Rainbow

It's school holidays here in New Zealand for two week, so we took the opportunity to see what the local skiing was like. We set out at 8:00 in the morning to make the 1.5 - 2 hour drive to the local ski area. Something didn't seem quite right though. We'd skied enough in Colorado to know what to bring, but there was definitely something missing. After a little while, we realized what it was; there was no traffic. We saw one logging truck on the same road as us, and four cars going the other way. We're used to the front range of Colorado where the highway leading up to the mountains routinely turns into a parking lot by 8:00. We started wondering if we were going the wrong way when we saw the Rainbow Ski Area sign that led us along the river through exotic beech forests skirted by majestic mountains. The road then turned up a steep valley and meandered well above tree line to the small parking lot of the ski area.

The traffic wasn't the only thing that was different to skiing in the US. This must have been what it was like at Loveland Ski Area thirty years ago. Families were there to have fun. The bunny hill was open to anyone on anything. The feeling was very laid back and enjoyable.

Here's a picture looking down from the top...



This was the first time putting Beck on skis...


He liked riding up the pull rope as much as coming down.

Quinne really enjoyed herself and did amazingly well...


She was very proud of herself (as were we)