Ok, so testing really.. this is a video (hosted on youtube) of the lake. Might try upload in a higher quality format next time…

My body has been frustrating me lately! The back is still too sore to run / play squash with. I have been given intensive gluteus maximus (bottom) Strengthening exercises.. but it is still taking time.

So went climbing on Tuesday, and pulled a tendon on my right ring finger! gah. Of course it’s a good thing really.. it isn’t torn (thankfully) so will take a few weeks to get back up to strength.. but I will now be religious in my stretching exercises before and after climbing. Lucky in a way it wasn’t worse.

So that was the bad part to the week.. the good stuff – well that was heading up snowboarding at Mt. Cheeseman. Quite a small club field – but good times. Headed up in the oldest looking Bedford Van. Was a bit of a relief to get to the top!

Good times boarding. No nut-crackers this time – it’s all t-bars at Cheeseman. I wrapped a towel around my thigh for a bit of cushioning! (I’m so weak ;) but that’s ok!)

So a lovely day up there with Aroha, Tim, Michelle, Mark, Stefan, Kate, and Bevan. Most of them were telemarking (an even more purist? tricky? form of skiing).. but I’m sticking to the snowboarding for this season. Though, if I am still here next year I hope to get into skiing – so that I can get into some backcountry touring.

Then back with a short stop by this frozen lake on the way home. Yup, a good way to end a bad week.

Last week had a really delicious dinner over at Andreas place in Lyttelton. Really lovely house with views down over the harbour and out to the mountains.

Winn (who gave me the I’m Irish and I’m Damn Sexy t-shirt) was over with her husband Grant and their little one (Jasmine).

Course it makes me miss my nieces + nephews a little bit.. Still, I’m slowly working on getting all my family to move over here. Ok, logically I admit it’s never going to happen. But I live in hope. In fact two college friends arrive in the next few weeks – Graham and Myra.. and they’re here for a year (but I have plans for them too!) Muuuooahahhaa.

Sunday far less people were about and all the rope tows were working. I lost track of how many runs I got in.. but I was completely knackered by the end of the day and hardly able to stand up let alone make a turn. That’s the beauty of the club fields and rope tows (when they’re working) You can just ski all day without break (if you want to). There were probably 200 people on the field – quite a lot more enjoyable than the 3000+ at Mt. Hutt.

Anyway.. there had been quite lot of wind over night, and some of the slopes had become loaded with snow (which meant they were avalanche prone). I lent my camera to Richard – and most of these next shots were taken by him.

Above is Penny fixing up a bomb. The avalanche path map, and a closeup of the bomb. Basically there’s a fuse, a detonator (the most dangerous bit) and the explosive.. they wander up (purposefully!) find the spot to place it, and then let it off. You don’t actually need to be too far away (apparently)

The next two shots are a before and after sequence (though this one did not set off an avalanche).

Anyway, boarded until 4pm, read some more of my book (Life and Limb) and back to ChCh for fish and chips… tired but happy.

So *should* have been up early and straight to the field seeing as I was up there and placed to make the most of it. Was still on the field early enough, but unfortuneately the main rope tow wasn’t working, so queues soon built up (as it was the opening day)

Here’s a picture of the method of getting up the slopes which is used on the club fields – nut crackers..

I have also put a video up. It is encoded using divx. You may need to download videolan to play it. Still, if you have a look at the movie you’ll get a good understanding of how it works. It’s an extremely efficient way of getting about. It’s also totally scary the first few times you use it (ok, I actually still get rattled every time my nutcracker runs through a pulley!)

Another fun evening of apres-ski. They do night skiing here too.. though didn’t get the chance this time. But there’ll be another go I’m sure.