The mountain was open all Sunday, with walkers and hikers expected in the afternoon and the slopes opened up to mountain bikers after 1pm. It was 20 dollars each to attend the open day this year, with all proceeds being donated to the local retirement village in the area. All the field staff were donating their time for the event too.

Not being skiers, our first problem was finding Mt Hutt without the use of a map - having grown up and actually gone to school in the area: Carl proved to be absolutely no use what-so-ever in finding the place! (Coming from Taranaki, I've got every excuse – as it's just so much harder to lose an actual volcano!)

Once we'd found Mt Hutt and made it up to the slopes - the day proved to be sunny and warm  and not too breezy: Which was a good thing, because at that altitude even a small breeze proved to be a cold one.

There was only one chair lift operating, the Summit Six. Getting onto it with a bike required a little co-ordination: with Two bikes and riders to a chair.  The bikes had to be held over the knees for the duration of the climb, as there was no other way of strapping the bikes on.

Our first descent followed the 4wd drive track down the western side of the mountain.  It was steep, with both of us white-knuckling the brake levers all the way to the bottom. Our puny XC hard tails no match for the hardcore downhill terrain. It was like riding down a very steep gravel road that was covered in: loose shale; powdery patches; strewn with large stones and rocks; with a lots of walkers and the occasional child to avoid. When we got to the bottom I think both of us had a new appreciation for down hill bikes, eight inch rotors and body Armour, as the guys and gals that were equipped with those, were screaming down the hill with great speed.

I think the average walker also seemed to be getting an idea of the average down hiller too – Every one, including myself, seemed in awe of the speed the speeds being achieved.

The eastern side of Mt Hutt.

The second descent took us out to the eastern side of the field. We'd decided the four wheel drive track along the ridge line looked less steep and more like the type of terrain  our bikes could handle.  This proved to be mostly correct - it was much easier riding - however the rocks here seemed to get bigger and there were more small boulders, the type that must to be avoided at all costs.

Red Amulance in the distance

We had to get off the bikes in a few places. Looking back at the map, in ski season this track is a black diamond track, but in the summer it proved to be pretty ridable. The route eventually looped back around one the out lying hills and scooted back along a four wheel drive track just above an artificial pond.

On this second ride we were followed by a ardent bunch of Down Hill junkies, who left us by disappearing the edge off the track and rocketing straight to the bottom, via the straightest possible route. This left us feeling decidedly unmanned - but unwilling to suicidally throw our bikes down the "Champagne" Slopes.

By the ambulance looking back at the ski slopes.

We managed another couple of rides from the top after that - exploring a little further along that eastern ridge line and doing another basic 4wd drive descent. After four descents we both decided to give up, both feeling like we'd done enough for the day, with arms, legs and nerves a little frayed from the terrain.

We both left feeling like it was a reasonable biking experience, but with no dedicated mountain biking tracks it felt more like a ride to chalk up as have being accomplished - rather than totally enjoyed.

However, for some strange reason I'm now left with a lingering itch for more suspension – you know - a good eight inches of travel, good solid fat tires...  oh and did I mention a full face helmet?