We made the spectacular 20 minute drive from Wanaka to Treble Cone base parking area about 8am.
Same deal as at Cardrona yesterday. A long drive on an unsealed access road from the base carpark to the main lift and facilities area at 4100 feet. Trail map below.
Only the main lift opened yesterday after the 18 inches of snow the night before so Saddle Basin was untracked. I got a couple of laps of fresh snow but it was a little heavier than the day before at Cardrona.
The snow got really grabby the third lap as the sun was strong. We took a long groomer to the base for a quick coffee break. The views on the way down were lovely.
We went back up to Saddle Basin expecting the heavy snow to be tracked out and compacted by the many snowboarders. It happened to be that way. I lapped the bowl for a few hours while Kylie took the lone groomer to the bottom. It is not dissimilar to the top of Mammoth. (Aside from the top lift finishing at about 6000 feet instead of 11000 of course. Hence the dense snow I guess).
I could lap that one lift/bowl for a week. Really interesting terrain with a nice pitch.
I then opted to do the hike to the summit at the urging of a couple of locals I shared a chair with. I couldn’t turn in the now really heavy snow. Perhaps partly due to my 90mm skis but probably mostly due to a lack of skill. I embarrassingly traversed down.
With spent legs we took a few groomer laps on the main lift. A few random pics below.
Europe eat your heart out.
Treble Cone is my favourite ski hill on the bottom half of the planet.
Same deal as at Cardrona yesterday. A long drive on an unsealed access road from the base carpark to the main lift and facilities area at 4100 feet. Trail map below.
The snow got really grabby the third lap as the sun was strong. We took a long groomer to the base for a quick coffee break. The views on the way down were lovely.
We went back up to Saddle Basin expecting the heavy snow to be tracked out and compacted by the many snowboarders. It happened to be that way. I lapped the bowl for a few hours while Kylie took the lone groomer to the bottom. It is not dissimilar to the top of Mammoth. (Aside from the top lift finishing at about 6000 feet instead of 11000 of course. Hence the dense snow I guess).
I could lap that one lift/bowl for a week. Really interesting terrain with a nice pitch.
I then opted to do the hike to the summit at the urging of a couple of locals I shared a chair with. I couldn’t turn in the now really heavy snow. Perhaps partly due to my 90mm skis but probably mostly due to a lack of skill. I embarrassingly traversed down.
With spent legs we took a few groomer laps on the main lift. A few random pics below.
Europe eat your heart out.
Treble Cone is my favourite ski hill on the bottom half of the planet.
