Snow Caving is an absolutely beautiful experience

I did it together with the Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club (OTMC) at the end of August, in the winter, for two days. It was at the Old Man Range area near to Alexandra.

We had perfect sunshine and started hiking up to our spot with all the gear which included, for example, shovels and sleeping bags. I saw the white and shiny snow at the top and after about two hours we finally arrived there. I had a magnificent view over the mountains, valleys and some little clouds. After arriving, we started digging with our shovels straight into the hill which was covered with masses of snow. We had to build our three caves in a special way so it would not get too cold at night. At first just one person could work because it was quite narrow, but after some time the cave got bigger and we had enough space so that four to five people could sleep in it. In the late afternoon the sun went behind the hill so it got quite cold. I enjoyed watching the sunset and seeing how our place got covered in the dark slowly. We had a beautiful and clear night sky.

The next day in the morning I woke up in my sleeping bag when the bright sun shone into the cave. We packed everything together and walked around and discovered the big area of this range. That was a lot of fun and I climbed up some rocks or snow walls together with the others. In the afternoon we met back at our caves, made our way down and left the Old Man Range with its fantastic scenery behind us.

I totally enjoyed my two days of snow caving in that fantastic landscape and had an unforgettable experience.