Climb Every Mountain ... Enjoy a Cup of Jo

Yesterday I didn't ski for long at all. The cross over from Supertrail to World Cup to reach Kosi mid station had a big patch of dirt and rock to be crossed. I quickly moved to the Basin where I was having difficulty seeing the soft & sloppy undulations because really dark clouds mixed with my dark goggles made it look like night-time. It felt and looked like it was going to rain big time any time and so I bailed early. Luckily for those more persistent than me, the cloud thinned out and the light improved into a sunny afternoon.

As I downloaded from BunnyWalk station (High Noon is closed) I saw the longest queue at the base of Merritts chair that I have ever seen. All the Friday Flat folk were going to Merritts (Friday Flat also closed). The queue stretched back almost to the ticket office.

A heavy frost this morning (Sunday) was the first indicator of a possible firm base - firm but thin. The queue at 8:30 for Kosi chair was almost back across the wood chips to the Race Club Hut (Ramshead chair base) but by the time I got a seat there was not much of it left.

Marion had suggested morning tea on Signature Hill and so after only one down the Supertrail, which looked much better than it felt, I met up with Marion in the Basin where we both agreed that off piste needed more time to soften.

We did a couple on the Basin and Karels and decided that if we went slowly enough the off piste should be OK after we had had morning tea.

No need for skins, in fact the solid base would not have suited our old skins at all. Boot-packing was the fastest mode of climbing although at times we could only kick our toes in 1-2cms into the south facing slopes.

Coffee and chocolate and lemon tart were consumed below Everest. It looked enticing so up I went, leaving Marion with the camera. The cover was deep but extremely firm towards the top and I was some what tentative until I had descended the first 20m then the slope widened (a lot) and softened. During my last few turns the surface snow (now soft) was running ahead of me during my turns.

Back up the 'Back Door' and we decided that North Ramshead (aka Pyramid) was next. Second morning tea (coffee) was enjoyed along with the spectacular view before some high cloud started to shadow the range. After an easy and very fast run back to Signature Hill, we skied the main face back to the walking track. You can't ski back to the resort any more without traversing open creeks and/or grass and shrubberies.

We crossed the track and walked out to Summer Drift across the veg. Summer Drift was still nice but we had to cross more veg to get back onto the resort runs.

Hitting the in-resort snow was a shock. Soft and slow on the groomers. We switched to Merritts Falls and this was hard and bouncy - from one extreme to the next.

At a rough guess I would estimate than 1m of snow pack is melting each week on the main range whilst the gushing creeks are washing away the snow pack from underneath.

View from the base of the 'Hill' looking back towards the back of Karels T-bar
The creeks are opening and the snow pack disappearing

It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll
Yours truly climbing Everest - photos by Marion

Hard to leave a scratch on the firm base at the top but it softened at every turn

Avoid the crevasse and the rock

And finally the snow softens and beats you down the slope

The next target was North Ramshead (aka Pyramid)
It looks like a pyramid from other angles

Marion climbing Pyramid

View towards Jindabyne from the top of Pyramid

Marion descending Pyramid

We were surprised to have left a mark on the Main Face of Sig Hill - still firm after noon

It feels like mid October.

There are local forecasts for more frost. Big time forecasters say some snow may fall on Tuesday. I don't think there is any saving us from the inevitable. My aim this year is to reach at least 50% of the 126 days I skied in Australia last year. I still have to get another 7 days on the ever-diminishing snow.