A Weekend At The Beach

Warm (or should I say hot) Northwesterly winds and clear skies baked the mountains in unseasonable heat. Temperatures were in double digits both in the village and at the top of the mountain. In the village T-shirts and shorts made it look and feel like summer in Thredbo. Up higher it was a little more tolerable but unless you were dressed for late spring you would have melted.

Today the wind strength was up but the wind chill effect was minimal. The snow quality held up well - wet on top of a hard base. Although icy in places it was not that horrid clear ice. Generally an edge could be maintained anywhere in the resort. The bump runs, like down Cannonball, were quite enjoyable with enough soft to cushion the ups and downs.

The ultimate spark of summer occurred around midday today while I was chatting to someone on the Supertrail near the Cat Track when we spotted a slender tanned skier passing by wearing nothing but a brief bikini. Once I’d picked up my jaw I had no time to whip out my camera and then she was gone.

The lower slopes, without snowmaking, have really suffered and all runs below mid station on Kosi chair (eg: True Blue, Little Beauty, Funnel Web, etc) are closed due to lack of snow.

A good base out of the resort towards Signature Hill

Signature Hill looks icy but not so

Looking toward Eagles Nest from the top of Sponars

Looking North from the same spot

Michael’s Mistake offering some thrills

Creek opening up between Ramshead chair and Swaggie’s

Luckily the nights have been somewhat cooler than the days and snowmaking has continued keeping the Supertrail, Sundowner and High Noon open.

There is a cold front coming in 24 to 48 hours but how much rain and snow that it will generate is too hard to predict. Being only August I still hope we get the Whistler late season dump. One saving grace this year is that we haven’t yet had the red dust from the NW winds.