Turoa

On the day of the official opening of the Turo skifield, the strong winds meant that none of the chairlifts opened all day, concentrating all visitors to the small beginners slopes outside the cafe. People soon got tired of this so started hiking up to the upper slopes. We on the other hand had our touring skis so used the opportunity to try out our climbing skins which made it easy going! We still couldn't get too high due to the wind so after skiing back down we headed off.

After spending Friday night sleeping in the back of the car we decided to walk into the Blyth hut where Helen had stayed a few weeks ago when she was up here, where there are soft mattresses and a log fire with lots of dry fire wood.

So after leaving the car on the side of the Mountain Road, we headed out into what can only be described as a blizzard to walk to the hut.

River crossings in winter tend to be a bit easier, if a bit exciting.

Well, all we can say it took a lot longer to get to the hut than we expected (after dark). We failed to pick up the poled route that supposedly led to the hut from this direction and despite it taking a while and a few circles to pin point ourselves in the mist on the series of almost parallel spurs and streams that tend to radiate from a volcano, once we had decifered our location it wasn't long before we reached the hut nested on the bushline in a magical wintery scene. And after that it wasn't long before the the stove was fired up for dinner, the fire burning hot in the pot bellied stove and we were nice and cosy in our private mountain hut!

In the morning we set out just after dawn through the wintery bush.

The hut just on the edge of a blanket of cloud that sat over the lowlands surrounding the mountain.

Helen leaving the hut.

From this end we picked up the poled route that headed back up the mountain, very interested on where it lead to on the road.

Some poles had fallen over but there was no chance of hammering them back into the frozen ground so Helen volunteered to prop this one upright so we could follow it.

Walking through the wintery landscape in the early morning shadow of the the mountain.

The poled route eventually led right up to the ski field car park and we had to walk down the road contrary to the constant stream of upwards traffic heading to the ski field. In the future we will leave the car at the ski field for the walk to the hut!

After driving the car back up to the car park we made a quick change over to ski boots, had a munch, and joined the rest of the crowd heading up for a 'Blue Bird' day on the piste.

Halfway up the field we bumped into Max and Kevin (who had bailed on the horribly windy conditions on the hill the day before and driven to Whanganui Bay to go rock climbing in the sun) back on the ice fall that Max and I had a go on on Friday night.

Max showing off his ice climbing finesse.

Of course Tim couldn't resist another go so while Helen explored some of the runs on the field, he donded Max's crampons and tools and had a climb, his new Alpine Touring ski boots proving great for climbing in and fullfiling a long term ambition to ski into an ice climb!

The distant Mount Taranaki poking though the blanket of cloud that surrounded us on the mountain.

The ski field was very busy by New Zealand standards and snow conditions weren't great so we're looking forward to heading back once the Whakapapa field opens next week and some more snow arrives allowing some more runs to open to relieve some of the pressure on current skiing resource.

What a fantastic weekend! Alpine climbing, ice climbing, skiing and winter tramping!