One Small Step For Man; One Giant Leap For Pain

Along with many others, I was surprised by the fresh snowfall last Monday morning. I had freshies on top of the groomed Supertrail and the same for several more runs from Kosi chair before moving to the Basin and Karels where I completed a wonderful morning. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but take my word for it, it was great - so much so I turned up very late for coffee.

Tuesday was also a total surprise. Fresh snow (about twice the depth of that on Monday) meant freshies on the Supertrail again. Yes, I had been on early chairs two days running. As I skied down the Supertrail, beside the first person to make tracks there, I could see his big smile and I thought to myself that I should stop and photo our turns in the 5-10cms of fresh on top of groomed. But hey, I was having way too much fun to stop and take snaps. By the time I came back up the chair, our tracks had been obliterated and upon seeing the Basin was already open, I high-tailed it to the T-bars.

Everyone was grinning from ear to ear. Up Karels and not a sign of Monday's tracks. 10-15cms of fresh on top of everything. The snow was strangely slow with a sort of grainy / abrasive texture that made the deeper snow somewhat heavier than Monday's. After several good untracked lines and coffee, Marion and I headed out to DHG. Freshies all the way and only a lone cross-country skier's tracks (going uphill) could be seen. It was during this run that I noticed the pain in my foot was worse than first experienced earlier in the morning. I was using some new footbeds for the first time.

Wednesday morning I knew I had a sore foot and went out to see how bad it was. Standing in Kosi queue and finding it difficult to click into my bindings I knew something was certainly wrong. By the time I skied down Little Merritts and hit the first race club rut near Kareela, sending shooting pain through my leg, I knew my ski day was over. It turns out I've opened up an old wound and I haven't put on a ski boot since, not even my old ones, which should be OK once the worst of the damage has healed (pun not intended ;-).

As a consequence, the only photos I am now taking are from village level. Next Saturday's Top-To-Bottom race is looking a distant dream at this stage.

The Basin on Tuesday

The last rope line before leaving the resort

An untracked run to Dead Horse Gap ahead

Marion resting on the new bridge

Today - Saturday: from left to right - Funnelweb bumps

Cannonball bumps

Eagles Nest - bumps were groomed out yesterday

Central Spur: Sponars and Anton's T-bars

New sport of Cat Jumping?

No, setting up Lower Sundance for something else

Oh well, the sun has been shining since my forced rest and I'm using the time well to complete my tax return for last year. That's got to be about the worst way to spend time in Thredbo :-(.

The snow guns have been busy making the most of the clear-sky, cold nights. More fresh snow should be coming in about a week.

Please note that while the snow base is excellent, accommodation bookings in Thredbo remain low for midweek stays and there are some good discounts available.