21st July, 2010 – Treble Cone Breaks The Powder Drought
Snow Journal | Tony Harrington, Treble Cone NZ
The NZ storm track has been somewhat very unusual this season. The low pressure systems have been sitting much higher in the Tasman than normal, producing an easterly flow across the South Island, which isn’t too bad for the Canterbury fields, but places like Treble Cone miss out totally on any precipitation.
Last Tuesday night (July 20th) a Nor-Westerly front finally came along, bringing with it the first decent storm for Treble Cone in many weeks. Treble Cone captures the brunt of these storms and this one was a classic. It dropped only 15 cm, but as it fell on a relatively good base you could ski just about everywhere over the resort.
Pro skier Chris Booth was over from Australia warming up for the World Heli Challenge that starts this coming weekend, he was joined by Simon Blondell also from Australia, an ex-pro skier on a weeks ski vacation.
Another similar Nor-West front to this one that hit Treble Cone last week is due for Monday night into Tuesday (July 26,27) and much larger front for the end of the week – just in time for the kick off of the World Heli Challenge! Winter finally looks like it shifting into a higher gear here in the Southern lakes of NZ.
The heli terrain that is used for the WHC is unique because the mountain peaks are higher and deeper into the main range and are stacked up against glaciers where colder air prevails. So when Treble Cone gets 15 cm you know the heli terrain usually cops double or more then that.
Recently we had a guide meeting for the event with Stewart Blennerhasset and it looks like Mt Albert will be the spot for the Extreme Day and Mt Gilbert for the Freestyle Day. We’ll decide where we’ll have it ultimately on the day, as there’s over a dozen venues in the Mount Aspiring National Park that the Back Country Heli Skiing operation use. That’s what’s so much fun about this event, you just never know what will happen next, as I’ll choose the venue on the morning of the competition and who knows what tricks an athlete will pull out of the hat!
Click into www.worldhelichallenge.com to be kept up to date with athletes, what’s going on and more.
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