Another Day in Paradise

Following the disappointment of not getting to ski on the weekend, the perfect weather conditions on Monday morning left me with no choice.

First lift was 9:00 am and shortly afterwards we were walking out the metal track behind Eagles Nest. Skinned up over Signature Hill and tracked out towards Kosi, dropped down to Lake Cootapatamba and then skinned up to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko. Catching our breathe we took a short but steep descent off the north ridge, skinned back up to the summit and enjoyed lunch from the roof of Australia with a fantastic view in all directions.

The breeze picked up and low misty cloud began to appear from nowhere and fly past the summit reminding us how quickly conditions can change in the mountains.

We skied along the South Ridge to a point just beyond the huge cornices and took a steep line down into the valley below. Only the top couple of centimetres of snow were soft, slightly slow but not sticky. These conditions were ideal for making it easy to turn on the steep face. There was some wet snow balling and sliding but no other indications that the slope might let go.

We shared the huge expanse with another tele skier and two boarders. There were some intrepid walkers that made the trek to the summit. Not easy because of the amount of snow that had to be traversed.

After climbing back out of the valley towards North Ramshead I decided to utilise the strengthening breeze and pulled out the kite. I covered the next couple of kilometres across the top ridges to Signature Hill is just seconds. This was the first time this year that I had the kite out and it was a thrill travelling along at speeds I’d guess reaching 25-30kph. I discovered on the net later that winds had been gusting to 60kph while I was out on the range.

An enjoyable descent of Signature Hill finished off a great day, reaching Eagles Nest with 40minutes before the chair closed at 4pm.

First glimpse at the Kosi Cornice on the south ridge

Acacia standing below the cornice beside Lake Cootapatamba

Lake Cootapatamba still mostly frozen

Acacia checks the size of the broken blocks of cornice

Freshies off the north ridge

The cornice off the south ridge

The descent from the south ridge beyond the cornice

Looking back up along the cornice to towards the summit

The turns and boarders' steps just visible from the other side of the valley

Snail trails on Signature Hill

Today started off similar to yesterday but about 5 degrees warmer. With a sore foot and too much work to do I forced myself not to return to put in a few more turns. Alas, there may not be many more opportunities to do so this year.

Snow is forecast down to 1500m tonight. When will it end?