Powder Day at Temple Basin

New Zealand is full of surprises and after most of the club fields were shut down the Craigieburn Range and Divide received 3 feet of snow. It was time to head back up to Arthurs Pass and have a powder day at Temple Basin ski area.

Castle Hill and the Craigieburns
It's looking like winter on the Main Divide

Most cars were using chains as we drove up to Arthurs Pass. With a little bit of skilled driving we were up at the Temple Basin Parking lot. It was a early October sleeper day, Chris Rayner and I were going to have a powder day at Temple Basin ski area.

Heading up to the ski hill

If you haven’t been to Temple it is a mandatory 45 minute hike. Once you get to the rope tow but once you are there it is a special place.

Looking into Arthur's Pass National Park

Powder Day at Temple Basin Ski Area

What was bare rock a week early was now enough snow to crank up the rope tows and enjoy a Kiwi classic day.

Classic Kiwi rope tow

In total there were 16 riders on the mountain.

There's no one on the field
Not hard to find the untracked
Getting rad!

Before long we decided to head over to the Mingha bowl. It was loaded with what felt like a meter of solid riding conditions. These were my last and best turns at a ski field in the 2014 seasons.

WHITE ROOM!!!
Such an amazing place

Some would say that it was the worst season in the history of NZ but I made the best out of conditions and had an amazing time.

Heading back up the boot pack

It was time to head off to Mt. Cook National Park.

Thank you for reading and If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more ski tours within New Zealand check out this link

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