Allee Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 Mt Shutt strikes again! 1000 skiers and boarders, including 300 schoolkids, stuck overnight on the Mt Hutt ski hill : http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4019798/Roaring-winds-strand-hundreds-on-Mt-Hutt-overnight Now I know that there are a bunch on North Americans going "pffft, pack of pansies, I'd drive down in that". Said like people have never seen the Mt Hutt access road, which is justifiably famous as being one of the gnarliest, most vertigo inducing legal roads on the planet. One and a half cars wide in most places, twisty, rutted, and if you miss the corner, you're going 800+ feet straight down... like most NZ ski accesses, it winds up the mountain for the best part of 40 minutes from the road. So the only viable option was to close it, but being stuck on this hill ovenight would be, um, uncomfortable at best. That lodge is definitely not designed for 1000 sleeping people.:) And worst of all, the bar is shut! Although the damn Aussies would have drunk it dry by now anyway. I hope they manage to get them off today. It's still not sounding good ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 World Junior Snowboard championships going on in NZ in a couple of weeks. A lot of teams there training now. Must be tough to train alpine when all you want to do is hit the pow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingCrimson Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 Snowdrifts on the road and your skis on your back? That's not stuck, that's a fun afternoon! Pansies! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted August 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 Sounds like the weather is going to be the same as last year. They were doing pre Olympic stuff in just ridiculous weather last August. I was at Cardrona the first week of Sept, when the homeward run to the front was closed - but if you stood at the top of it, the wind would blow you backward, and it sounded like a jet taking off. And all the locals were saying how nice it was that the wind had finally died down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 Hmmm couldn't pull up the link (been having problems with that lately if anyone can figure out why) but i've BEEN on that road and it is so incredibly knarly! When I was there we didn't have a car, so we decided to hitch up the mountain road each morning. There's plenty of cars going so that wasn't a problem. But after almost going off the road a few times, I decided to take the bus/shuttle that the resort has going to the top. After just one day on the bus, where we were sideways on that insane road, hitching was the lesser of the two. It's crazy, and not skiable (sorry KingCrimson). Between that road and the steepest road in Europe between Austria and Germany, I am not sure which is worse! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelc Posted August 26, 2010 Report Share Posted August 26, 2010 one dead kiwi already this year when the car was blown off the road by the wind......... http://www.mountainwatch.com/Features/8225762/Season-3rd-Death-at-Mt-Hutt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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