Treble Cone, NZ Conditions Report: 17-Inch Powder Day

Treble Cone, New Zealand Report #2

August 12, 2014 by Skimac

With 40 cm of new snow in 24 hours and over 1.5 meters over the past week we headed to Treble Cone to find some pow. You could see the snow line was much lower today and it was quite cold. The first obstacle of the day was the chain requirement from the bottom of the dirt road for all 2wd vehicles including our JUCY Box.

The views from the access road were even more spectacular today: a deep blue sky, bright sun and a bit of fog mixed in.

Treble Cone has only 2 chair lifts and one feeds the other. Obstacle number 2: a long line. Don’t people work anymore? It took about 25 minutes to get on the 6-pack chair. The goal was to get over to the Saddle Chair as fast as possible to get at least one powder run in the Saddle Basin.

Obstacle number 3: a huge line developed quickly as soon as the Saddle Chair opened and we missed out on first tracks. Instead, we opted for the hike to the Summit.

Check out the procession up to the summit: it almost looks like the backup on the Hilary Step on Everest.

Too many people around; I am sweating like a dog; I want to ski. I bail out a third up and find myself a few fresh pow turns.

A few easy turns between the gate and Summit Slope

Half way down the run I saw a huge line that had formed for the Saddle Chair and I decided to look for powder further down the mountain towards the base area. I headed over to Magnum, close to the rope and found a nice fresh powder stash.

While most people stood in line for the runs in the Saddle Basin, I took lap after lap in the less sexy Home Basin which had plenty of freshies.

Later in the afternoon, I took another stab at the Summit Slopes and found a few fresh turns below the peak and took Upper and Lower Gun Barrel all the way down to the bottom.