Moon struck on the Pisa and all downhill at Treble Cone

In this week ending the planets aligned for myself: Over the years I've skied under the stars lots at the Snow Farm and learnt to wonder not so much at the sparkle of them, but what lies between. But on Wed. the weather, snow conditions, work load [less is good] and the near full moon came into sync.

I was casting a shadow to my right on the way back and on my left the moonlit snow was a sort of orangy colour - not quite pinkish, not quite mauvish, but more a shade that reminded me of Aust. bushfire smoke with the sun shining through.

It was a slow trip back - I kept stopping to marvel at the scene, and the beauty of it was that conditions were so good there was no hurry. I certainly did not need my headlight

Moonrise over the Pisa...


Just a little while before the moonrise, I made this landscape photo in quite a desperate hurry in an attempt to catch the pink glow...


And today, just to keep life varied I took my son to ski Treble Cone. He's been a bit down-in-the-dumps of late so the idea was get some excitement and sunshine in his life. I used to do huge mileage there before he was born, and indeed even worked there a couple of winters on avalanche safety work, that was until I fell under the beguiling spell of Nordic skiing.

By the time I'd done two runs I just had to take him to the best viewpoint and make a photo. Here we see the Matukituki valley to the right, and Mt Aspiring hosting a cloud cap on the left and far away...


Riding the six seater chair...


I did enjoy the skiing btw. Conditions were perfect and we had a great time. I even met a few old time Treble Cone friends. They don't tend to understand why I switched, but I can live with that!

Fellow blogger friend Robb has just posted a very good write up of a recent Ruahines's winter tramp, and worthy of note is the top photo... more >>