Happy New Year everyone.
Christmas and the holiday period now seems like a distant memory as we head well into 2011! I hope most of you were lucky enough to enjoy some time off and get away for a well earned break before tackling what the new year has in store?
Mother nature has been causing its fair share of grief not only in New Zealand but in other parts of the world! Here in Christchurch the aftershocks seemed to have tapered off prior to Christmas only to show their power again on Boxing day, putting everyone's nerves on edge again!
As we head into February the last thing on many peoples minds is skiing and the mountains but a few of us are getting our heads around what needs to happen over the next few months leading up to the Ski season. Please see below a notice on the February workparty for which we are still seeking helpers - let us know if you can attend.
On The Mountain
The latter stages of December and most of January have been very quiet up the mountain as most of us took the opportunity to head away on holidays. We hosted a wedding at Snowline on the 18th December and had a group staying at Forest Lodge over New Year.
Yesterday the mechanical team braved the windy & chilly conditions to continue their maintenance programme and despite the fresh conditions made good headway. Next weekend the workparty season kicks off for 2011 - see below.
Workparty 5th & 6th February - HELPERS REQUIRED
Our first workparty for 2011 gets underway next weekend and the project for this month is the demolition of Middle Hut from its site beside the access road. We hope to be able to complete the majority of work over the weekend providing we can get enough labour. The demolition will be a straight forward project and no specific skills are required other than being able to swing a hammer and crowbar along with some timber cutting for those who have chainsaws. Accommodation will be available at Snowline Lodge on Saturday night for those wishing to stay.
For a full job description please CLICK HERE or you can E-MAIL us for further details. Thanks to those of you who have already been in touch.
If you can attend for either Saturday, Sunday or both days please ADVISE US HERE. A further e-mail to those attending will be sent out later in the week.
Only 1 week left until this scene will be a memory - Photos taken of Middle Hut 30th January 2011
Our March Workparty (5th & 6th) will be the popular "Family Workparty Weekend". We will be consulting the works list soon to put together a good variety of jobs for this weekend - more details soon.
Tarn Tow Project
We continue to gather momentum on this exciting project with the planning team recently meeting to kick off for the New Year. The team have all headed off with specific tasks to achieve and report back on. A meeting on the mountain with DOC will be held this coming Friday to discuss the details of the project and we hope to complete some final surveying of the lift line this coming weekend.
The plan still remains to continue with planning through the rest of this summer and into the winter and funding allowing and consents in place to kick off with construction over the 2011 - 201 summer.
The picture above gives a rough indication of the lift line. The Tarn Lake is just visible to the lower right of the picture and the loading area will be adjacent to the this. The top station and unload area will be on top of what we refer to as "The Walkout Saddle" and once unloaded riders will be able to ski / board back down to the loading area of the Ridge Tow in the main basin or ski the Rope Tow side of Tarn Basin again
We will keep you posted as the project advances over the next few months and we would welcome any assistance from both members and non-members who may be keen to join the planning team.
Stay tuned for another edition of E-News coming your way soon and don't forget to let us know if you can join our February workparty this coming weekend.
Regards
Cam and the Cheeseman team.
