Just got back on Sunday from my trip to NZ, thought I would share it with the rest of you despite the fact a lot of the regulars are away at the shred.

We flew out Saturday morning about 10:30, arrived in Qtown about 3:30pm local time from memory. Grabbed our hire car and motored over the crown range rd to Wanaka Hotel where we were staying. After a discussion with reception we got a proper twin room rather than the double and bunk bed we were first given. Neither myself nor my mate can fit in bunk beds so it really wasn't an option. Apart from that the room was ok, nothing flash and not as good as the Copthorne last year in Qtown. It does however have a pub and a proper cafe attached to it which was nice.

Had a few jugs of Tui at the pub, $8NZD, so very cheap and some dinner and went to bed.

The first day we went to Cardrona, I had been hanging to go there last year but it was closed for about 5 days and it just didn't work out. Cardrona was good in a word, lots of variety, great snowboarders mountain I reckon, heaps of terrain features, booter lines and some big wide open cruisers as well as some interesting little cat tracks.

As we hadn't been to Cardrona before we really didnt have anything to compare the snow too althugh to be honest it looked pretty bare but we weren't ready to call it after the first day.



My mate staring at the ground at the side of a run............


I had a bit of a stab at some of the smaller kickers from that first pic


The next day we went to Treble Cone, that was a favourite last year but it quickly became apparent that there was a lot less snow than last year. I had been thinking that with the massive snow falls of the couple of weeks prior it should be awesome, was sadly mistaken. Some of the runs we had done last year just weren't possible this year cause of the snow conditions. I went through the terrain park and screwed it up badly, overshot a landing horribly and landed on my arse and my elbow, my arse was fine thanks to the crash pants but my elbow was damn sore, made it hard doing up my bindings amongst other things for a few days.

We did hike up to the ridge above the saddle basin chair again and found a cornice of sorts with soft snow under it. No matter the view from up there was spectacular again, worth it for that alone.



Me checking the snow under the cornice


You can see some heliboarder tracks in this one if you look close enough



Saddle Basin


Saddle again, you can see the kickers I nailed myself on to the left


Having a go at the cornice


Mate having a crack


The Hike back up


Me switch

Thanks for sharing mate. That 4th photo is the shit! Photo comp for sure mate

This mighta been the chopper responsible for the tracks in the other pic


Me in the morning in the saddle basin


After finishing up for the day I decided to do something I wanted to do the year before and drive to the end of the Mt Aspiring National Park Rd. Worked out that this seems to be the road from the intro to Thats It, Thats All and was very spectacular, got up close to the mountain we heliboarded last year as well.





Found this suspension bridge a fair way up the road, as we're both pretty heavy we decided one at a time was just fine




View down stream from the bridge


There was plenty of opportunites for the hire car to earn its stripes as a pseudo 4wd machine!


The next day we ventured back to the Remarkables, the place was not far off unrecognisable from last year. So much less snow, some of the best things we hiked and boarded last year were just rocky horrors. On on eof the cat tracks I was farting around doing little 1's off the side and on one I happened to lose all my speed and kinda wandered out onto the track again, my mate wasn't really watching and was motoring along, saw me at the last minute and dropped the shoulder. Hit me under the back of my ribs on the right side, very unpleasant. Was the end of the day after that one, luckily it was around 3pm so didn't cut the day to short.

Before all that happened we did get this one amusing video, i came close but didn't touch him, i found his reaction fairly amusing




When we got back to the hotel I was still in a fair bit pain, I touched in gingerly a bit and to my horror discovered when I pressed in with my thumb my rib moved in and out and made a clicking crunchy noise. Ended up at the Wanaka Medical Centre for an hour or so, turns out the bottom ribs turn into cartilage or something and this is what was busted, Dr wasn't overly concerned and told me it was going to painful and it wouldn't heal till I rested but I might as well leave that till I went home.

Wasn't too happy about it and was still in considerable pain but all the thoughts I was having of going home the next day were kinda unfounded.

gold

The next day we went back to Cardrona where I with my bung rib and elbow had to take things pretty easy really. We did manage to find a combination of runs that in total took over 10mins of continuous riding to get to the bottom of. Was actually good to just concentrate on riding uses edges properly and that sort of thing.

Cruising on the long run


The next day we drove all the way to the Remarks again but the weather was shitty for the first time, my rib hurt and my heart wasn't in it so we bailed into Qtown to do some shopping and have lunch. On the way back to Wanaka I noticed they had night riding on that night at Snow Park so thought if felt better later we might have a crack. In the end we did and I'm glad we had a go as it was really fun.

The Triple at SNow Park


Top of the chair


Gettign dark


Really weird flash photo of me, got me landing rather than in the air cause of the delay


Looking over towards Cardrona


A shaky cam view of a run through when it's properly dark


The next day we ended up at the Remarks again, we had another day left on our passes for there so wanted to use it up, much the same as the first day, had a good time without getting banged up which was good.





Little switch back 1 almost into my mate, kinda disappointed I didn't clean him up, woulda been well deserved.


The cat track where i got poleaxed a couple of days before


We were considering trying for a morning board at the Remarks before we flew home in the arvo the next day but the we had a mild hangover after watching the opening ceremony and first game of the world cup in Wanaka the night before and the weather was horrible so we decided on a sleep in. Got to the airport and found out the airlines and travel agent had some comms error and we were comped a night in the Novotel at Qtown. That as it turned out was bad, I remember rugby, vodka red bull, Tui jugs, a mechanical bull and very little else.

The next day in the airport and the flight home were very unpleasant to say the least. Somehow managed to have a good time overall despite the injuries and lacklustre snow, was nice to be in a beautiful country and not be at work at the very least.

Nice trip report. cardrona is probs my favourite in NZ after my last trip with the remarks in second. Looks like you had a blast.

Thanks NBG for sharing your travel log. Looks like you had a ball! except for your rib injury. Bet ya it hurts when you laugh! Have a quick recovery NBG.

Snow Park is my number one
Snow Park is my number two
Then probably Remarks and Cardrona equal.

snowpark is fun buuuut you need proper mountain riding to make a resort a #1 pick for a country

snowpark is perfect for the hungover half days of riding.

Cardrona is probably my #1, if there is a lot of fresh snow then Treble Cone #2, if not Remarks #2. Snow Park is great for night riding but I dunno if I would want to do a whole day there, Cardrona would be way better for that, has everything Snow Park does and more.

remarks is my #1 due to past experiences. treble cone would have been #1 if there was fresh snow, but it was icey as sh!t.