With rental car I set off at 9AM for 3 days on my own, looking at a mostly overcast view like the previous 2 days.
But I arrived at Porters 11AM to clear blue skies above the clouds.
Porter's is a public area but the ambience is rather like Mt. Hutt in 1982, even though much modern equipment (this pic is for icelantic) has made it to NZ.
The lifts are 3 consecutive T-bars ascending a total of 2,100 vertical feet and they ran ~5 minute lift lines most of the day due to the fine weather on the Sunday at the end of a school holiday week. The upper 2 T-bars are exactly east facing, climbing out of the lower bowl. The lower T-bar serving the easier terrain is SE oriented and was shaded all day long by the steep ridge to the north. You can traverse skier's left out that ridge, gaining longer fall lines (the Bluffs are the longest) the farther you go.
Since Porters had had the mist and rain after the mid-June dump most of that terrain was off limits, and the shorter ungroomed sectors I sampled were smooth but very firm.
However, there is also a ridge skier's right which was in the sun all day long. At the end of that ridge is Porter's signature run, Big Mama, a sustained bowl with a continuous NE facing fall line of 1,600 vertical. Think Eric's at Baldy if Eric's were more open and directly accessible at the very top of chair 4. End of the traverse and top of Big Mama:
With the previous cold and overcast weather Big Mama had probably not been open for over a week, so when they announced it open around noon I tested a shorter face with the same exposure off the top T-bar and knew I was in for a treat. Big Mama's snow was smooth corn over a firm subsurface and you could just rip GS turns down the whole 1,600 (I can visualize Adam or BobbyD in warp drive mode!).
I ran 6 laps on Big Mama, not stopping for lunch in case wind, cloud or shade would return the slope to hardpack. The weather held and I had my last run there about 3PM with the shade creeping not quite halfway up then.
The opposite side Bluff slopes have comparable pitch and would be epic on a powder day. While NZ's snow conditions are notoriously fickle, these Canterbury areas do have great advanced/expert terrain so I think Patrick-type skiers would love it here.
But I arrived at Porters 11AM to clear blue skies above the clouds.
Porter's is a public area but the ambience is rather like Mt. Hutt in 1982, even though much modern equipment (this pic is for icelantic) has made it to NZ.
The lifts are 3 consecutive T-bars ascending a total of 2,100 vertical feet and they ran ~5 minute lift lines most of the day due to the fine weather on the Sunday at the end of a school holiday week. The upper 2 T-bars are exactly east facing, climbing out of the lower bowl. The lower T-bar serving the easier terrain is SE oriented and was shaded all day long by the steep ridge to the north. You can traverse skier's left out that ridge, gaining longer fall lines (the Bluffs are the longest) the farther you go.
Since Porters had had the mist and rain after the mid-June dump most of that terrain was off limits, and the shorter ungroomed sectors I sampled were smooth but very firm.
However, there is also a ridge skier's right which was in the sun all day long. At the end of that ridge is Porter's signature run, Big Mama, a sustained bowl with a continuous NE facing fall line of 1,600 vertical. Think Eric's at Baldy if Eric's were more open and directly accessible at the very top of chair 4. End of the traverse and top of Big Mama:
With the previous cold and overcast weather Big Mama had probably not been open for over a week, so when they announced it open around noon I tested a shorter face with the same exposure off the top T-bar and knew I was in for a treat. Big Mama's snow was smooth corn over a firm subsurface and you could just rip GS turns down the whole 1,600 (I can visualize Adam or BobbyD in warp drive mode!).
I ran 6 laps on Big Mama, not stopping for lunch in case wind, cloud or shade would return the slope to hardpack. The weather held and I had my last run there about 3PM with the shade creeping not quite halfway up then.
The opposite side Bluff slopes have comparable pitch and would be epic on a powder day. While NZ's snow conditions are notoriously fickle, these Canterbury areas do have great advanced/expert terrain so I think Patrick-type skiers would love it here.
