BEST OF 2013 – The top 10 photos
In late June, a mammoth snow storm hit the South Island of New Zealand. Snow fell to only a few hundred metres above sea level. This caused glorious conditions for skiers, yet brought on a horrendous situation for farmers. Here, a farmer uses a snow cat to deliver feed to stranded sheep, just down the valley from Porters Pass Image:: Nick Johnson
Mountainwatch | Alex Horvath
The superstitious say thirteen is an unlucky number. I always thought they were being ridiculous, but after the winter we just experienced I’m starting to think they might be on to something. There really isn’t any other way to paint it; 2013 sucked.
Ask any skier about their winter this year, you’ll surely be regaled by tales of wind and rain, too-warm sunny days, constant pining over snow forecasts and disappointing trips. But the process of searching the MW image bank – in order to pick out the ten best photos – made me realise, that while 2013 had its bad days, it also had some that were really, really good.
Now these weren’t just those with fresh snow. Sometimes you don’t even need pow to have a good time on the mountain, then again, it definitely helps. Above all else, this exercise in introspection made me remember all the fun I had this year. Like anywhere else, our southern winters come in peaks and valleys, and we need the bad to fully appreciate the good. Let’s hope our experience this season makes us even more stoked on those next few face-shots… whenever they happen to come.
What’s good? Leave us a comment below to let us know which shots you love/hate. Don’t forget to throw all your best snow related shots up on Instagram with a #mountainwatch, all the cool kids do it.
August 26, Falls Creek, Tom Costa pops over some shrubbery on his way to the end of the best day of the season. This was the storm cycle that lead to a gain of about 1.2m in little over a week Image:: Hocking/Falls Creek
Late may; A storm hit Queenstown bringing snow all the way to the lake. Local lensman Vaughan Brookfield jumped in a heli to capture some unique perspective Image:: Vaughan Brookfield
Mid Station at Mt Buller, as the dawn sun begins to rise. Mt Buller was hit bad by the lack of the snow, and relied mostly on snow making technology to provide open terrain through the first half of the season. Image:: Andrew Railton
July 24 in Thredbo. The storm that rolled through late July was a saving grace, before this point we were sitting on a 50 cm natural base. Image:: Steve Cuff
Down in Victoria the snow storm around July 23-26 was well received, here we see the first of Steve Lee’s backcountry tours making their way back up after a lap in the fresh snow. Image:: Chris Hocking
August 29, The Remarkables. Local shredders lapped up the storm after a lengthy dry spell. The Remarkable’s backcountry was the spot to be Image:: Vaughan Brookfield
The late June snow storm that rocked Canterbury delivered over 3m of fresh snow to Mt Hutt, mountain staff couldn’t keep up and buildings were buried. Unfortunately an intentionally triggered avalanche took out a chair lift tower and delayed any chance of opening for days. Image:: Mt Hutt
With a lack of natural snow, spring delivered some truly epic corduroy mornings. Image:: Mark Tsukasov
The 2013 World Heli Challenge was perfectly timed, here one of the athletes, Fraser McDougall, scores some epic turns in the Matukituki chutes at Treble Cone Image:: Mickey Ross
