OMG x 2

One Magnificent Great morning, One More Gorgeous dump. What a surprise?

Watching ski patrol put up 'closed' signs around the resort during the week and forecasts for heavy rain and possible snow, left me thinking there may not be much left in winter. Then after 66mm of rain in the 24hrs to 6:00am this morning I thought that we would be hard pressed to make it through the next week.

A little after 6:00am this morning the snow started falling. Between 6:30 and 7:30 so much fell that the snowploughs were running around the village. I refitted the fleece liner to my parka, got out my coldest weather gloves and pulled on a neck warmer. Outside it was cold (-14C wind-chill up top). Already there were a couple of centimetres settled in the village and it was only 8am.

I can't recall when I've seen so much snow fall in such a short space of time in Thredbo. Thanks to Linda (who noticed her family turned up early and thought she should ride with them) I was on first chair with Wendy, Outback Phil and Marcus.

As we rode the chair, we could see some of the damage done by the torrential rains and then we noticed the ice. The slopes were like a camouflage pattern of grey ice patches and white fresh snow between newly exposed rocks and shrubberies. We were a little apprehensive, to say the least, as we turned off Eagle Way and onto Little Merritts. Phil led the parade and below Kareela Hutte it was my turn to have first tracks down Supertrail until below BunnyWalk when Marcus had his turn carving the dry soft snow.

It was great skiing. The ice patches weren't as solid as they looked and the new snow was much lighter and faster than we had expected. Second run on freshies down World Cup, but not below where 'closed' signs had been all week. I've too much respect for the cost of tuning rock-ravaged bases. Third run, first tracks on Kareela Face, down WC and across for freshies on Rossi racecourse (10cm deep on groomed :-). I had intended hitting the Basin next ride up but having seen untracked lines under Snowgums chair I did a 4th glorious run to the bottom. Then, finally, into The Basin where only 2 others were dealing with fresh snow and very little visibility. I only did a couple and then took a punt on another run (name intentionally withheld), which was as good as any other Saturday morning first tracks run has been all season.

After coffee, Outback Phil, Linda, Chris, Chook, David and I got into The Basin where the vis had improved. The Rim Run kept giving us fresh tracks every run - up to 15cms of dry powder and it was magnificent. Karels was closed but then I'm happy to save it till tomorrow morning ;-)

Possibly my longest day on the slopes in the resort this season but work commitments brought me back and with quite an appetite.

May be it was the drugs (painkillers) or that it was the second last day of September but I thought today was one of the best mornings of the season. Some of this could also be due to the fact that no one was here so the freshies lasted much longer. Oh, and the full moon of course ;-)

Friday Flat, early on Tuesday morning

What I saw on a trip to Merritts on Tuesday
a lot of snow

Top of Crackenback - Tuesday
Antons groomed on both sides

Thursday and black clouds build over Sig Hill
I neither skied nor took photos on Friday when it rained all day

This morning: unknown skier on World Cup, Phil off Rim Run
David at bottom of The Basin & Boarder-Dude on The Basin

Linda in The Basin with Chris in the background
Yes it was quite dark today

Merritts Creek has broken out on Merritts Falls

With huge blocks of ice & snow collapsing into the creek

Crackenback today

Sundance today

Yes, Thredbo is still top-to-bottom on Supertrail & High Noon and Sundance appears open again and there's no one around. The brown snow should again be covered by the new snow for a while and outback will be good except that many creeks could be quite dangerous due to under cutting by the heavy rains.

Happy Birthday boarder-dude Chris for Wednesday. Today certainly made your trip to Thredbo worthwhile. Hopefully we will see you more often in Thredbo. Happy Birthday Tim for tomorrow.