Report by Harry
The snow play day trip started on a lovely clear morning. We met at the big fruit in Cromwell for 10 o’clock with a total of 13 trucks and 18 people. Trip leader Keith and Jan in the Pajero sport, me in my 95 Pajero, Dave P in his Cruiser, Mark in his Cruiser, John in his Jeep, New member Anton on his first trip in his Pajero, Kevin in his Prado, Colin and Marty in the Triton, Jo and Jens in their Jimny, Lynden and India in the Cruiser, Dave S in his hilux, Adrienne in her Colorado and finally Rod and Anne in a Landie as tail end charlie.
We all aired down at the start of the Nevis Valley road and made our way up an awesome scenic road with the snowy mountains around us. After the Old Woman Range turn off It didn’t take long before the snow play started.
Only 100m into the track till the first stop when the first few vehicles got stuck in a snow drift. A few pulls with the snatch rope and we were back on our way plowing through plenty more snow drifts and with a few challenging hill climbs.
John in his Jeep ended up having some over heating issues so parked it in a safe spot and he hopped in with Anton. Anton and his Pajero was awesome on his first trip and his truck handled well in the snow!
Unforunately it was a short trip and only got the total of 4.9kms from the start and didn’t make it to the hut! On the way down we all had turns playing in the snow and got the chance to practice a fair few recoveries. Mark even admitted to having his snatch strap for over 30 years after is braking!
Dave’s cruiser acted as a snow plough and he took on some challenges in deep snow and thick ice covering deep ruts, mostly getting through successfully but providing more opportunities for recoveries.
A couple of trucks escorted John and his overheatijg Jeep back to the Nevis Valley Rd. Rod and Anne gave him a tow up to the summit then Dave S, Rod, Jo and John headed back while the rest of us tackled a tricky hill climb getting back to the summit.
After more recoveries at the summit we all safely got down and aired up then retreated to the Bannockburn pub for a well deserved beverage.
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