Day 7. Cardona. The fuckin jewel of the southern alps skiable mountains. For beginners and intermediates anyway. Like us.
This place blows us away. A 40 buck bus ride was worth every penny, despite us running severely short of funds at this stage. A very long ride to. About 90 mins we arrive. Despite terrible weather forecasts, we get an absolutely stunning final day on the snow. Perfect. Blue skies, little wind. Every run is open. The complex is a sprawling array of runs extending almost right the way around the mountain. The terrain park includes 3 half pipes, massive and numerous jumps, speed skiing and a few rails. Whereas Remarkables catered for snowboarders seeking heaps of small terrain, Cardrona thinks BIG. Huge jumps, lots of air borne trickery. Huge, wide, long runs. Got some great footage of the half pipes and a few pics of boarders getting a heap of air time on the jumps.
The beginners run up the first lift is pure magic. A massively wide run, totally powder snow. Big arch's and heaps of room to play with my turns. I get some great footage of pete and myself, following each other down. I take the skyline run and have my breath taken away by the oil painting presented in front of me. Absolutely amazing runs, perfect weather, heaps of space and lots of powder. By this stage my turns are cranking and I'm carving the whole way down. Attempting to do so with a camera in my hand results in some hilarous stacks. Unfortunately a lot of footage that i thought was taken actually wasn't due to space on the disk. But our morning sesh is awesome and I'm even starting to tackle a few jumps of the little mounds to the side of the run.
After lunch I decide to tackle the next set of lifts. I was blown away by the first area, but this was nothing compared to the other side of the mountain. About twice the size, this is a massive downhill area, at least 500m or more wide. Blue, green and black runs the whole back down, all intertwinning. In fact there isn't really a designated 'run'. It's just free for all. I hit the blue runs (or at least the steeper bits). The snow is powder so stacks are lightly felt. A bit of boot trouble leaves me with a sore ass trying to turn, but i spend the next 2 hours going up and down this amazing set of runs. No two downhill runs are the same, as you've got freedom to move across the whole field. By the last run, my entire legs are in agony. My knees feel like they're gonna pop. I decide on one last run down the easier section of the mountain and down into the homeward run, which goes back around the mountain. Frig. This run took nearly 10 minutes to complete. And i didn't stack or stop. In fact i ran it as fast as i could. My legs hurt BEFORE i started it. I was nearly in tears by the end. And what was at the end? The base? No. Another lift. to Another run that goes back to base. Frig. So i do that and it hurts. but i finally make it back and do a full review of footage. I haven't had a bite to eat or a drink of water in about 6 hours. My jaw is frozen shut and i can't talk properly, which my comrades found hilarious.
I make space for one last vid and go back up the first lift. By the time I'm done here i can't walk, it's 3pm and everyone is ready to roll on home. Another bus ride home, my legs given time to recuperate, and we're ready for a night out!
The night out was shit. So i'm not going to go on about it. No bands. Hardly anyone out. Shit. But dinner was nice. More Ferg. This time i try the Codfather. A massive fillet of Blue Cod with garlic aoili and salad. Never had a fish burger like it. Praise and thank the lord, Ferg, for your contribution to the burger fraternity.
Day 8 we packed up and came home. Fuck i want to go back.
The end.
