Thursday 22 December 2016
Saturday 8 October 2016
The Hunt for White October: episode II
Charlotte and I spent a very special couple of days on Swindler's and Machinery.
We stayed Thursday night at DP to get our packs sorted and wax our skis for spring. After a reasonable start, we had a nice (albeit on the slow side, despite the wax!) run down Mary's and stopped for a snack down the bottom where it was a relief to get out of the wind. Then up the other side where Charlotte began to master the art of skinning and kick turns.
It was obvious that the weather was going to get worse before it got better, and with nobody about we decided to stay Friday night in Derricks Hut to avoid the predicted heavy rain and ferocious winds.
We had noodles for lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, and Charlotte gave me an exotic dance exhibition, as well as practicing her charcoal sketching, soap-making and random arson. I was glad to have packed the mini-beatbox, but forgot a book, some sketch-paper and pencil or cards. A bottle of wine would have been nice too. I mostly passed the afternoon cutting firewood of which there is plenty, and also a few walks up the hill. The warm winds were causing a massive melt, and as we dozed off next the fire, the heavy rain arrived.
A mild freeze in the early hours of Saturday finally saw the snow consolidate into a slicker acceptable corn. I probably climbed and skied around 3000m on one of the best days of the season. Charlotte was terrific, and we scored some very fine lines.
On the way home we had a significant tyre drama that was all going horribly wrong until we were rescued by the very kind Phil.
Anyway, a great weekend pretty much summed up in the following clip:
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