would not be blown over . Up ahead I could see the boys struggling through metre deep snow and decided I was cold enough and left them to it . There was no doubt in my mind a serious accident up in these conditions could be fatal . Word is Whytey and James were punching holes in the snow over their bars near the top . The truly impressive thing was my Beta was still running faultlessly despite the cold and huge altitude changes . After descending back to the hut , I pointed the 430 at a big hill climb . As usual momentum is your friend when hill climbing and the 430 was certainly up for it , but snow covered , rock infested and stunted scrub covered hills is definitely counter intuitive to large throttle openings . However , the 430 did itself proud and it looked a LONG way down to the hut from my new vantage point .

PERKY BEAST We regrouped and headed over the Omarama Saddle for lunch in stunning , still and sunny weather , quite the contrast from where we had come . James Blanchard ’ s mum and dad had driven up to the end of Broken Hut road with our

lunch and also went the extra mile serving us a home-cooked , farmers ’ style breakfast and dinner over the few days we were there – awesome , many thanks indeed . Heading back over Little Omarama Saddle was quite interesting . I ’ d swapped to the 390 and what a perky beast that is . Noticeably lighter feeling , more responsive and probably quicker in an overall riding sense than the 430 , it was an enjoyable contrast . Over the summit crest the snow had settled in drifts , some two metres plus deep in places . They had a firm ice crust that gave the illusion you could ride over them before sometimes falling through into deep snow . Riding towards the outside edge of the track where the snow was not so deep seemed the best plan , but if you could ride on the snow and not fall through , that was the quickest . However , the unpredictable nature of these snow “ pit-fall-traps ” did catch a few out . One second you are fine , next second , disappearing into a world of white . Mike unfortunately fell through a deep drift and admitted to contemplating a heart attack while trying to extract his Beta 200 , all the while

40 KIWI RIDER