Skiing in the Two Thumb Range

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Skiing in the Two Thumb Range Nick Wood Skinning up the slope behind Rex Simpson Hut Nick Wood It was 3.30 on a Tuesday afternoon. As they: say, a bad dayin the outdoors is better than a good day in the office. I was standing on a snow-clad slope in the Two Thumb Range with the picturesque beauty ofl Lake Tekapo behind me. The glacial turquoise of the lake contrasted sharply with the brown oft the tussock surrounding the lake which in turn was in contrast to thes snow which had fallen on the hills a couple of days previously. The only thing that marred the outlook was cloud hugging the peaks of the Main Divide across the other side of the valley. Nevertheless, this was definitelya good day to be out there, outdoors. ark commented that it was, after all, as ski- Ihad enjoyed ski touring the last time. Being able to / touring trip, suggesting there was probably slide our way on top of the snow was certainly a enough snow for us to don skis and start whole lot more enjoyable than stepping through this skinning the rest of the way to the hut. For me, this soft and deep snow and the couple of hours walk was a moment of truth. I was certainly keen to get over scrubby boggy paddocks to get to the start of the weight of my skis off my pack but the six years the hill was now easy to forget. that had passed since my only other weekend of ski An hour or SO of skinning brought us to Rex touring seemed to stretch back interminably and I Simpson Hut, which is a private hut but due to its wondered ifl was about to find myself flailing about current location on DOC land is available for rent uncontrollably. from its owner, Gottlieb Braun-Elwart, a mountain My fears turned out to be unjustified as we soon and ski guide based in Tekapo. The hut is wellhad our skis fitted with skins, skis on our feet, packs equipped with most facilities such as cookers, lamps, on our backs and were sliding our way upward. I pots and pans and cutlery, as well as being in a great quickly found some sort of rhythm and recalled why location. So although the cost is more than you would Tramping and Mountaineering 2000 normally pay for a backcountry hut it is not totally with orientation since one of his accidents (I can't unreasonable. remember which one!). Having shed our packs, we could see that daylight As the day wore on the visibility improved and wasn' 't going to last much longer and with the next my: skiing gradually improved or solthought. Ast the day'st forecast looking bad, before long we werel back end of the day approached the cloud rose and the on skis and skinning up the almost pristine slope possibilities for a day tour the next day started to behind thel hut. There were a couple of sets off tracks become apparent. A long clear ridge led on from the heading up, the owners of which soon appeared hill we had been skiing on all day with some coming down towards us after a day's adventuring. reasonable slopes for some downhill skiing further Keen to get in at least one run, we didn't stop to talk along the ridge. and continued on up for 20 minutes or so, glad to Although the relatively shallow gradient of the feel the weight off our backs. whole area meant that the avalanche risk wasn't As the hill and the light flattened out, I decided extreme, the north facing side of the ridge seemed to that it was timet toi try out my powder technique. Well, have al bit of a cornice on it and was a little steeper. at least I would have the fading light to blame. The So we decided we would play it safe and stay on the reality was I was soon wondering whether Ihad left south side the next day. any skiing ability that I have up at Whakapapa a Despite a clear start to the day, we were in holiday few weeks before. An ungainly series of connected mode and a leisurely start had us skinning up and face and side plants later I got myself back down to away from the hut at about 10am. There was some thel hut dragging my enthusiasm behind me. Looking high cloud that probably kept things a bit cooler as at things more positively, the metre or SO of fresh we continued to climb. We made steady progress powder snowl hadl been extremely painless toi fall into. along the ridge and the day became better and better. Ourl hut mates for the night were a group of half a The ridge ahead was clear, Tekapo was down behind dozen college students with their teachers from us, the confluence of the Godley and Macauley rivers Fairlie. They were all pretty tired from a day of snow was down to our left and the Southern Alps were shoeing and boarding and were an extremely well- laid out before us in the distance to right and left. As behaved group ofl kids. The temperature fell quickly we continued our climb, I tried to maintain some and after a couple of glasses of Mountain Thunder sort of rhythm to keep my skis sliding smoothly (the town of Geraldine's great gift to the beverage forward. It was a great feeling to be moving SO easily world) and a quick dinner, sleeping bags were over snow. After nearly 3 hours the peak we had beckoning. initially chosen as our morning's goal was looming. The forecast for the morning proved itself partially Tiring, Istarted to lag behind the other two and was accurate. Fortunately it didn't rain but a cloud definitely keen for this to be our lunch break. descended upon us for most off the day. The college Fortunately for me, I wasn't alone in my thoughts group departed for the road leaving us to a lengthy and wer were soon making ourselves comfortable for lie-in until Mark gathered together enough some serious relaxation. enthusiasm late in the morning to suggest we venture The main dividing range was spread out before through the murk up the hill we had explored the us, with a side-on view of Mt Cook in centre stage. previous evening. Keen to try and improve my form The sun was delightfully warm, and there was only under the cover of the fogljoined him. Simon, having agentle breeze. Sitting up there during a lengthylunch spent the previous week battling the elements in the break, I couldn't think of many places in the world Garden of Eden, wasn't quite SO keen and enjoyed that Iwould rather have been. As ourl break dragged the comfort of his pit a while longer. on we debated the relative merits of the extra 100m Having skinned up the hill again, Mark and I had climbing up to the highest but unnamed peak on the the challenge of finding our way down again in the ridge versus spending more time sitting here enjoying 5-10m visibility. Our initial tactic of staying close to the view. It was a tough call! our uphill tracks soon failed as we wended our way Mark brought out the binoculars and started to through untracked powder. Mark suggested we examine Cook in more detail. Sincel he was the only traverse to our left, which we did to no avail. At this one of us to have been upit, Simon andId deferred to point we realised that although we had a map, our his greater experience as he pointed put some oft the compasses weres safely back at the hut. Nevertheless, neighbouring peaks, until after looking at the map the map suggested right as likely to be less likely to he declared that he had it all backwards. By this lead us into major strife, which fortunately found us time I was glad the weather was SO good that we back onto our earlier tracks. Back at the hut, Mark were unlikely to be faced with any navigational did mention that he had beenhaving the odd problem challenges on the wayl home... Tramping and Mountaineering. 2000

This beats being in the office a game of alpine hacky sack Nick Wood As all good things have to come to an end, it was Back at the hut, we met another group of three time to start heading down and back. In order to people up to spend a few days in the area. The next warm up the stiffening muscles, a round of hacky day was our last day. Simon was due to fly out of sack was ordered. I don't know if you have ever Wellington the day after bound fort the Olympics (for attempted al hack wearing ski boots in very: soft snow, which we had little sympathy!) and SO a morning's well anyway, mercifully we managed a hack before tour was on the agenda before heading out. A short too long and it was time to take off the skins, lock trip into the next valley looked like the best choice. down ourl bindings and prepare for some great skiing. It was another great day and it was already Well the skiing mayl have been great, eveni ift the skiers noticeable how much the snow had started to were not. It was probably the best snow we'd had, consolidate after a day of sunshine. The exertions of just a bit drier than down at the hut due to the extra the previous day seemed to have taken their toll, as altitude but still gloriously soft, if not forgiving. Some tired muscles had at least Mark and I sluggishly wide sweeping turns down the fall line and we were following Simon as we skinned up what looked like soon traversing back along below the ridge, with a reasonable slope. Unfortunately time only allowed powder silently flying off the ski tips. one run down before heading back and a final run We headed down and away from the ridgeline on the now familiar slope behind the hut. towards Mt Gerald, a nearby hill below us. A short So it was time to depart, which seemed al bit too walk uphill had us overlooking Lake Tekapo, which soon. The only thing left was skiing down with a was looking glorious in the winter sun. Since we still reasonably full pack, which offered a few challenges had al bit of the day left we decided it was time for a ofi its own, especially the slalom course between the game of let's S find the "pieps" - Taking turns, we used patches of scrub as the snow started to thin out. our avalanche transceivers to try and locate another Although from a skiing perspective I had found onel hidden by the others. Fortunately we found them the trip a little frustrating, it had been a great place all and avoided having to explain their loss to to be, and a reminder of the pleasures of skiing McEwings hire centre back in Christchurch. without thel hassles and crowds normally associated Nevertheless, it required enough concentration. on a with skiing. sunny day, on a flat piece of ground and without the With perhaps a bit more practice off-piste I'll be pressure of knowing someone's life could be looking forward to some more ski touring before too depending on it. A sobering thought. long. Tramping and Mountaineering 2000