Czech It Out

It's been a strange few days - windy and cold with wind blown powder and ice. As someone said to me yesterday, the wind blew one day too much. Thursday was looking promising with wind drifts of dry powder building during the day but there was little of it to be seen by Friday.

No problems for me as I was helping out with the 'Czech Out Thredbo' day where the Czech ambassador and several sponsors got together to celebrate the Czech influence on the discovery and building of Thredbo - yes several of our T-bars are named after Czechs.

The best snow seemed to be up high as the lower slopes softened from too hard to too soft. For those involved in Czech out Thredbo, the day culminated in drinks, nibbles and speeches (in English) in the Schuss Bar.

No outback touring this Saturday. I almost didn't go out at all because at first glance it appeared it might be raining but on closer inspection I could just make out a thin dusting of white on the grass across the valley.

It was a bit like being in Whistler today - don't get too excited - it was just 'a bit' like it - in as much that there were two different seasons running simultaneously. Sunny and calm at the base and no visibility and -14C wind chill up top.

True Blue had been groomed and a fine job had been done of it too - however after 3 runs it started to fall apart - still it was nice whilst it lasted. Skiing the T-bars was done by Braille but there were not the crowds on the T-bars that were building on the Kosi chair.

Meadows snow depth Thursday - not much change since

The last day of FIS races and they did a fine job on Supertrail before first chair had reached the top

Much of the resort was boiler plate

FIS Slalom races were held on World Cup where GS had been held earlier in the week.

This time I got some photos from Kosi chair

The base was very firm - like everywhere else

I too, like the competitors, had taken out my best edges

The wind kept howling across the upper slopes

The Czech ambassador and crew at Friday Flat - yesterday

Bobby Bajram in Eagles Nest this morning

Read about Bobby Bajram's amazing story on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hanna-aase/living-with-disability-an_b_8749740.html.

Snow making has been helping the middle slopes. The wind is still blowing and the temperatures up top are consistently sub zero, keeping the powder dry and the ice firm.

The Transfer Banked Slalom was to be held today from the top of Conrod Straight. I'm assuming it went ahead in the zero vis. I must admit that I wasn't drawn to it, even though the wind chill warmed up to a pleasant -9C mid morning ;-)

Will Kerry's birthday (15th) bring that dump of snow that we used to get so regularly? Don't we all wish.

And a correction: The 'Czech Out Thredbo' event was not about setting up an euthanasia clinic in Thredbo - although that might be a good idea ;-)

And one more thing - have you submitted your comments and thoughts about The Kosciuszko National Park Draft Wild Horse Management Plan? Only 6 days left. Do it now!
Fill out the form at the bottom of: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/protectsnowies/ or
Email your submission to: kosciuszko.wildhorseplan@environment.nsw.gov.au