Justine Tyerman sets a new tradition during a great day's skiing...
We were on our first run on a pristine, blue-bird day at Cardrona, the day after a massive snow dump late in the season, and my heart was singing.
The sun was beaming down from a cloudless sky on slopes sparkling with powder snow that squeaked underfoot; it was a week day outside of any holidays so the queues were non-existent and there was no wind, not even a zephyr.
The Eagles' Take it Easy was blasting from the PA system at the Captain's and the lifties were dancing while dispensing sunblock to over-excited skiers and boarders.
Breaking our long-held no-alcohol-while-skiing tradition, we decided to indulge in a glass of cider at lunchtime — it tasted so good as we basked in the September sun, eating pizza and chips, we had another. Super-relaxed, I skied better than ever in the afternoon, so cider at lunchtimes on sunny days with fresh powder will become the new tradition.
No doubt there would have been a high degree of absenteeism amongst Wanaka workers that day so I chuckled to see the cafe staff wearing T-shirts with the words "Cardrona — promoting sick days since 1980".
Fresh snow creates a kind of a kind of mass lunacy in a community like Wanaka. At the mere mention of those magical words "snow-to-low-levels", people's behaviour changes. They gather in groups to sniff the air and study the cloud formations, making wise prognostications about how much of the precious white stuff will fall, from which direction, which field will get the most, whether it will suit skis or snowboards best, and how early to hit the slope — before heading home to tune their gear.
That morning, keen to be among the first on the mountain, we left home ridiculously early. The notice to fit chains to all vehicles including 4WD was right at the bottom of the road so I fully expected a white-knuckle trip up the mountain, and even considered jumping on the shuttle bus. But the road crew had obviously been on the job all night and had the road in tip-top condition, graded and perfectly gritted. I was impressed to see a couple of Cardrona guys assisting people to fit chains, which was an enormous help to those struggling with the notoriously tricky procedure.
While other resorts were still digging out their carparks and lifts, Cardrona's facilities were cleared of snow and fully operational by 9am. We already had lift passes so we snuck into the lowest carpark at the foot of the Valley View lift, which now has a little cafe and toilets in a smart converted container.
The day was pure magic, the stuff of legends — a far cry from the previous day when I was caught in a white-out so dense I'd have been seriously disorientated if it hadn't been for the little red flags down the mountain. Skiing defensively makes me tense — my feet and legs ached so much I'd retired to the cafe to wait out the storm.
To fill in time I read the entire history of the skifield on the wall of the cafe. Tall, rangy Cardrona pioneer and founder John Lee is pictured there, building his non-consented "high-quality farm road" back in the 1970s. The Mt Pisa farmer had a bold vision to one day "farm snow" so he designed the road with a gradual gradient, ensuring buses and cars could manage it with ease. The road today is testament to John's methodical planning many decades ago — gentle, wide and well-barriered, I always feel safe on that road.
