Is This August In The Southern Hemisphere?

It's not been a good week (that makes another one). We started the season over again on Saturday having been reduced back to grass earlier.

Sunday morning looked promising and I went out for the first time in a week. Being a weekend the main runs tracked out very quickly and I soon found myself in the Basin and then on Karels where the somewhat limited visibility was keeping the crowds away. I had several very enjoyable runs in untracked quality snow up to 20cms deep. The drop over into the Basin had a mix on deep fresh, clear blue ice sheets and some more wind packed snow. Pick the right line and it was sweet but only a couple of metres away were rocks and ice but visibility was down to less than 2 metres at times.

Monday arrived and there had been more snow but it was only sleet in the village. I went out and quickly found the new snow was sticky. The groomed runs were mostly soft and creamy but visibility was again an issue. I couldn't see a thing in the Basin and Karels was closed for obvious reasons (well they would have been obvious reasons if you could even see the bottom station).
My last ride up Kosi chair coincided with an 85kph wind gust and I decided that I didn't want to share the lower slopes with all those bankers and lawyers (NSW Bank Holiday) so I came back in.

It started raining before 8:30pm last night and kept up all night. It stopped for a while this morning allowing me to take some photos but has started again.
The "official" report says 15cms up top. I hope so because it means the creeks won't be bursting out and the main range will be topped up but ... several times last night when looking out my bedroom window (awoken by high wind and horizontal rain) I could see the light at Eagles Nest meaning rain not snow all the way to the top. Winds overnight hit 119kph and stayed gusting above 100kph for much of the night.

You guessed it - I didn't go out this morning but I can see others did and Kosi chair has been running so wind hasn't been all too bad today.

Friday: Kosi Base

Friday: Grassy Sundance and High Noon in background

Friday: Upper Supertrail

Saturday: Sun, wind & snow making - Sundance and High Noon

Saturday: Crackenback

Saturday: Upper Supertrail

Sunday: Crackenback

Sunday: Sundance and High Noon

Sunday: Lower Supertrail and Rim Run above The Basin

Today (Tuesday): A break in the rain
Sundance and High Noon

So many things to grump about but having finally got an election date I can't resist a little dig ;-)

You may have heard yesterday, what I believe to be, Mr Abbott's resignation speech: "I will not lead a minority government"?

With so many new parties and opportunities to give others a go, my prediction of the next Australian government will be a minority Liberal government having to do deals with Bob Katter, Clive Palmer, Julian Assange and Pauline Hanson, all of whom should be given a chance or simply elected as a protest over the appalling behaviour of Labor & Liberals over the past 4 years. If the major parties are given a big enough scare at the next election then may be, just may be they'll start listening (really listening) to the Australian people.

What a fun and interesting next 4 years we will have but I wish I didn't have to first go through the next 5 weeks of lies (future broken promises) and all the rest of the bull manure that will be thrust upon us.

May the snow gods have pity on us and deliver several big dumps (of snow) in the next 2 weeks.