Snowboard at Cardrona

The day before, Paul had found some other ski bunnies down at Shooters. Allan and Deslee. They're repeat offender Cardrona junkies. They're from Australia too, and are here for a couple of weeks every year. They've got me interested in checking out Cardrona. They say, if you're a beginner and you're managing TC ok, then you'll just love Cardrona because almost all of its slopes are much gentler. I was enthused the night before, but hearing all these stories of busy slopes and lifts full of teenagers I thought it would be best to at least wait 'til school holidays is over. Meeting up at the pub at the scheduled 5-6pm happy hour, I hear that it really was a busy one so I was lucky I didn't go to Cardrona Tuesday, but they've still got me interested in these easy slopes, so I organise to meet up for a 8am ride today.

It turns out to be an exceptionally good choice. Overnight its been snowing and the early morning weather looks worse than it really is, keeping most of the crowds away from the freshly powdered fields! Now and again you had to put up with a snow storm in the early part of the day or board through some low cloud at the lower end of the field, but this just made it more interesting. 90% of the day it was clear blue skies.

Allan and Deslee are spot on though. Unlike TC, where I can barely venture beyond the "easiest way down" (which is equivalent to an intermediate slope at Cardrona), I circumnavigate the entire place at Cardrona throughout the course of the day.

I expected to catch up with my Aussie friends somewhere on the field, but this place was so vast it just wasn't meant to be, so despite all our efforts to meet up for breaks throughout the day, I miss their ride home, but manage a hitch down the hill with another Paul who's visiting from Dunedin all the way back to Shooters with 5 min spare for our regular meetup.