Winter wanderings at the Snow Farm

It's so much fun up at my local cross country skiing area, the Snow Farm, that I've really just been eating, sleeping, skiing and working for some weeks now.

As some of you know I'm running a sort of mirror blog on events there of late such as the New Zealand 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games at http://www.nordicnz.com/snowfarm/, but this Sunday I've posted a few different images here of the landscape up there.

With the current settled weather many farmers have begun the spring burn off of bracken fern [aids new growth and grasses - a quite short term solution to the dense cover of the fern. Actually if done too often soil quality suffers and erosion occurs]. While the haze really upsets many locals, it does make for some different perspectives of scenes common to me...


I've been on some longer tours of late and really enjoying a breather at this the Bob Lee hut, as it give great views of the Southern Alps. Nearly always Mt Aspiring, but also occasionally a very far away Mt Cook. Some days sitting here in the sun and out of the wind there is nary a soul goes by, but yesterday it got quite social...


Meanwhile back at the Snow Farm it's "all go" with Olympians and World Cup athletes scooting about all over the place training away. I took a picture of the Russian Cross Country Ski Team, with my good friend Alexei [on the right], and after doing so their coach insisted he make this image with my camera. So that's me, the bulky person on the left. Since these people are sort of the rock stars in the Northern Hemisphere I felt quite touched by their consideration...


And on top of a memorable day on Saturday, the sunset way-laid me for an hour or so in the evening, as I waited for shape and light to approximate some visualisations I've had of late on how to handle this landscape I've photographed so often, in yet another way...