It's a Big Blow

The big hair dryer from the west has been blasting away and defrosting the Australian Alpine for days (and nights) now. So far we have been lucky in the NSW resorts in avoiding the forecast rains, which I am informed have hit the Victorian resorts big time.

Despite all the gloom and doom I've actually enjoyed the last 2 mornings out skiing. Yes the snow has been soft from the start but not overly so. Yesterday I skied all over the resort including to the bottom on High Noon and Supertrail. I only did those once each but I was surprised how good High Noon was - albeit detoured through the Friday Flat beginners area. Merritts was good. All T-bars were good and the skiing to mid station on Kosi was fun early up.

Some cloud cover and breeze has kept the temperatures below 8C with a wind chill below zero making for comfortable skiing for the past two days. Today I surprised myself by having 3 (yes 3) fun runs down Supertrail to mid station. On the final descent (on World Cup) to mid station on my 3rd run I did manage to clip two rocks and that made me decide to go higher.

Yesterday I could easily ski through the rocks at the top of Karels but today I had to walk a few metres across the grass and rock. So much snow has been melted off overnight that the resort is really showing its last legs. High Noon is still open today but I downloaded from BunnyWalk station.

On Monday through Wednesday Thredbo hosted the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup with many competitors attempting to qualify for next year's Winter Paralympics in Russia. I can't tell you how brave these guys and gals are. The conditions were not good and yet they hammered through the GS and Slalom courses early in the morning before we were even on the slopes. You all should be congratulated. I take my hat off to each and every one of you.

Wednesday and Kosi mid station is open

Some of the brave competitors on the Slalom course

We didn't get to see many of them as most of the races were held before 8:30

Truly brave people in less than perfect conditions

Thursday: Looking down to the Cruiser from Wiamea

Looking back up Supertrail from BunnyWalk

Friday Flat. You can just see the High Noon entrance centre photo
On my last run down Milk Run for 2013 (yesterday)

World Cup this morning (Friday)

Dark storm clouds rolling in over Karels T-bar this morning

I downloaded today from BunnyWalk on Snowgums chair

The groomers have done an amazing job with what they have to work with and I totally applaud the opening of mid station on Kosi chair this week. However, despite all the hard work, there are springs, creeks and waterfalls appearing everywhere. I suspect the Fat Lady will be singing on Sunday afternoon unless something magical happens.

Apart from a sudden burst of global cooling resort riding will be over prematurely this year. How long the back country lasts is debatable. Something tells me I won't be skiing on December 12 like last year :-(

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