September 9th & 13th, 2013

Location: Cardrona Ski Field

Weather: Blizzard to flat-light with hints of sun…

Riders: Slaythegnar, NZPhotoslave

Photographers: Slaythegnar, NZPhotoslave

POV VIDEO: Nah….way too firm

Music: Mark Pritchard – ‘Ghosts’

Java Porn: Kiwis honor the presentation…

Synopsis:

Cardrona caters to everyone and really does ‘love you’ as stated by their current tag line. From families to park skiers, off piste warriors to sidecountry enthusiasts, they really have a lot to offer. Speaking of the terrain parks, now that Snow Park NZ has shutdown, Cardrona is now THE place to visit during the North American Summer for park skiing.

With my skiing partner NZPhotoslave, we couldn’t have had two more different days during the trip. The first day was shut down early for insane weather, and the second day was a mix of every type of weather, light, snow condition and terrain.

DAY ONE:

The morning started in Queenstown like any other morning during my stay…long black in my cup, laptop refreshing Met Service (NZ weather site), and analyzing all the nearby webcams. However, with a large storm approaching, only one ski field had the courage to open…Cardrona.

It was looking like the storm may delay just enough to give us a decent day of skiing…

To the North, Wanaka was getting a nice morning tan, so things were looking up…

After parking the car, we turned around and noticed that the storm was looking a bit more ominous…

Getting tickets sorted and the weather started to change…

The snowman looked worried…

A nice groomer down to the chair and our ski day is upon us…

or is it?

Weather is here and not exactly happy….

Hmmmmm…is this safe?

Looks like we are stuck here for a bit…

NZPhotoslave is happy….

Happy to survive the lift ride that is…

After that solemn lift ride, the resort closed and we headed back to the Cardrona Hotel for breakfast…

Not very crowded in the back patio but crackling firewood filled the air…

Back in Queenstown, the weather wasn’t sure what to do…

I decided to get a juice….

Followed by a beer…or two…

Followed by a Kiwi home cooked meal…not a bad day really.

DAY TWO:

The Ski Field is open and we’re on our way…

Some fresh snow…lifts are turning…

Why not session some groomers…?

Following NZPhotoslave down the piste…

We found some decent pitches with decent snow over in the Arcadia Chutes…

Varied terrain and variable conditions persisted…

Ok, now we are having some fun…

It may not be deep, but its not bulletproof…

Slaythegnar trying his hardest to get a faceshot…

The Burton High Fives superpipe event was going on throughout the day…and the dudes were definitely boosting.

Boom! There you go buddy!

Back in the Arcadia Chutes zone sessioning some nice wind deposited pockets…

It took a bit of Kodak courage but fun was obtained…

Another lap? OK…twist my arm mate.

I didn’t travel from California to sit in the cafe…

Up above the Whitestar Express, you can do a short 5-10 minute hike to some steeper terrain…

…and to some untracked snow…

Another round? Sure.

It was quite surprising to find such high snow quality up there BUT I AM NOT COMPLAINING…

Not too shabby….

One more lap in the Arcadia Chutes to get some air…

The author tries to make a scenic carve in the tussock…

Slaythegnar collapses when he heard the Cardrona Hotel ran out of beer…