Between the Rocks and the Hard Places

Monday and Tuesday were wet. After a damp weekend I really didn’t want to face the start of this week by going out into the rain, so I didn’t.

Wednesday looked good. A little new snow and good weather but as so often has been the case this year, appearances were quite deceiving. Only 1cm had fallen on the main slopes and then several hours of snowmaking on top of that. This light covering was clinging gingerly to a frozen base. Yes, the entire snow pack was solid save for the temporary, thin layer of light snow. After one run down the Supertrail it was scraped off.

Each subsequent run down the Supertrail became faster and more erratic – something akin to playing dodgems with shopping trolleys. Crowded slopes, no brakes and no idea where you or they were going next. The only thing that would stop you was an immovable object – read: tree or rock, and I wasn’t stopping. Even the racers with supposedly good edges where doing four wheel drifts.

The off piste was no better. The ruts from the last week of wet snow were frozen solid. Finding some untracked slopes around Balls To The Wall revealed up to 3cms of light dry snow on a base of smooth boilerplate. Interesting for one run but the notion of coffee soon had me heading for Eagles Nest. Most of the off piste was closed or unskiable and the manmade slopes had been severely thinned over the previous days.

After coffee I encountered about 10m of hidden blue metal gravel at the end of Eagle Way. I couldn’t/didn’t see it but I sure could feel it. That was it for me.

I didn’t bother revisiting the blue metal quarry today.

Determined High Nooners in the rain on Tuesday

Upper World Cup looking washed out

Lower Supertrail on Wednesday morning

Middle Supertrail – with and without snowmaking

The Bluff on Wednesday - deceivingly dangerous

Our tracks above Basin sucked many more onto the skating ring

High Noon / Lovers Leap Bypass and Crackenback
Tuesday (top) and this afternoon (bottom)

On a brighter note - something I saw on Boundary Rider last week

We have had intermittent snow showers all day while the sun was shining – strange. There is still top to bottom skiing on the Supertrail and High Noon. The air temps are on the good side of zero and there has been little wind, so at least the snow is holding out wherever there is snowmaking.

We have a high sitting over Thredbo but there is an intense cold front out in the Indian Ocean, which may reach us later on the weekend. Good weather will mean going out back again this weekend.

Nice to finish on a good note - it is snowing in the village as I sign off. Fingers crossed for a metre or two over the next week.

Don't forget the campaign to return Kosciuszko Park entry fees back to something reasonable - click here