90 Days

It had been 2 and a half weeks since I last had a ski and finally the weather turned in favour of skiing. Well, it wasn't raining and there wasn't a howling wind or killer temperatures that went all the way up into the 20s.

Sunday 9th: 16 degrees, wind gusts to 70kph. Although the humidity level didn't help the snow cover it prevented a full on Turkish bath experience in the mountains. There's been even stronger winds, mostly hot.

The Kosciuszko Express quad chair reopened on Saturday after a month of maintenance but Saturday was a windy, overcast & miserable day. It was certainly a bit of a dampener for the opening weekend of the mountain bike season.

Sunday 16th: It was wet. It rained horizontal pussies & puppies. 68ml in 12 hours starting around midnight on Saturday night.

Yesterday was still quite windy (50-60kph) but I did do a quick reconnaissance trip with Jane via Eagles Nest for coffee and scones. The wind chill was sub-zero.

I went out today in lovely sunshine with temps in single digits up top and a nice breeze that kept the wind-chill about 5C lower than the air temp. Although I did get a bit of a sweat going on the first climb, my gortex shell remained on the entire time.

The snow (about 2m less depth than last time out) was firm with a couple of cms of soft on top. The surface was pitted and undulating due to all the winds and rains over the past weeks. It was easy boot packing up the Main Face of the "hill". There wasn't enough left on the North Face to bother with, so I set to work doing 8's on the remains of the Main Face, between taking lots of photos and sipping on coffee from the thermos. I got 15 turns on the long runs and 11 turns on the short.

All in all it was great fun, good exercise and I have now made 90 days on snow this year in Thredbo. Nothing compared to last year's total but considering everything, I was surprised I got this far.

Several people enquired today as to why I was doing it. My standard reply is that it beats going to the Gym and it smells a lot better ;-) Exercise with a reward (turns on snow) and the fresh air and peacefulness of being alone on the peaks clears my head - at least for a short while.

Last week the last of the snow on The Bluff melted in the shape of a Skull
if you can see what I see. Shots taken on Nov 3rd and 8th

Remains of the jumps beside Antons (shot yesterday - Nov 17th)
and the last of the snow play patch ;-) on Nov 3rd

Mountain Biking Season is open with all the usual features

Waterfall on Sunday beside Ramshead Chair
Beauty of November advent purple wildflowers below Eagles Nest

Campers below Signature Hill yesterday
And there was not a sign of them having been there as I climbed the hill today. Well done.

Old North Ramshead (top centre) and new North Ramshead (top right)
Close up of new North Ramshead and the Totem Pole

Club Lake Chutes, North Face and Everest today

There wasn't much room and the uneven surface and rain gullies made for poor 8's
But it was fun!

The white of winter is making way for brilliant colours of Spring and Summer

That shot from the bridge using a little camera special-effect ;-)

With the forecast as it currently is and the rapidly diminishing base, I doubt I will get back to the "hill" this year.

Happy Birthday to Joyce for Thursday.

The Thredbo Blues Festival is almost upon us again. January 16-18, 2015. There's a fantastic line up including:
Russell Morris, Jeff Lang, Rick Price, Ray Beadle and many of our past favourites as well as quite a few new faces.
Get the buzz at: http://www.thredbo.com.au/thredboblues/

And the grumps keep flowing freely. There's no end insight. For the latest episode visit WikiGrumps at: wikigrumps4579700901_2014111213/