Fookin ‘ell.
There are three stellar lines there that are making me get all tingly.

Taranaki? Awesome area. Snow so close to surf.

Ruapehu, and right next to the lifts, but all yours.

Nice. Visited there also. Another great spot

Not the best photo (old phone, rocking boat), but good fun was had. Late arvo boat mission up the coast found us in thumping 2ft beachie barrels. Not a soul around.

Beers on the way home, arriving at boat ramp after dark.

Epic ay? Love my sessions up there. Nice sunset

Did it again today, poo-man. Except first thing, and it was a bloody freezing morning. Water actually felt warm after the boat ride.

It's a fun mini adventure, aye.

Yep it's a bit harder in winter but such a cool part of the world. I'm not going up there today but probably will tomorrow morning.

Saw this beauty outside the gym the other day.

Little getaway. Hopefully get some fun waves tomorrow. Not many people about which is a bonus.

Darn nice

Darn nice

Cheers

Ooh shit lookout. Pulled the Fujifilm out at last light and got arty. Haven’t used it in 3 years. Was fumbling around in the dark. I will have to re learn a few things.

Enjoy. Looks nicer than here.

Epic Seeds. Enjoy the serenity :-)

Surf has been a bit of a let down. The beachie which is clean under the northerly has terrible banks so I opted for the wind effected point. Fun enough on the longboard and midlength. Maybe short board on the high tide beachie

Dead low tide beer run. Obstacles galore

Great stuff Seeds. That's living!

One of my favourite places on earth. Many a good memory along that stretch. (and further north)

Squeezed in two 4-day trips to my favourite South Island spot. First trip saw melt-freeze spring conditions, the second shallow powder that remained untracked even after 4 days.

100km/h+ hooning, with barely anyone around (20-40 peeps on entire mountain).

Beautiful IB, and Seeds.

Nice IB. Is it isolated where you have to trudge back to the top?

Hey Seeds. There's a three-part rope tow taking you from 1200m to 1800m. The guy in the photo just skied the top part and skinned back up.

Nice Island Bay. Which club field is it?

https://www.craigieburn.co.nz/

Centre of my ski universe :-)

More Craigieburn

Cragieburn is great.
Managed to get there a few times and never been skunked.
Not a goofy footers mountain, though. It takes a while to get the hang of going up the rope tows backhand...

You're not wrong, arcadia! I'm grateful to be back on skis :-)

Island Bay wrote:

https://www.craigieburn.co.nz/

Centre of my ski universe :-)

I've had that on my list for over 20 years! I've only done the one NZ snow trip and that was to Wanaka and Queenstown way back in 2003. I need to get back.

Epic stuff IB. The young one just did Queenstown/Wanaka areas with mates, we were treated to a few pics like that. What a part of the world.

Is there anywhere in NZ that you can ski year round?

There are glaciers, and lots of them. You could climb 2000m and find something to slide on, yes.

In normal snow years, Mt Ruapehu (North Island) has skiing from early June through December.

As with everything in NZ, however, a solid effort is required :-)

Thanks IB.
Looks like the land of adventure. Always get a kick reading your surfing and skiing adventures.

I’ve never gotten to NZ - always been a place that I’ve wanted to allocate a decent swag of time to explore. Might need to expedite that!

Sick IB, was planning to get to Cragieburn this winter but it didn't happen. Looks that fun!

Lots of lodges you can stay up in on the club fields yeah?

I love that you don't need a huge resort to access epic terrain.
I keep dreaming of going back to France but Craigieburn looks pretty tempting.

Craig, all the clubbies have lodges, all different. It's a great way to ski/board stress free, as you're right there on the mountain. Very social! (Mt Olympus calls itself a 'drinking club with a skiing problem'.

The lodge at Craigie is set in a beautiful beach forest, and it's warm and cosy, and there's good beer. $80 gets you breakfast, 3 course dinner, and a bed.

Andy, I can fully recommend it. It's for the somewhat adventurous, but the rewards are big. When it's good it's my favourite place to ski.

And the price is right too!
Very much in favour of adventure, was tossing up going to Gulmarg or La Grave at one stage before deciding that I wasn't good enough for La Grave and visas for Gulmarg were a pain.
Went to Val d'Isere instead which was 17 different kinds of awesome.
Adventurous in what way?
Terrain, low key set up, need for randonnée gear?

Always wanted to go to Gulmarg. High on the list still.

Craigieburn is a bit like La Grave in terms of adventure: no grooming; mostly steep; variable snow conditions; lots of hiking/climbing/scrambling/skinning required. Oh, and the nutcracker rope tows.

That said, there are 7yo kids skiing there, and 70+ veterans too. Just don't expect easy and served on a platter, but who wants that anyway.

Another Craigie photo. 600m vert in that pic:

View from the top of that line:

Oh my gawd, brings a tear to the eye.

Yes, yes, yes IB.

How's the general snow pack stability there? Must be fairly decent!

Generally pretty good, or at least reasonably easy to forecast, although thin SE aspects get pretty iffy.

Some more pics of the place:

jeezuz, looks amazing

Totally.

Mind boarding as we speak.

Booking flights as we speak.

It's been fun looking back through old photos, and I hope some of you are inspired to come over and visit a club field. They really are special, and remind me of the world the way it used to be - and should be.

Having a beer with Ms IB overlooking the surf. Crepuscular rays and some nice cloud.

A great photo IB