August 6th 2024: Into the mountains

The colder air temperatures this past week have been a real boon for the mountains – coupled with the snow that arrived in the southern alps last Wednesday the conditions have meant the fresh snow has remained light and dry. Some have said that the cold nights actually dry the snow out even more than when it first fell. The guy who told me that was about 70 and had a beard layered in 60-year-old coffee stains, and was telling stories about racing down Olympic slalom courses in 1975. I didn't doubt him.

We made a beeline for Cardrona to make the most of the huge amount of terrain they have there. Ironically, Cardrona is about to get a 150-hectare boost in area in 2025 with the opening of the Soho Basin – that's actually quite a mind melter in terms of the quality of the terrain that will be on offer. But until then the Soho Basin is a backcountry adventurer's paradise. And they were there in droves over the weekend. We saw at least 10 groups heading out to enjoy the wide open spaces and still fresh powder just waiting to be carved up.

Snowboarding with a teenager meant we were going to focus our runs on the main trails and jump lines, which was fine with me – they're serviced by state-of-the-art chairlifts. I managed to convince Keo to make a few short hikes to access some overlooked powder stashes. That we can even do that three or four days after a snowfall is quite impressive.

Powder snow is as close to a light offshore and long-period swell at a perfectly shaped reef as you can get in the mountains. It's what snowboards are designed for – it feels a lot like surfing. That's why so many surfers inevitably find themselves in the mountains. We bumped into Seer Surfcraft's Tash and Homa Mattingly with their family. Homa has been a park rat since the early days and still shreds on a snowboard – no helmet, of course, just 1-metre-plus long dreads flying out the back!

This latest snowfall has given all the southern fields impressive coverage, so I was surprised to see so few people up at Cardrona over a sunny, windless weekend. It worked out okay for us with minimal queues and plenty of space on the field. But something tells me this season is only just getting started.

See you at the summit ... Derek

PS Did you know there are 10 ski fields within a four-hour drive of Dunedin? Cardrona is the biggest and there are a couple that are more like club fields, but that's a pretty good reason to weave snowsports into your winter rituals. And while we have had good snow down south spare a thought for the North Island fields – particularly those of Mount Ruapehu, which have been encumbered by financial and ownership issues for several years. They are still waiting for snow to kickstart the upper mountain and get their season rolling. Fingers crossed that will happen soon for them.