Date: October 5 - 6, 2024
Location: Pisa Range, Cadrona, Otago, New Zealand
Total Trip Distance: 16.53 mi / 26.6 km
Total Elevation Gain: 4,436 ft / 1,352 m
Trip Duration: 2 days
Team: Solo
Field Notes: The Pisa's might be the most beginner friendly backcountry ski destination I've ever been to. With avalanche danger still high, it was a perfect place for low consequence runs and to spend a night out. Kirtle Burn Hut is a basic hut that is easily reached from Snow Farm in two to three hours and provides great ski touring access.
Rating: 1.1, F, E1
I have been going stir crazy. My friend Alex called me today to see if I had "jumped off a cliff yet." Another climber emailed me saying "I'm going a bit nuts." The weather has been terrible for getting into the alpine. As I write this, the wind is blowing a gale and avalanche danger is considerable.
The weather windows we do get are short lived and the snowpack doesn't have time to heal, making for dangerous conditions. I watch the weather forecasts obsessively, probably to a detriment, and knew that I had to do something over the two sunny days we had over the weekend.
I decided the best option was to head into the Pisa Range. Combined with the fact that there this is a hut I could spend a night in, the terrain is of low consequence, and I have never been there before made it appealing. An hour and change and I was at the top of Snow Farm ready to go.
Touring right from the car park - how good? It took two and a half hours to reach Kirtle Burn Hut. I wondered if anyone would be there and to my surprise it seemed there was - all the windows were open. As I got closer to the hut I realized no one was actually there...everything had been left open before the last three day storm. I rounded the corner and got eyes on the front door - it was not a nice sight. Snow had filled about a third of the hut.
I got to work and spent the next hour shoveling out snow and mopping up the floors with whatever tools were available. Luckily two Wanaka locals stopped by to help out and the job was done faster than I could do alone. With the sun beaming I left all the windows and doors open to dry out the hut and went exploring.
For the first day I decided to skin up to Mount Pisa and ski the western aspects into Cliff Burn. The sky was cobalt blue and a light breeze kept me from wearing just my base layer. The snow was soft and allowed for great spring turns into the basin below. I watched as the kite skiers got lap after lap.
Satisfied with my day I headed back to the hut. From the afternoon onward I spent the day enjoying hot drinks, reading, lounging in the sun, tidying up the hut, and absorbing the quiet of the Pisa's. There was a silence that would not be possible to put into words. Like all good trips in the hills, tension submits. Shoulders relax, the jaw releases, the corners of one's mouth automatically go into a slight smile, and eyes become glossy as if one had used a substance. I slept deeply underneath a star filled sky.
In the morning I waited patiently in my down filled bag for the first rays of sun to hit the east facing windows. With its arrival I brewed tea and stepped outside. The morning was perfect. The sky a shade of blue that is only possible at the early hour and a pair of Pied Oystercatcher's looked for food in the snow.
At ten I witnessed the thawing of snow and began my tour south to Column Rocks. Near the top I ran into another two locals with the man talking so rapidly I walked away wondering what we even spoke about. I decided to ski a northeasterly aspect into the head of Prince Burn which provided some fun morning turns.
From there I headed up onto the flat ridge above the Burn where I eventually got one last run, back again, into Prince Burn. I crossed the creek a few times over until eventually meeting the Snow Farm Trail along Roaring Meg. The sun was hot now and I was glad to be back to my home, my beautiful blue van, where I unpacked and headed back to Queenstown.
Happy days...
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