"This is the one, this is the day we've all been waiting for", so said the famous Yeti back in 2006. Well I used those very words myself today at Mt Hutt. Hadn't been planning on going up today - better conditions were supposed to be on Thursday, but checked it all out, made a quick decision and got myself out the door. On top of everything else from last week, there'd been another 20cm yesterday; but they'd not been able to get the lifts running too much because of wind. On the drive up I was scoping out the acres of untracked pow over towards the triple chair - I knew where I was heading straight away!
Most of the morning I was staying on the high traverse line then dropping down through the Towers, picking the steepest and deepest lines then following on all the way down to the triple chair. Second run in had a wicked tomahawk stack - had just dropped off a windlip, looked back up but hadn't noticed something right in front of me - end of story. Loved it. Found myself a big pow stash off the bottom end of South Face - totally untracked for a couple of runs! As with all the best days, I didn't have my camera with me, so just got a couple of pics on the phone - bit hard to tell what's what, but here they are. Bit odd seeing the mountain from completely new angles.
The Outer Limits
After lunch, stopped to read the sign at the top of the lift saying which of the expert runs were open - stoked! They'd just opened the South Face, where I'd been watching patrol blasting earlier. Got myself straight round there and out to the furthest limit of the resort - you're actually looking down into the next valley. Only counted 10 or so tracks below me, found my line and hit it - light, dry powder, loads of it - get in! 
. This area was only going to be open for another 40 mins or so, so straight back up the lift, but this time to spot patrol opening another area - The Bluffs, all the way round the opposite side of the mountain. Followed the catty round, couple of short hikes and found the patrol guy, who sent me on to the next one. "Only 3 people have dropped in ahead of you, your best lines are right there...". Awesome, so this Sloth drops straight in, massive air off a windlip and stacks it just before the top of a mini chute. Got a load of good pow turns in before hitting the road - you can just about make my lines out in this pic:
Was planning on going back round again but was getting proper knackered so stuck with some high-speed carving to finish the day off in the last bit of sun. It's days like this that remind you why you love it so much. I felt like taking back everything bad I'd said about Mt Hutt - amazing to be riding new parts of the mountain. This really is turning out to be an epic season - there's more snow right now than there's been in 15 years! And still plenty more to come...bring it on!