Snow Club - Mt Ruapehu, Trip 5 & 6

MUA Snow Club (2022/R4)

Trip 6 (2-4 September 2022)

Trip 6 started off with a bang. We had to drive back for someone’s snowboard boots! Luckily, it was only a 20min drive, but it was quite funny that someone could pack everything for the weekend and forget one of the most important things, their snowboard boots! One car left early in the afternoon to avoid the traffic, while the other car left later after work hours to accommodate those who had work. The drive down was easy, we stopped at the usual places such as Huntly and Otorohanga for food and rest stops. Most of us went to bed as early as possible on Friday night at the accommodation, tired after the long drive down and in anticipation of an early morning if the slopes were open. The weather predicted for the weekend was not great so we were not sure if we would even get a chance to board. On Saturday morning we got up early to check the snow and mountain report and found out that Whakapapa side of the mountain would be opening, even though it was a cold and wet day. We all quickly got ready, had a fast breakfast stop at the New World in Ohakune and then drove all the way round the mountain to Whakapapa. Once there, we discovered how cold it really was! It was freezing cold on the foggy and rainy mountain top. There were two lifts running, the Gnoll T-bar and the Valley T-bar, so we geared up with all the layers we had and went to brave the cold and snowboard. The visibility on the top of the mountain was not great in the morning, so most of us did only a few runs and then went to shelter in the café and get warm. One car decided to go back to the accommodation as they had season passes and were feeling cold, so they left early, while the rest of us stayed to stick out the weather and get some more runs in. The visibility got better in the afternoon and the last few runs while still cold and rainy were quite nice, as there were no lines due to the bad weather and the snow conditions were actually very good, soft and fresh. The second car drove back to the accommodation after that and all of us were extremely happy to find out that the showers were lovely and hot and high pressure! What a treat after the cold day! We also booked out the spa tub, so we were able to go and soak in the hot water in the early evening and relieve our sore muscles. There was a rugby game on that night, All Blacks vs Argentina so a few of us decided to head to the Powderkeg down the road and watch the game while the rest chilled at the accommodation and played some pool. All in all, it was a lovely day. Sunday morning, the mountain was open again, but only Whakapapa side, so we packed up everything and hit the road to get the best of the sunny day. It was even colder on Sunday due to the wind, but the sun was shining, and the Valley T-bar was open. While the queues on Sunday were super long due to the better weather and everyone wanting to get some runs in, it was still a good day to board on the good snow. Our members spent the whole day boarding and we all only left together after 4pm, when the slopes close. We stopped at Subway on our drive back to fill our hungry stomachs after the energy-burning day on the slopes, it was delicious and much appreciated by all the members.

Check out our sweet videos and pics on our FB group in the 22 - Trip 6 Album

Trip 5 (16-18 September 2022)

Our final Club Weekend Winter Snowboarding Trip to Mt Ruapehu for 2022. It was a blast! We had a comfortable drive down in two cars. With the boys in one car having to do some DIY strapping their skis and boards to a car with flat-racks. Our accommodation was awesome, we had an entire unit to ourselves, and the accommodation had a hot tub and Wi-Fi. We got up early on Saturday as usual to get up the mountain early and grab a good park, as the weather was predicted to be good, a double-bluebird weekend (meaning great conditions/weather for snowboarding/skiing) and we were sure lots of people were going to be coming up the mountain. We got a good park in the first carpark right close to the lifts and were able to go straight up the mountain when we arrived as the lifts had opened early. The snow was awesome! Lots of powdery sections and many runs were open which was great. Unfortunately, because of this the queues were quite long as it seemed like all of Auckland had come down for the weekend. This didn’t bother us too much however as we all had fun having snowball fights while waiting in the queue and listening to music or chatting. We had a GoPro with us on this trip and took some videos of the cool jumps and falls that happened, so look out for the video once it is posted. After the day on the mountain on Saturday, we were all quite tired and very happy to get back to the accommodation and soak in the hot tub. We then had some delicious fish-n-chips for dinner, and really enjoyed watching a movie after and celebrating the final trip and success of our trips with some ice-cream and snacks. Sunday was similar to Saturday, except the queues were better. We managed to snap a picture at the top of the mountain with most of our members. The mountain kebabs that we picked up for dinner on the way down were delicious as usual! All the members had a blast on this trip and other trips. We want to thank the ASA for all their help in making our winter weekend trips possible! And to thank our awesome members for coming! We hope to see most of them at our End of Year Party and at future events.

Thank you again to the ASA and the CSCG Committee for helping us to organize and be able to do our winter weekend trips!

Check out our sweet videos and pics on our FB group in the 22 – Trip 5 Album