3 Seasons in 1 week....

After the summery temperatures the day Andrea climbed Ben Lomond, the following weekend she headed out with the same friends to do a bit of walking near Arrowtown, where she was greeted with the spectacular Autumn colours it's famous for:

However, Autumn didn't last long, as only 2 days later, it was most definitely winter.

This photo was taken from our deck outside our lounge looking towards Cecil Peak on Monday morning:

By the evening a bit of snow had melted on the northern faces but the Remarkables still looked spectacular right on dusk from our kitchen window:

Ben Lomond Summit

A few weeks ago, Jackie (our neighbour) decided that on the 9th of April a bunch of the girls in the street were going to climb Ben Lomond. A few days before had seen a random storm come through and dust it in snow, but Saturday the 9th dawned fine and clear, with no snow to be seen. So Jackie and Andrea headed out bright and early to the carpark where we were meant to be meeting everyone... and 1 other person (Sue) turned up.

The 3 of us started out from near lake level (about 310m above sea level) and climbed to the top of Ben Lomond (1750m above sea level) - a climb of 1440 m. For you Aucklanders, that's like climbing from sea level to the top of one tree hill... 8 times. Or Rangitoto 5 and a half times.

Greg has attempted the summit climb before with our friend Max but they were beaten back by a blizzard, so it was nice for Andrea to be the first one up! See: http://gregandandreajarvis.blogspot.com/2009/05/ben-lomond-take-2.html

As mentioned, it was a gorgeous day. This photo was taken just as we popped out of the tree line, almost half way up. Ben Lomond is the peak in the distance.

Looking back towards Cecil Peak with the morning cloud before it burnt off:

The three of us girls at the saddle (Sue on the left, Jackie in the middle and Andrea on the right):

The view from the saddle towards Mt Aspiring National Park (Mt Aspiring is the hard to make out peak on the right of the picture):


The view from the top back towards Queenstown and The Remarkables:

There was still a little bit of snow right up the top where the sun hadn't got to it:

The 3 of us right at the summit:

And Andrea way out on the ridge:

It might be serious...

A snow addiction is virtually un-treatable. The only known relief for symptoms is to apply the child to large amounts of cold white snow and hope their energy runs out before yours does.

Symptoms of the snow addiction include:

Grinning from ear to ear:

Being happy even when it's -6 (thermometer in the background):

Instructing those around you on how to improve the snow experience (caption for this photo: "Faster, Aunty Jen!"):

We think there's a good chance that JJ is doomed to a life of snow addiction. We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to his poor parents - after all, it's not the child who suffers from snow addiction.....