Powder & Slush But No Splash

Some call Friday 13th 'Black Friday' but here in Thredbo it was 'White Friday' with fresh snow all the way to the village.

There were freshies in the Basin. The traverse from the bottom of Karels was not as difficult as on Thursday and the fresh, squeaky-dry powder was fun - up to 10cms deep on a very firm base.

After several untracked runs off the Rim Run it was time for coffee and Marion convinced me to take a run to Dead Horse Gap. The fresh snow was so nice I couldn't resist. We had to climb up Karels (where the snow was wonderful) and there was enough for us to traverse all the way out of the resort. The run to the tree line was on narrow powder strips between larger ice sheets. Once at tree line, the snow was delicious down to the point where we began traversing out of Bogong Creek. The snow then turned sticky and made for a hard going to the final descent where there was only a sprinkling of the overnight snow on top of the vegetation - we ended up carrying our skis down the walking track.

Unfortunately the trip to DHG meant I missed the One Hit Wonder. I thought it was on today. C'est la vie.

Today, after several runs on a nice corduroy cover in the Basin, I stopped for early coffee before crossing to the 'far side' basically to photo the 'Pond Skim' event scheduled for late morning above Cruiser. The off piste was quickly turning to slow and sticky consistency in the warming sun. I did several on Antons' groomed runs before crossing to Wiamea to view the event - only to be told by Daveo that it had just been cancelled. The reason: during early practice sessions a snow boarder punctured the pond liner and all the water leaked out and the liner could not be repaired in time. This left a lot of potential competitors in their onesies rather disappointed but dry ;-)

Merritts, Antons and the Basin are holding up OK. Karels seemed fine yesterday when we hiked up but the boxes have already been removed :-(

Freshies on the Rim Run on Friday morning

Trekking out of the resort towards Bogong

Marion below the tree line

This was the best part of our sojourn

Just a dusting of Thursday's snow beside Bogong Creek, taken from the bridge

Efterski (Swedish for Apres ski) Party in Village Square

A platoon of back country skiers take to (closed) Karels T-bar line - today

Looking down to Cruiser base at Merritts
Ballroom getting quite thin

Pond skimmers in their fancy dress, which was the entry price

The empty pond bottom right complete with deck chairs
with the One Hit Wonder jump behind

I've been told that Perisher is offering a free day pass to anyone with a season pass from another resort. Good marketing and something I will take advantage of next week when Thredbo is all but closed down. It seems the plan to close all but the Basin T-bar is still going ahead. I'll let you know on Twitter if that changes.

Another cold front is forecast for later in the week.

Jock, Ian & Simon held their final jam session for winter 2013 at the Ullr last night. A good crowd of locals and staff had a great night.