On da slopes

On da slopes, well kinda !!

29 June 2007

Finally the wait is over. Cardrona, to be our second home, opened yesterday. With one main slope, one nursery slope, a chair and poma lift, and three magic carpets, Cardrona was in well not quite full swing, but its was a start and it was great to be on a snowboard again. Cardrona is 23 km from Wanaka, about half of that is on the main road, then the fun begins. Off road and onto a unsealed road (they like these in the Southern hemisphere). A gravel highway leads to the resort, wide, steep in places, lots of places with great dropoffs on all the hairpin bends its scary on a normal day, I can only imagine what it is going to be like when its covered in snow and ice.

I decided to be a good girl and park the car at the bottom of the hill in the lower carpark and hitch up the hill to the resort. In hindsight the road was fine. I was pleasently surprised at the length of the run – I had been told so often that I be dissappointed coming from skiing in Europe, that the runs were short. But I overestimated short – they were too bad, definitely not as long but hey ho. The first run was funny – just getting my balance points back. After that, it was cruising and picking up speed. Naturally, I had a few tumbles – especiallly when I started going gooffy. Mel and Orla had their first days at work, all dressed up in navy and red, and purple and orange. Ah, they looked funny. Unfortunately, there is only one run open so I have been doing laps :( Roll on powder.

Day 2 on the slopes, never materialised. Cardrona is closed, weather has come in. The roads are icy and its snowing up high (wet snow - grrr – but its something). Back to crocheting my scarf and watching Wimbelton.