Should Have Been Here Yesterday

If I were allowed only one word to describe Friday morning I would choose "insane". I could have used the same word about today but for slightly different reasons.

Yesterday, when I read on the Thredbo web site that there was 40cm of snow in the past 24 hours I must admit I was quite cynical about that. Mother Nature had thrown everything at us on Thursday night: Rain, Hail, Sago & Snow all mixed together with a strong wind, but with hardly a dusting in the village at 7:00am it was hard to believe there was 40cm up top awaiting us.

We were all lined up before Kosi chair opened, standing in falling snow, when we were informed that the quad would not be opening due to wind and poor vis. The crowd rushed to Snowgums, including Traktorman and Lucky Phil. Being the anti-social type that I am, I was first in line for Merritts chair. Louise and I hopped off at Creek Station and skied on very sticky, slow snow to Gunbarrel. I was on about 10th chair on Gunbarrel. There was a serous amount of new snow on the way up. The higher we went then the deeper the new snow. At the top I dropped into the bowl between Gunbarrel and High Noon. WOW! It was totally untracked and deep. When I reached High Noon, it had about 2cm on top of the grooming. From the bottom of the steep section the snow was again slow and sticky - yes, I know, I need wax.

I went back and dropped into the bowl again. OMG, my tracks were gone but a heap of boarders were just traversing across the slope and ruining a good steep & deep line to the rope. I got back at them by skiing the terrain park and then getting freshies on the old High Noon line ;-)

Snowgums closed mid morning due to wind. The only other lifts now open, apart from Gunbarrel, were Merritts double, Easy Rider, Easy Does It and the carpets on Friday Flat. After a few more lines into the same bowl I was told that Snowgums had reopened and I skied freshies to the bottom of Sponars, then walked to the Cat Track to ride Snowgums from Bunny Walk station. Surprisingly there was no queue and many empty chairs. I soon found out why. Slowbums was running at half speed into a serous wind and driving snow. After my morning coffee in Black Sallees I decided to do the trees on skier's left of Merritts Falls. Wow again. Zero vis, heavy snow falling and deep, deep drifts. The vis was still very marginal at the tree line. There was 40-50cms of fresh snow in there and it wasn't all that heavy (by Australian standards ;-).

I found the lower slopes very tiring on my back and quads cutting through the heavy lumps of wet snow and so I left the slopes around 11:30. I thought that today (Saturday) may require powder tapes - no kidding, it was that deep. Kosi eventually opened after 1pm.

After a night of snow showers and some starlight there was more snow in the village. A humongous queue was already waiting at Kosi chair when I turned up about 8:10 this morning. By the time Kosi opened the queue had doubled in size behind me, and I was outside the races of the singles line.

Before I reached the top I realised that there was not going to be any need for powder tapes. The wind, which had now swung to the south, had packed everything in its path. Pockets of deep & soft existed but were mostly tracked out quickly. The queue on Kosi chair remained huge all morning. Sponars and Karels T-bars were best for short queues and good snow but the visibility continued to worsen and I left the slopes, exhausted at midday. The catch phrase today was "should have been here yesterday" but don't get me wrong, today was a big day too!

Lower Sundance at 7:50 on Friday morning

Lower Sundance less than 5 hours later

Riding Gunbarrel on Friday morning

Trees off the side of Gunbarrel lift

Black Sallees deck on Friday morning

Riding Kosciuszko Express this morning

Trees off Snowgums this morning

The Q this morning at 8:10, trees at Sponars yesterday
The bridge yesterday & red berries on Bernti's wall

Crackenback on Friday morning

Crackenback today

It's still snowing as I write this. By the end of this storm cycle there will probably have been a metre or more of new snow. The biggest single dump I have seen in Thredbo in a long, long time. Must be that new fangled Carbon Tax ;-)

Happy Birthday Kerry for the 15th and thanks for the snow.