Winter is easy to love: an abundance of deep Southern Ocean swells and always the chance of fresh snow in the hills. In fact this year El Nino delivered so much that this spring is like the winter that keeps on giving. That's great news if you have a penchant for the mountains. We do.
We spent part of last week at The Remarkables and Cardrona in near-perfect conditions at both resorts. We managed to tap into freshies at each field and learnt why these two fields are among the best in the country.
The Remarkables has undergone a massive transformation in the past two years. In 2014 NZ Ski Ltd put in a new chairlift: the 1.2km Curvey Basin six-seater ... it doesn't get much more comfortable than this lift. Then this past summer The Remarkables completed its new Base Lodge and, coupled with improved carparking, smoothed the transition from car to the snow completely. They dropped a cool $45m on the development and it has given the field a completely new feel – effortless skiing and connectivity around the field.
Curvey Basin has opened up a lot of terrain – people were still getting fresh tracks in the afternoon – but it will always be the chutes and couloirs that lay within easy hiking distance that make this field such a remarkable ski and board destination. If you haven't made it up the hill yet, then get into it and discover some of the best spring skiing conditions for years. The Remarkables is scheduled to close for the season on September 27.
Our next stop was Cardrona and the impressively manicured halfpipe, super booter and slopestyle course. This is Wells country – three brothers Jossi, Byron and Beau-James who grew up in the valley below, took on the world and are now considered to be among the best freeskiers in the world. They've had a huge hand in building and developing Cardrona Parks, which hosted the Audi Quattro Winter Games this year among other international events. It's massive. The scale is something that takes a bit to get your head around – and then the best skiers flip and rotate off these things like they're made of rubber. Impressive.
If you don't want to hit this eight pack that's okay – there are plenty of lines to explore on this mountain.
We returned to sea level just in time for that last swell to clean up and turn St Kilda inside out. Joe Palmer was harvesting barrels out there so we went for a swim ... that's the way to bookend an epic week.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS Like seafood? Of course, you do. We have 8 tickets to the 2015 Port Chalmers Seafood Festival to giveaway. For your chance to win one jump onto our Facebook page, share the post and tell us your dream version for the ultimate Kiwi seafood platter.
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