Craig and I drove up the access road to the ski farm using the new chains I’d bought yesterday. It was sunny but there was a cold wind. We headed off taking the DoC route to the back of the snow farm. We then skinned along one of their tracks to the turn off to the Kirtle Burn Hut. We followed the four wheel drive track that was covered in deep powder snow towards the hut. The wind was strong and there were kites off in the distance with ski tourers attached skiing up and down the hills. We expected them to be staying a the hut but when we got there we found the hut empty. Kirtle Burn Hut is a small 6 bunk box of a hut. It’s not bad though and it’s set up for ski tourers with floor suitable for melted snow.
We decided against going out for a tour up to Mt Pisa and instead made hot drinks and read the available mags, which included “Women’s Day”. This didn’t bring much joy. We had enough gas to cook dinner and then it was time to sleep.
It was another clear day and very cold. We skinned up the hill in front of the hut for a few hundred metres. The snow was hard and icy in patches. As the wind was rising again we removed our skins and had quite a nice little run back down past the hut and into the valley. We skinned and skied back down to the snow farm tracks and then I skated back around to the DoC track. We drove back down the access road and then back to Christchurch.
