This was my first experience with the oft-discussed New Zealand club fields. I am being guided by http://www.blackdiamondsafaris.co.nz/, whom I recommend highly to vacationing skiers who want to try the club fields. Reason #1 is the Mt. Olympus access road, which is probably the hairiest I've ever seen (maybe Arpa in Chile would be comparable with a lot of snow and ice).
After an exhausting day I would certainly not want to drive down that road, and if you are renting a car 2WD would be out of the question to get up there. A nine year old girl was injured late in the day, and my guide Marcus helped attend to her until a helicopter evac arrived about 5PM.
Any serious injury requires the heli due to the likely distress descending that road.
The Black Diamond guides did say that Mt. Olympus was the worst of the access roads, and perhaps its location deep into the mountains meant less mist/rain effect than I saw at Mt. Hutt or Porters. The club areas do not have any grooming equipment whatsoever, but the main skier packed lines had a pleasing packed powder surface. Less busy runs had a thin breakable crust layer that was tricky with the Apache Recons (demos, not mine) but would support a fatter ski with good technique. Some young locals were ripping up this slope:
We went over there and it required careful skiing-on-eggshells technique for me.
Weather was overcast in the morning with some sunny breaks in the afternoon. Slopes were mostly shaded due to primary south exposure. Map in lodge:
There's about 1,500 vertical directly lift accessible, but there are ridgelines above which the members hike for some steeper lines and when there's fresh snow. Here's Little Alaska above the Back Run:
And the Sphinx above the Main Face late in the day:
The members/patrol must also hike above the lifts to do avalanche control. There's a lot to do, and with a major dump they may have to call in a helicopter to bomb if the hike looks too unsafe. The saddle in the background of this pic of Frozen Waves is the least exposed climbing route to do control work.
There are 3 rope tows and the lodge is at the top of the first tow.
It sleeps 38 and was full for the end of the school holiday week. Quite a few kids, and FTO readers would no doubt approve of kids learning to ski in an environment like this. Small children learn to use the nutcracker to attach to a parent while the parent attaches to the moving rope.
Some older kids built a booter for their entertainment.
This and other skiers landed their backflips cleanly.
Nonetheless Marcus said there were less than 100 people on this Saturday and never more than 200. Thus the low density powder stash reputation of the club fields.
The club members are very resourceful. A few years back the NZ government offered to run electricity partway up to the club fields. Mt. Olympus and Broken River accepted the offer, but the members still had to run the electrical lines underground themselves up the last several km and about 3,000 vertical feet. Mt. Olympus equipment building with rope tow electrical motors:
Other club fields like Cragieburn still run everything off diesel generators.
The Black Diamond guides also supply a harness for the nutcracker and canvas covers to protect your gloves. BD's harness is designed to offer broad support somewhat like a windsurfing harness and not concentrate pressure. I was quite comfortable riding the tows once I got attached to them. Getting attached was another story. You have to grab the tow like a conventional tow with the inside hand and flip the nutcracker onto the rope with the other hand. Once the nutcracker is clamped the uphill force is exerted through the harness, though you still have to hold the nutcracker shut and your legs get more tired than from a poma or T-bar as you're crouched a bit lower. I was successful attaching to the 2 upper tows about 3/4 of the time. The lower tow was more difficult and I succeeded only 2 out of 10 times. 3 times Marcus had to stop that tow so I could attach to it.
Black Diamond can arrange lodging at Glenthorne Station, which is about 45 minutes down the Olympus access road and an hour+ from the other 2 club fields they use. Tomorrow night I'll be staying at the Castle Hill "The Burn" B&B, which is on the Arthur's Pass road close to Porter's, Broken River and Cragieburn.
After an exhausting day I would certainly not want to drive down that road, and if you are renting a car 2WD would be out of the question to get up there. A nine year old girl was injured late in the day, and my guide Marcus helped attend to her until a helicopter evac arrived about 5PM.
Any serious injury requires the heli due to the likely distress descending that road.
The Black Diamond guides did say that Mt. Olympus was the worst of the access roads, and perhaps its location deep into the mountains meant less mist/rain effect than I saw at Mt. Hutt or Porters. The club areas do not have any grooming equipment whatsoever, but the main skier packed lines had a pleasing packed powder surface. Less busy runs had a thin breakable crust layer that was tricky with the Apache Recons (demos, not mine) but would support a fatter ski with good technique. Some young locals were ripping up this slope:
We went over there and it required careful skiing-on-eggshells technique for me.
Weather was overcast in the morning with some sunny breaks in the afternoon. Slopes were mostly shaded due to primary south exposure. Map in lodge:
There's about 1,500 vertical directly lift accessible, but there are ridgelines above which the members hike for some steeper lines and when there's fresh snow. Here's Little Alaska above the Back Run:
And the Sphinx above the Main Face late in the day:
The members/patrol must also hike above the lifts to do avalanche control. There's a lot to do, and with a major dump they may have to call in a helicopter to bomb if the hike looks too unsafe. The saddle in the background of this pic of Frozen Waves is the least exposed climbing route to do control work.
There are 3 rope tows and the lodge is at the top of the first tow.
It sleeps 38 and was full for the end of the school holiday week. Quite a few kids, and FTO readers would no doubt approve of kids learning to ski in an environment like this. Small children learn to use the nutcracker to attach to a parent while the parent attaches to the moving rope.
Some older kids built a booter for their entertainment.
This and other skiers landed their backflips cleanly.
Nonetheless Marcus said there were less than 100 people on this Saturday and never more than 200. Thus the low density powder stash reputation of the club fields.
The club members are very resourceful. A few years back the NZ government offered to run electricity partway up to the club fields. Mt. Olympus and Broken River accepted the offer, but the members still had to run the electrical lines underground themselves up the last several km and about 3,000 vertical feet. Mt. Olympus equipment building with rope tow electrical motors:
Other club fields like Cragieburn still run everything off diesel generators.
The Black Diamond guides also supply a harness for the nutcracker and canvas covers to protect your gloves. BD's harness is designed to offer broad support somewhat like a windsurfing harness and not concentrate pressure. I was quite comfortable riding the tows once I got attached to them. Getting attached was another story. You have to grab the tow like a conventional tow with the inside hand and flip the nutcracker onto the rope with the other hand. Once the nutcracker is clamped the uphill force is exerted through the harness, though you still have to hold the nutcracker shut and your legs get more tired than from a poma or T-bar as you're crouched a bit lower. I was successful attaching to the 2 upper tows about 3/4 of the time. The lower tow was more difficult and I succeeded only 2 out of 10 times. 3 times Marcus had to stop that tow so I could attach to it.
Black Diamond can arrange lodging at Glenthorne Station, which is about 45 minutes down the Olympus access road and an hour+ from the other 2 club fields they use. Tomorrow night I'll be staying at the Castle Hill "The Burn" B&B, which is on the Arthur's Pass road close to Porter's, Broken River and Cragieburn.
