In a word...


Advertisement
New Zealand's flag
Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown
July 10th 2018
Published: July 10th 2018
Edit Blog Post

Remarkable! It doesn't really do them justice. It undersells them. More magnificent and brilliant than notable. We rolled the dice with the weather and it came up doubles sixes. It was an awesome day on the slopes. Maximum temps of 4 degrees but blue skies and white fluffy clouds.

25 cm of powder over 48 hours and the roads were covered with grit and ice. This delayed the bus departures and caused a monster queue for the shuttle bus. Where we had walked on to the first 8 am bus to Coronet Peaks on Monday we joined the heaving masses waiting patiently in the sunshine for a shuttle bus up the mountains. The Remarkables queue snaked for over 100 metres up Man St and down Camp St to the corner of Stopover St and it wasn't moving very fast. We moved 20 metres in half an hour and at this rate we'd be waiting for a bus for another 2 hours! A resourceful young Aussie named Jen enquired to the crowd "who else is impatient and wants to share a mini bus to The Remarkables?". "It's about $160 but if we get eleven it'll be about $20 a head." Before she'd even named the price I had my hand in the air and saying "YES PLEASE!". Sixty dollars for an extra couple of hours was well worth it. And is there anything worse than waiting for public transport? Particularly when your destination is so remarkable.

Our driver Akil was in the loading bay in a jiffy. The caravan of courage carried Jen and her partner, the Sharpies, two pair of 2o something Aussie chicks and a solo Kiwi of Asian extraction named Kevin H. He only spoke 8 words as we left the queue behind us. "I hope I don't live to regret this". It's a windy road up to the ski centre at 1600 metres above sea level and though the warning signs demanded snow chains. Akil drove that 12 seater mini bus, snow chain free, all the way to the summit! There were points where I was murmuring Kevin's word to myself - "I hope I don't live to regret this". The view was stunning, but the sludgy road was sketchy and slippery. Very glad I didn't abort the two hour queue and drive the Rav4 up this treacherous track. There was a lot of snow - soft, white and fluffy. Akil proclaimed that it was the best he'd seen in his 6 years in Queenstown. "The last 3 years were shit!". He also proclaimed that the crowds were lower this winter and he blamed the FIFA world cup. I don't see the correlation, but who am I to argue.

The crowds didn't look that weak when we entered the ski centre. And the windy road and possibly the change in temps didn't treat Deaks well at all. We'd no sooner racked our boards in the ski-racks and Deaks is puking all over the floor. He just stopped still and let it rip. I took a photo for the blog of course. After 3 or 4 follow up pukes, each smaller than the last, we managed to grab a cleaner who quite willingly mopped up the masticated Vegemite on toast, denying my offer of assistance. Swish around some water, down a smooshed bliss ball and we're on the slopes. I wish! It takes so bloody long! Boots off, boots on, find a locker, gather the superfluous gear, stuff it in the locker. "I don't want my wrist guards". Line up to unlock the locker, get your code, wait for the family next to your locker to put their shoes on and stuff their locker, open your locker, put the wrist guards in the locker, grab your board. brush the puke of the leg of your ski pants and head for the slopes. If there was anything needed from the locker or that needed putting in the locker, everyone knew from my face that it wasn't going in or coming out and they best just put it in their pockets and zip their lips!

There are alot of people here today - 4000 apparently and only 1000 yesterday - and why shouldn't there be. The stress and the crowds virtually evaporate when the cold air hits your face, the blue of the sky contrasts with the white of the clouds and the snow and you touch the soft, white, fluffy snow for the first time. It's magical stuff. And so much fun! All four of us spend about an hour on the magic carpet, learning slopes. Deaks and Jules share a few runs together and I run beside Milla as she practices her heel slides and her toe slides. She's getting better but doesn't like to let go of my hands. By the 3rd or 4th run she is getting her balance and picking up decent speed. Jules offers to takeover coaching Milla as she can sense mine and Deaks longing for the chairlifts and the trails beyond them.

We hit the beginner slopes on the Alta Lift and I wear the go-pro as Deaks shreds through the powder and even gets some air attempting an ollie. The look of pride and surprised joy on his face is priceless and I hope I caught it on the go-pro. I think I was upright when he did that and it should be on the camera. We go again and Deaks takes a different track down this time and despite a few decent stacks, we rendezvous at the bottom. We try to find the girls. With both boards in rack 11, I surmise that they are having some lunch and a hot chocolate someplace warm but we can't find them among all these people. But we can find Dave and Taj Crellin! We knew they were in QT and were planning to be at The Remarkables today. Voila, here they are.

We spend the next hour or so going on increasingly difficult runs. I had planned to stick to the green beginner runs but god knows what those last couple were. There were ramps and jumps and steepness! As you go down the mountain, there are often choices as the runs combine. I generally opted for the beginner route while Deaks always opts for the other NON-beginner route. He is fearless on those slopes and with his mate Taj by his side, there is no stopping them


Additional photos below
Photos: 7, Displayed: 7


Advertisement



Tot: 0.053s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.035s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1mb