You Never Never Know If You Never Never …

Tuesday provided one of the best snow condition days of the season and considering what had occurred over the past 2 days that is simply amazing. I made first chair (for the first time in a long time) and with no queue behind me. I can only assume the cloud sitting over the mountain had discouraged everyone else from rushing out.

Turning off Eagle Way onto Little Merritts was interesting as I couldn’t even see my ski tips in the fog. It wasn’t a mist fog as my goggles and suit remained dry but all I could do was ski by Braille until Kareela. The snow felt great – a sort of creamy consistency on a firm-ish base.

Upper Supertrail was soft and untracked. I couldn’t believe how good it felt after yesterday’s frozen corduroy. I rushed back up and did another only to notice that between race club and the other few punters on the mountain that Milk Run was cutting up quickly. The cloud lifted enough after this to allow me to take several lines down the Bluff – surprisingly great skiing and untracked. There was hardly a soul on the mountain. The bumps below the Bluff down to the rope line on Cannonball were soft and carvable with soft creamy snow between. There was no jarring or rattling of teeth – not even on the ungroomed True Blue or lower off-piste areas.

By 10:00am I noticed the lower slopes had suddenly made a transition from fast to gluey. Time for coffee. Instead of heading off to work I decided to have a quick look in the Basin – nice – not gluey, so it was up Karels. The wind had picked up and I could sail out to the gap between the rocks without a single push. The usual drop after the gap had gone allowing me to just ski straight through the rocks and onto lovely soft creamy wind blown. A fast run across the now partially exposed vegetation above the Basin and onto more creamy snow. I did this time and time again. There was no one else around and the vis was good enough to allow me to let rip in the soft conditions. Eventually my time was up and so I dropped into Golf Course, which had 10 –15cm of untracked soft snow down to the run out, which was gluey and got stickier the further I dropped down. I packed it in around midday, very glad to have been out there.

This morning looked similar to yesterday with low cloud again across the mountain. There were even some snow flurries but little to no wind. I made first chair again. Where is everyone? The groomers were soft – a wetter sort of soft than yesterday. The off piste was firmer. As the morning progressed the tracked off piste became harder while the groomers became cut up and softer. Karels and Basin offered the best but any off piste was fine if it had not been cut up yesterday. Swaggies was nice but Cannonball sucked – when compared to yesterday. The sun has put in several appearances today. Some more cold wind would improve the snow, as would some more flakes.

Milk Run - Tuesday morning

Kareela Face then down to Tower 10

With some big turns on World Cup past Mid Station

Riding into the cloud yesterday

Crackenback, today, the clearest it has been since Saturday

Upper and Lower Funnel Web taken from Golf Course exit

Sponars and Antons today after the cloud lifted

They’re at it again, preparing for Saturday’s $10,000 Big Air comp

Build it and they will come

Unfortunately I won’t be in town for tomorrow's Memorial Race so I can’t bring you photos of the ‘super heroes’. Blame it on the moron who ran his truck into the back of my car while I was stopped at traffic lights in Canberra a month ago.

A special (and belated) Happy Birthday to Charlie who has turned 80 and will be in Thredbo this weekend for some celebrations and may be a few turns on the snow.