Three Little Pigs

The day began as usual but seeing as today was supposed to be our leaving day, we had some simple chores to do before the next guests arrive, such as tidy the casa, shovel some snow and do a wood train to restock the fire supplies.

Gathered around the breakfast table we only had one thing on our mind. The view out of the window was obstructed by the onslaught of new powder - it was up to nukin' and there were wind gusts on the ridge of up to about 100kph. Surely the heli couldn't fly in this!? Mark and Ben were on the case. We finished the chores and got ready to go up the mountain. Regardless of flight delays, we still had half a day of ski touring to fit in. It reached 10am and as we were skinning up in front of the hut we got the call. 'The heli will not fly today!' This was the stuff of dreams! My thoughts went back to reading the Whitelines magazine before the trip, where the last line warned of such an event, but apparently we were the first NonStoppers to have the privilege (Sorry group 2!)

Enjoying our last night

On paper, today should have been epic skiing, with a dump of over 40cm overnight and still going. The temperature was high though, and that layer of 40cm was heavy. About 15% density in fact, which as it turns out is pretty tricky to ski in. The old skinning trails had completely disappeared by this point, so it was up to Mark to break trail again. A few of us wanted to prove our worth and take the load off Mark for a change so decided now was the time to spend some time up front. First Martin had a charge, followed by Ruben, then I took over for the last stint. It was definitely a good experience to try and it certainly makes you realise how much effort the guides are putting in on a daily basis. When it opened out into a clearing, we watched as Ben dug a snow pit and relayed the snow pack analysis back over to Mark. The avalanche risk at the moment is high in the alpine and considerable at tree line, which is why it pays to have expert guides here. Mark and Ben both did a fantastic job of keeping us safe.

Taking the lead!

As we headed further up into the City Park area, Mark reported hearing 3 'Whumpfs'. A whumpf is the sound that the ground makes when a weak layer deep in the snow pack collapses due to the pressure of the skier on top. This layer of hoar crystals is arranged like dominoes and when they collapse the whole slab above it drops. These are critical signs of avalanche danger, so Mark lead us into the trees and to a safe spot where we could de-skin for our first run of the day, or as Ben would say 'SMASH SOME POW!'


What happened next was quite the opposite. The pow well and truly smashed us. It was so heavy that even pointing straight down the hill you would come to a complete stop! With a lot of effort we made it back down to the point where the snow pit had been dug, then eventually found our way to the last pitch we skied yesterday behind the hut. This was still very hard work but had more of the bottomless powder feel we were so accustomed to by now. At the bottom it was already half 12 so we headed into the hut for lunch, admittedly a little disheartened. We were given two choices to ponder over lunch:

1. Session the last pitch for the rest of the afternoon and peel off back to the hut when we've had enough.
2. Call it quits and find something to entertain us at the hut.

A few PB+J sandwiches later, motivation to struggle around up on the mountain had disappeared and the call was made to finish up there. The plan instead was to use the plot below the hut and build a dual luge track! A couple of hours later and the mental schematics of the track had changed and had ended up as a joint effort on one bigger and better track and even a powder booter at the bottom. Good times! IT was the most childish fun most of us have had in a while! A bit later on Aldin came down to give it a professional test. First time down no-one knew he was on track, so nearly harpooned Rosie and forced me to dive over the top of a berm into the pow... The kid is nuts!

Aldin climbing the walls of the Boulder Hut, another of his talents!

He also went down with Ruben, but it ended in tears. When Mark arrived on the scene, Aldin stammered 'I got a face shot!' to which Mark replied 'Stop crying Aldin, that's just adrenaline. You went to the white room!' Love it!

Parenting: You're doing it right!

Sledging in the only way we know how - smashing pow

Mark had just sent it into the fresh powder off the jump at the bottom!

The evening passed by pretty quickly and once we had finished off the roast beef dinner planned for the second group (sorry guys, but it was really good!) and seeing as we had an extra night, the honorary powder pig was to be named. Martin was the judge having been the pig for today. In his elaborate speech he referred to several occasions over the last few days where he had observed the powder pig growing inside this person, and on one occasion was spotted unashamedly poling to get to in first, even denying Fernando his first tracks. The highlight though was a memory dating back further than the Boulder Hut, to when Martin suggested 'Lets go out and have sex with strangers tonight' and the reply came 'Nah bud, tomorrows a powder day, i wanna get the first bus!' And with that Martin produced the powder pig and completed the handover to...

...ME!

Three little pigs in the house made of sticks!

Later on Mark appeared with his guitar and exclaimed 'I heard there are some players here' to which Ben responded 'I'm a player! ALRIGHT!' He did actually mean guitar players, and inevitably that meant me. I had a quick play but Mark stole the show with some soulful blues riffs. In the end we had a little jam together, including one of his originals and a blues version of Jose Gonzalez's Heartbeats and Metallica's Nothing Else Matters.

Mark Jammin'

It was a great mellow end to the night and essentially our stay at the Boulder Hut. The time has gone so fast!