There was too much snow on Mt Lyford in North Canterbury yesterday. Last night 250 skiers had to stay on the mountain in the day lodge. The road was closed because of high winds and the risk of avalanches from so much snow. It was too dangerous for cars to drive back down the mountain to their accommodation.
People slept on seats or on the floor. There were some mattresses for the children. The lodge has a generator for electricity. They used the generator until 11pm to keep the lodge warm.
The day lodge has a café so dinner last night was leftovers from the café. This morning, a snow groomer machine came up the road, bringing food for breakfast. The groomer cleared some avalanches which had fallen on the road. Later in the day, the wind dropped enough for people to leave.
In August last year, 1,000 skiers were trapped at Mt Hutt because of high winds. They had to spend the night at the lodge, sleeping on the floor. There were some school groups with their teachers too. However, it is school holidays now so children at Mt Lyford were with families. Listen to August 13th 2010 to hear more about this.
Vocabulary
Avalanche – snow slide that can bury people and cars under the snow when it falls
A generator uses diesel oil to generate (= make) electricity
A snow groomer is a big tractor which pushes soft snow down to make it firm.
trapped – couldn’t escape
Grammar
It was too dangerous (for cars) to drive
This is a useful structure: too + adjective to + verb e.g. I was too tired to do anything; it was too hot to work; it is too far to walk etc. Try to make your own sentences like this.