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?