Wanaka – A Season of Plenty

October 3rd, 2018

 

Mountainwatch | Words and Photos Mark Clinton

Wanaka was the place to be for the 2018 season. Huge early snowfalls set up Treble Cone and Cardrona with a deep base and even had hungry skiers getting turns in as early as May. Throughout the season smaller dumps between 10-30cm kept the resorts in pristine condition while leaving the heliskiing operations and backcountry skiers overly confident with stable conditions throughout the Southern Alps.

 

Soon enough, September came along bringing warm, spring-like conditions with town even hitting peak temps of 20c. This saw Jossi Well’s invitational run in perfect park conditions over the three days at Cardrona.

 

Jossi Wells at the Jossi Wells Invitational held in Cardrona in mid-September

 

JJ Rayward, Cardrona

On the 17th of September the winds turned back south and bought an impressive dump to both Treble Cone (70cm+) and Cardrona (50cm+) and even 10cm settling in town, surprising all riders and locals left in town.

 

Marcus Skin filmed the above edit from Wanaka. Here, he takes a run to the next location.
Kiwi Olympian Carlos Garcia Knight, free riding on another awesome day

With Treble Cone now closed Cardrona is open until late October with a base shadowing the lower peak depths recorded during some seasons in the past!

 

Plenty to be happy about on a day like this at Treble Cone

 

The crowd’s out early on for a mid-winter powder day.
Finn Bilous taking a rare opportunity to ski Mt Iron in the middle of Wanaka