The Ongoing Storm

More than a week. With nine days to go in the 2010 season at Treble Cone, a season which has not exactly been a blockbuster for snow, we're in the middle of a storm cycle that has been ongoing for more than a week. It's essentially been snowing every other day for nine days, the temperatures have remained good and cold so that the snow has been very dry and very powdery, and it has gotten deep, very deep. The Saddle Basin remains closed due to avalanche danger and high winds, but with only a few die-hards still charging hard on our expert terrain, there are still plenty of fresh tracks for everyone. We're pinching ourselves down here, and the storm isn't over yet. I had hoped to post some better 'glory in the deep pow' photos, but my priority has been squarely placed on getting in my own turns and not stopping to take snaps. I have some thoughts to share once the storm clears, the season ends, and the sun comes out, but until then these photos that I took last Monday will have to suffice. In the meantime, as my friend Michelle said on Treble Cone's snow report this week, it's time to exercise the powder clause in your contracts. Get a good night's sleep, get to the hill early and make a meal of it. The skiing and riding at TC remains outstanding by anyone's measure and there's precious little time to waste.

Post Script: Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On

Strong aftershocks from last week's major earthquake in Canterbury continue to shake the people in Christchurch - shaking them physically and psychologically, rattling everyone's state of mind. It is literally unsettling for them and for all of the people here in Wanaka with friends and family there (Christchurch is a six hour drive from here). New Zealand is a small community so the well-worn concept of six degrees of separation is more like three here, and the situation in Christchurch has affected everyone in this country.

In yet another, slightly more entertaining occurrence, Treble Cone's neighbor resort Cardrona remains closed, as it has for a few days. It's not due to high winds or avalanche danger, rather it is due to their septic system. I wish I were joking here. I'm unsure of the details, but basically until Cardrona is able to fix their septic, none of the water is drinkable, they can't cook or clean anything and, when they do fix it, they'll have to completely sanitize the whole place. While TC is a vastly larger resort in terms of acreage, Cardrona serves a much larger crowd than we do, employing a much larger staff to do so. Cardrona is also a much easier mountain to ski and ride, so the many Cardrona guests arriving at Treble Cone over the last few days has been of a different nature than our usual - many more lower intermediate and beginning skiers and riders have been taking lessons, many more people are consulting our trail maps, and many more people are finding out just how crowded and impersonal their normal snow sports haunt can be (relative to ours, of course).

All kidding aside, having such a major part of the industry unable to conduct business with a month yet to go in the season is not good for any of us. Several days of exceptionally good business at this late time of the season may be great for Treble Cone - great for the bottom line and a great opportunity to show how good we can be to a whole wider range of people - but I truthfully wouldn't wish this kind of problem on anyone. So, I do hope that Cardies is able to clean up their act, literally and figuratively.

The photo is of the Treble Cone summit slopes as the overnight cloud-cover passed through mid- morning today.

Natural Forces

One of the fundamental truths people find while living and working in big mountains is that we are not in charge. However you might characterize or contemplate those forces in the universe greater than mankind, the fact that we are not in charge is a welcome and humbling reminder for each of us. The last few days here on the South Island have brought this idea into the rarified light of day.

As has been widely reported in the international press over the last few days, an earthquake struck the South Island in the early hours of Saturday morning. Registering at 7.4 on the Richter Scale, it struck in the countryside just west of Christchurch, the largest city here. Damage was substantial but, thankfully, none were killed. Here in Wanaka, I was bounced up and down on my bed as though my neighbors put their mega-bass speakers right up against my wall. Seriously, I literally was bouncing on the bed.

The Saturday that followed the quake was among the best ski days of the season at Treble Cone. It was cloudless, the air remained cold and windless, and we'd had quite a bit of snow in the days before. Though we had prepared ourselves for an onslaught of people taking advantage of the perfect weather and awesome conditions, there was plenty of elbow room to enjoy our mountain. In one of the more delightful ironies of the season, I ripped around our legendary off-piste terrain leading a training clinic for our instructors on the (non-seismic) natural forces that affect us when we ski. I ended the day sitting outside on the porch of a pub in town with a cold beer, contemplating life while watching the sun set behind the mountains that surround Lake Wanaka. That was yesterday. Today the natural forces at work have been quite a bit different.

This morning, Sunday, when I awoke for work the wind was howling and the house was shaking from a massive storm. Treble Cone is essentially a well-appointed remote mountain outpost, so in strong winds our lifts often go on hold or simply shut for the day (See "Shutting it Down"). This morning, interestingly enough, our operations team couldn't even get to TC to assess the safety of operating the lifts. A huge rock slide at Glendhu Bay rendered the road impassable, so neither the staff nor our guests would have been able to even get to the bottom of our access road. The photos of the TC team standing around in the middle of the road ogling the VW-sized boulders are entertaining but for the fact that it meant we couldn't do our jobs. In retrospect, with the wind and rain that followed, there's a strong likelihood that the resort would have had to remain closed anyway. Regardless, the fact is that it was the landslide that caused us to pull the plug. We're way beyond merely using our awareness of natural forces to improve our understanding of ski technique here.

So, earthquakes, landslides, gales, rain, snow, and likely floods, throw in frogs, locusts, darkness, blood, slaying of the first born and it sounds like we are developing the plot for a biblical epic staring Charlton Heston. The problem is that it's the wrong time of year for recounting the plagues upon Egypt – that's the Jewish Passover holiday in the Northern Spring. At this time of year Judaism celebrates the anniversary of the creation of the world. Normally we don't really need literal reminders of the power behind creation or the fact that, in a sense, here in New Zealand the world is still being created, but we've just gotten a few of them. I just hope we can move along to some better spring weather and enjoy the last month of skiing without further scenes from the Five Books of Moses playing out in front of us. Wait a minute, is that a pillar of salt in front of me?