For those of us whom relish club atmosphere fields - Mount Lyford is one of the best that New Zealand has to offer. The snow gods were with us on our visit of 2008 with base of 400cm and 200cm of that being powder, only a dozen local 4wds and a blue bird day. Being a young student and not owning a flash ride, the ski field owner even towed us to the carpark as Billy the Civic could not handle the ride up - gotta love Kiwis.

As our last ride on our return drive home to Nelson from the crowds at nearby Mt Hutt, I had the best day in over 15 years riding with the Mount Lyford experience: great team, great snow and no showponys - just a hill covered with lovely white stuff and fantastic people enjoying it together; Bliss. Only gripe was no halfpipe, maybe it was buried that day aye? =)