magical to say the very least. It's one of my favourite things on earth to do....a little scary and unpredictable at times but very exhiliarating. The wind creates amazing cut out icy circles at the base of these rocks and we would sit in them for lunch as they were quite sheltered. It's really cold up here, around -15 this day.
Ski-dooed in and ski to your hearts content or until your legs drop off!! The days are short so you must allow enough time to get to the hut or make your way out. I've learnt the hard way and had frost bite on my big toes cause one of our ski-doos broke down and I was stranded and had to ski out at dusk and into the night which is scary cause it's dark and snow turns to ice pretty quickly when the sun dips away. They have only just come right...
Some of our crazy boys built a snowcave for the night. I call it an igloo....
We headed for that tiny speck behind Kyland, in the valley below, a skiers hut. All I can remember was "last one's a rotten egg" and my thigh's BURNING. I swear they were on fire, but it was so much fun and no I wasn't last!
LOVE those photos. Especially the first one of you and Aaron sitting in the snow, contemplating.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea It was at -15 that day! looks like so much heavenly fun. Being in the snow at dusk IS so dangerous. Did you know we lost keamu on the wrong side of the mountain as they shut down the lifts last time we went as a family? I was frantic, x
ReplyDeleteThanks girls! It's a very bitter sweet place to be.
ReplyDeleteThat's so awful about Keamu...that thought is always at the back of my mind too especially when they want to go off piste. I asked Ky once why they do that and he said that they love cutting across and navigating through the narrow rocky chutes. I was like okay, "I don't think I want to know that!" xx