Mt Shutt While We Were On It.
Yesterday was dangerous. Sam decided to take the day off so I went up the mountain with Jole, and Chai (an American Dairy Farmer, and an Israelie amry commander).The mountain was once again getting a huge dump of snow. By the time we arrived at the top visibility was down to about 3 meters and about 10cm of the dryest fluffiest snow had fallen. The mountain was empty, everyone else had clearly had the same idea as Sam and decided that today was not a good day to ski.
However the 3 of us went to the summit, and had some amazing blind runs down. After a morning tea break (Jole drank milk) the visibility cleared and once again I had the best boarding ever. The snow was falling so heavily that by the time you got back to the summit your previous runs tracks had been covered in snow. The distinct lack of other skiers was explained later in the day when we found out they had closed the access road shortly after we arrived. We pretty much had the rosort to ourselves. After our 30th run of the day we hear over the speakers that the mountain will be closing early and can everyone return to thier cars.
Joel and I climb back on our bus ready to depart at 3pm. Chai is driving his rental car back down, and also picks up a hitch hiker. There is now 1 foot of new snow, and a queue of cars waiting to be let down the road.
I have to explain about the access road to Mt Hutt. The easiest way is that it would never be allowed in England, America etc... it is about 4m wide with no guard rail (so they can plough the snow off the edge) and then on average a 1000ft drop on one side. On occasions the road has about 1500 ft drop on either side. The road is thick with snow and ice.
The visiblity has dropped back to roughly 3 meters. The bus leaves the mountain last and Otto (named after the school bus driver in The Simpsons) creeps down the mountain virtually blind as out of the windscreen all I can see is a white mass. He weaves left and right down an invisible road. There is no distinction between road, cliff, edge of road and sky. We all trust that he could drive the road blindfolded as he has been doing it for 20 years.
Eventually we come to a halt half way down the mountain and get told by patrol that there is a large section of ice that must be taken one car at a time. We sit and wait in turn for 2 hours. It usually takes 40 minutes to get back down the mountain. Finally we arrive at the top of the ice section. All vehicles are fitted with chains, and mountain patrol have a landcruiser with huge rugby training pads attatched to the bull bars to shunt cars in the right direction.
Everyone on the bus is pretty nervous. Its pitch black by now, the wind has reached gale force and Otto seems unsure. We start the descent and immediatly the bus slides sidewards, we are now sliding down the mountain road with Otto turning ferociously at the steering wheel. The bus goes quiet at we regain control and pass the first of the crashed cars. For the next 300 meters we see 10 cars facing in the wrong direction, some had crashed into the wall, others hanging over the edge just secured by the snow that has been ploughed onto the side of the road. Mountain Patrol 4x4s are positioned on each of the corners so that the cars hit them and bounce back into the cliff as opposed to off the edge. The bus begins to slide again, then corrects itself as we pass the other passenger bus (which had left empty) crashed into the cliff.
Finally 4 1/2 hours later Otto gets us down to mountain safe. Methven is again deep in snow and Joel and I head back to the lodge for a beer.
Chai isn't back. He left before us and hasn't arrived home. 2 hours later he walks in looking pretty miffed. He crashed his car, then a bus and 3 other cars carshed into it. Mountain Patrol didn't let him take details as they wanted to move the traffic on. He has a crumpled rental car and no insurance. The hitch hiker had stayed with him all the way until they abaondoned the car on the mountain.
Another guy in the hostel who works on the mountain tells us that the car infront of him slid underneath the back of a high 4x4 bus and smashed the windscreen. He also tells us that we, and the staff bus were the only busses to have made it down the mountain. We have no idea yet how many cars went over the edge of the cliff.
Needless to say they have shut the mountain today, and everyone is going to be taking a well earned break in the pub.
Laters
Chris
P.S We are expecting another 30cm of snow tonight :O)
P.P.S Mt Hutt has now received 2 meters of snow in the first 2 weeks of the season. Its average annual snowfall is about 2 meters!
However the 3 of us went to the summit, and had some amazing blind runs down. After a morning tea break (Jole drank milk) the visibility cleared and once again I had the best boarding ever. The snow was falling so heavily that by the time you got back to the summit your previous runs tracks had been covered in snow. The distinct lack of other skiers was explained later in the day when we found out they had closed the access road shortly after we arrived. We pretty much had the rosort to ourselves. After our 30th run of the day we hear over the speakers that the mountain will be closing early and can everyone return to thier cars.
Joel and I climb back on our bus ready to depart at 3pm. Chai is driving his rental car back down, and also picks up a hitch hiker. There is now 1 foot of new snow, and a queue of cars waiting to be let down the road.
I have to explain about the access road to Mt Hutt. The easiest way is that it would never be allowed in England, America etc... it is about 4m wide with no guard rail (so they can plough the snow off the edge) and then on average a 1000ft drop on one side. On occasions the road has about 1500 ft drop on either side. The road is thick with snow and ice.
The visiblity has dropped back to roughly 3 meters. The bus leaves the mountain last and Otto (named after the school bus driver in The Simpsons) creeps down the mountain virtually blind as out of the windscreen all I can see is a white mass. He weaves left and right down an invisible road. There is no distinction between road, cliff, edge of road and sky. We all trust that he could drive the road blindfolded as he has been doing it for 20 years.
Eventually we come to a halt half way down the mountain and get told by patrol that there is a large section of ice that must be taken one car at a time. We sit and wait in turn for 2 hours. It usually takes 40 minutes to get back down the mountain. Finally we arrive at the top of the ice section. All vehicles are fitted with chains, and mountain patrol have a landcruiser with huge rugby training pads attatched to the bull bars to shunt cars in the right direction.
Everyone on the bus is pretty nervous. Its pitch black by now, the wind has reached gale force and Otto seems unsure. We start the descent and immediatly the bus slides sidewards, we are now sliding down the mountain road with Otto turning ferociously at the steering wheel. The bus goes quiet at we regain control and pass the first of the crashed cars. For the next 300 meters we see 10 cars facing in the wrong direction, some had crashed into the wall, others hanging over the edge just secured by the snow that has been ploughed onto the side of the road. Mountain Patrol 4x4s are positioned on each of the corners so that the cars hit them and bounce back into the cliff as opposed to off the edge. The bus begins to slide again, then corrects itself as we pass the other passenger bus (which had left empty) crashed into the cliff.
Finally 4 1/2 hours later Otto gets us down to mountain safe. Methven is again deep in snow and Joel and I head back to the lodge for a beer.
Chai isn't back. He left before us and hasn't arrived home. 2 hours later he walks in looking pretty miffed. He crashed his car, then a bus and 3 other cars carshed into it. Mountain Patrol didn't let him take details as they wanted to move the traffic on. He has a crumpled rental car and no insurance. The hitch hiker had stayed with him all the way until they abaondoned the car on the mountain.
Another guy in the hostel who works on the mountain tells us that the car infront of him slid underneath the back of a high 4x4 bus and smashed the windscreen. He also tells us that we, and the staff bus were the only busses to have made it down the mountain. We have no idea yet how many cars went over the edge of the cliff.
Needless to say they have shut the mountain today, and everyone is going to be taking a well earned break in the pub.
Laters
Chris
P.S We are expecting another 30cm of snow tonight :O)
P.P.S Mt Hutt has now received 2 meters of snow in the first 2 weeks of the season. Its average annual snowfall is about 2 meters!
posted by Chris at 10:58 PM
4 Comments:
Chris, I bet your mum's heart was in her mouth reading this! Mine was and I'm just your mother-in-law! What an adventure and what a relief that you are OK :-)
my god chris. my life is stressful enough at the moment without rading that nailbiting tail! BE CAREFUL!!!!! big sis's orders.xxxxxx
Sounds dead dodgy, I hope the people in the cars that went over the edge are OK!
I remember being scared at the sheer drops going down the Mt Hutt road and narrowly missing a few falling boulders - and remember me and Heath were in our dodgy orange camper van!
Just wait for 'Death Mountain' in Bolivia!!!!
Will e-mail our comments !!!
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