Kupe Ski / kayak trip
18/19th August 2001
Skiers: Clint, Colin, Dave, Pete, Ruth, Paul and Ingrid
Paddlers: Clint, Colin, Dave, Pete
Reporter: Ruth
This was originally meant to be a paddling trip, but the lure of freshly fallen snow was too much for even the
most committed paddlers. Thus arose the unusual sight of a kayak-laden Subaru in
the Whakapapa car park. Pete was apparently trip organiser but I understand that
this entailed ringing Dave on Wednesday night to say he was going out for dinner
and hadn’t found any accommodation. Paul and Ingrid had wisely arranged their
own at Raetihi, so that left five of us with nowhere to stay on what was shaping
up to be the busiest weekend of the ski season. It was Dave to the rescue
however, and we departed on Friday night secure in the knowledge that our
accommodation at the Waiouru Oasis was confirmed (images of palm trees and
swimming pools fleetingly spring to mind until you remember that this is Waiouru
in the middle of winter).
We made the usual stop for supplies
in Levin followed by dinner at the Phoenix Garden. The original plan was kebabs,
however we were hustled out of the kebab shop by Paul, Ingrid and Dave who had
arrived before us. One look at their faces quickly convinced us that Chinese
takeaways were a better option than kebabs which had mysteriously transformed
from Turkish to Indian since the last visit.
We drove straight through to Ohakune
to hire ski gear, marvelling at the quantity of snow along the roadside and
predicting plentiful skiing, before returning to Waiouru around midnight to
check out our accommodation at the Oasis - a motel unit for the boys on one side
of SH1 and a hotel room in the warmth of the main block on the other side for me
(the perks of being the only female).
All the water's frozen!
The next morning I received my wake up call along with a ski report from the
other side of SH1 (this is one of those times when the benefits of
cellphones are obvious). The ski report was rather disappointing, which
was hard to believe as I ventured across SH1, wishing I had a camera to
capture the magnificent vista of Mt Ruapehu at sunrise, pink-tinged,
crystal-clear, and covered from top to bottom with snow – loads of
it!
The boys were faffing around
in usual Kupe style, cooking bacon and eggs, pulling long-forgotten,
unwashed, smelly polypros from the bottom of their bags, deciding which
silly hats to wear, and marvelling at the fact that everyone was up before
7.00am – on a Kupe trip?? Unbelievably we were on our way to Ohakune
shortly after 7.00am (this must be a Kupe record!). There we met up with
Paul and Ingrid to discuss our options. Turoa was closed (except for the beginners slopes) due to high winds, and Whakapapa was also marginal. We
thought we’d take a chance on Turoa since it was closer, however after
purchasing lift passes and biding our time on Alpine Meadows with hordes
of would-be skiers, we changed our minds and decided Whakapapa might be a
better option.
Seems like everyone else had the same idea as
the Bruce road was chocka and cars were being stopped from going up. Pete asked
nicely if he could drop off his passengers at the top (good on yer Pete), and
after promising we wouldn’t try and park up there, they reluctantly let us
through (probably took one look at the kayaks and thought we were nutters). So
that’s how we ended up parked at the Top o’ the Bruce, while Paul, Ingrid and
Dave ended up at the bottom. The kayaks did cause some amusement in the carpark
and someone asked us if we’d missed our turn off, but I’d recommend it as a good
way to find your car amongst 20,000 others.
The other three finally made it to
the top and we set off up the chairlifts to the top of the mountain, at which
point we promptly lost one other. This was probably due to the fact that
visibility varied between nose length and arms length, but we were here to ski
and ski we did (or snowboard in the case of Clint, Pete and Paul). I managed to
find Dave, and we began a tortuous descent down the Waterfall chairlift. White
out conditions are challenging for experienced skiers, however for a relative
novice I can assure you they are intimidating, hazardous, and guaranteed to
ensure you spend time on your backside, face, or whatever other part of your
anatomy hits the ground first (the advantage of writing the trip report is that
no one can tell any stories about me). After a slow and careful descent we
decided that the Centennial trail was a good one to stick to since it is lower
and visibility was slightly better (at least I could see the end of my
skis), so we spent the rest of the afternoon going up and down the same trail
along with everyone else on the mountain. Since only limited areas of the
mountain were open, crowds of people descended onto a handful of trails, which
was chaotic but great for accelerated learning. Despite the best efforts of
manic snowboarders I suffered no more spills and by the time they closed the
chairlifts at the end of the day I was totally hooked. I figure if I love it
this much when I can’t see the scenery it can only get MUCH
better.
I left Dave waiting in the queue for
the shuttle bus to Paul and Ingrid’s car, and returned to our car to find the
others waiting. Apparently Pete had given up on snowboarding early enough to
catch up on a few hours sleep in the meantime. The road down the mountain was
very icy which was causing chaos with the traffic, but we made it safely back to
Ohakune and went to the O Bar for a well earned drink while we waited for Dave,
Paul and Ingrid. Several phone calls and a couple of hours later they eventually
arrived. Dave had finally given up on the bus and ended up walking all the way
down the mountain to the car. They arrived cold and hungry just as the lights
went out in Ohakune. Due to power cuts dinner was a choice of wood-fired pizzas
or nothing, and after a day’s skiing they tasted pretty darn good. The presence
of numerous candles created a warm, fuzzy ambience (probably helped by the red
wine) and by the time we arrived back at the Oasis to watch the Tri-nations test
I had to excuse myself and retire to bed.
Winter paddling
After a blissfully long sleep (I told them not to wake me if the ski report was
bad) we got up at a far more leisurely pace than the previous morning.
Skiing was off the agenda because conditions were no better than
yesterday, and anyway, we’re a canoe club aren’t we? We met up with Paul
and Ingrid in Ohakune, returned our skis, consumed a few chocolate
eclairs, and set off for the Manganui-o-te-Ao river. The plan was for
Paul, Ingrid and myself to do the shuttle for the other four, and then
head back to Wellington. This is exactly what happened and so I can’t tell
you much about the kayaking part of this trip, except that there was a
significant amount of water and a corresponding amount of confusion over
where the get out was. Consequently no one managed to get out at the same
location as the car but as luck would have it, Alan Bell and crew happened
to be in the area and due to some incredibly fortuitous timing, all four
lads were transported safely back to the car (although rumour has it that
Colin and Pete left the river considerably earlier than Dave and Clint
after Colin parted company with his kayak on no less than three
occasions). Their trip back to Wellington was apparently a slow crawl on a
space saver wheel after one of Pete’s tyres developed a hernia near
Taihape (get yourself a man-size spare Pete).
Lessons learned? Be very suspicious of Indian kebabs, the Oasis is well worth a visit if you ever find yourself
stuck in Waiouru, it is possible for a Kupe trip to depart before 10.00am,
always check that you know which swing bridge your shuttle vehicle is parked at,
and finally, I may be as elusive as the Loch Ness monster on a river, but I
suspect you’ll see plenty more of me on the slopes…..
Ruth
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