Saturday's Tour - Part 2

Continuing from my previous report on my tour on Saturday - this report is full of photos taken on Saturday.

With the arrival of the best skiing day in a week, I decided to take the Snowgums challenge and went out for a short ski. Snowgums was the usual slow ride. I removed my fleece once I reached the top as it was completely sheltered from the 30+kph SW wind. The course I decided upon to get up behind Eagles Nest was on snow. The wind at the top was a welcome relief. It took me the best part of 90 minutes from the bottom of Snowgums lift to the top of Signature Hill where I indulged in morning tea #1.

It was amazing how little was left to show of the 20-30cm of snow that fell on Tuesday and Wednesday. Marion and I had gone out to the hill only the week before to check out her waterfall and there was little difference in snow cover. Being such great weather (the past 2 months have been wonderfully blue) I kept going from the top of the North Face past Everest to (new) North Ramshead and had another brief morning tea and then over the rim of Cootapatamba Valley.

Not enough snow on the west facing slope to ski to the valley floor so I decided against skiing the South Ridge but instead redirected to (old) North Ramshead to check out the sights from this vantage point. With a spectacular view over Leather Barrel Creek I indulged in morning tea #3.

After an enjoyable ski back towards the 'hill' I was surprise to see the North Face was still untracked, so you can guess what I did next. The snow had now slowed somewhat but I climbed back up my staircase for morning tea #4 - it should have been lunch but I had not intended staying out so long. I skied the Main face of the 'hill' (also slow) back almost to the walking track. There were quite a few other tracks on the Main face that had appeared after my first climb in the morning but by the time I arrived back, there was no sign of those who also had endured the climb up from Snowgums top station.

After the slow ride back to the village it was 2:30pm and I was pleased that I had taken such a supply of coffee (not tea ;-) and nibbles. Lunch was enjoyed at the late hour of 3pm.

I spotted the Meadows snow base indicator up on stands
And this shot I took when I returned from my day out

The snow pack is imploding on itself all over

Thin snow bridges are to be avoided at all cost

One of the main attractions on the main range is host of rock formations

Everest

Behind Everest

Club Lake chutes photographed at ‏‎10:56 and‏‎12:45
Note the new tracks that have appeared

The totem pole beside Pyramid is anything but straight when viewed from the side
and nearby it's the Mr Grumpy boulder ;-)

That regular shot of the 'hill' taken from the bridge

A teaser of some of the photos to come in the next report, as I try to do the majestic scenery justice
South Ridge to Kosi peak on the right and pools of melt water on the high plateau

More photos from Saturday in the next report.

Meanwhile the grumpy saga continues on: wikigrumps/4579700901_2014101918/