Every Day an Improvement

At last, another report! I arrived in the village late on Sunday afternoon a little disappointed at the amount of snow in the village after all the reports I had been receiving up until Saturday night. The drive from Sydney against the end of NSW school holiday traffic was quite effortless. I saw snow on the Brindabellas but not much else. It was snowing as I past Cooma Airport and again as I crossed Varney's Range. There was snow on the hilltops around Jindabyne and then in the trees from Penderlea onwards. The Alpine Way looked beautiful with snow in all the trees but the road itself was dry.

When I awoke on Monday morning the snow was gone from the trees and although it had been snowing in the village when I went to bed it had rained in the village sometime later. First run down the Supertrail went sticky when I reached the Meadows. Many were caught out by the sudden deceleration. Luckily riding over the sticky groom meant the base soon lost its grip but the off piste remained sticky down low.

Tuesday started with a beautiful clear blue sky and a wind chill around -14C. The snow pack had been topped up a little more and was dry. The off piste from the top was opened for the first time this year. There was even some wind slab up high. Despite several friends extending their weekend the few runs open were not too crowded.

Today was overcast with a dusting of new snow. The off piste had firmed up and was generally smooth without having to worry much about breakable wind slab.

In all I have had 3 very enjoyable mornings on the snow. It's good to be back even if only for a limited time.

First rays on Tuesday morning

Thar be freshies below Eagles Nest

Close up of The Bluff - still sketchy

Sundance (not yet open) and High Noon in the background

Sponars (not yet open) and Central Spur

World Cup open to mid station

The Traverse (open to Village) with Eagles Nest in the background

Good friends at Bastille Day dinner at Knickerbocker last night
celebrating Frank's and Marion's big birthdays

Q5 this morning

My Meadows snow depth indicator replaced by bales of straw

Last night we enjoyed Jean-Michel's excellent Bastille Day dinner at Knickerbocker whilst celebrating both Frank's and Marion's birthdays that are separated by a few days either side of Bastille Day. Frank is now in his mid 90's and Marion's birthday has a zero at the end of it but I wouldn't dare mention what the first digit is ;-)

It has started snowing lightly again whilst I write this report.

Generally the cover is pretty good. The snow making system, especially on Eagle Way and The Traverse, has provided a good base to ride. The groomers have been doing a great job. I skied all over the open runs today and I declare Thredbo open for a good ride ;-)

Antons T-bar should be open tomorrow and work continues in The Basin to hopefully get it open by the weekend.

There's still some more snow to fall but I fear much of it will miss the Snowy Mountains. Fingers crossed.

For those missing my grumps ;-) You will have to wait until I'm fully settled back into Thredbo. My focus is unfortunately on other matters that simply won't wait.