Hmmm...!

I awoke to a dusting of overnight snow above 1600m. With some sun breaking through I rallied the team and headed off to the Kosciuszko Express - finally open after autumn maintenance.

Considering there wasn't any skiing or boarding on offer, my plan was for a leisurely stroll out to the bridge followed by a tasty cuppa at Eagles Nest. I put on my ski clothes and gathered up my beni and gloves - and just as well. Up top the wind was ripping across the frozen tundra. The weather charts had said there was a mild wind-chill of -5C and a wind strength of less than 10kph. What the charts didn't say was that the anemometer (wind speed measurer) was frozen up. The wind was howling at around 60-70kph. This together with a frozen layer covering the pavers on the walking track made it impossible to walk up the steeper grades and simply foolish to walk on at any grade. We plodded into the head wind walking in the fresh snow beside the track to the bridge. The weather was coming in and going any further seemed suicidal.

There ain't much snow out there on the main range but as I type away here at my desk I can see snow flakes blowing in onto my balcony - a good sign :-)

Here are a few snappies from this morning. There will be more taken over the long weekend.

An overnight dusting and a red-tinged sunrise indicating more to come

Looking across Central Spur

Frozen grasses showing where the wind was blowing from

Each individual blade of grass was frozen into place

Looking east from the old bridge past the new bridge

The big freeze that came after rain not snow

Billy Buttons

Eagles Nest was a welcome stop after the double digit negative wind chill

I have nothing but scathing comments about the state of main runs
- see below -

It wouldn't be a proper report without that shot from the bridge ;-)

It is possible that I have misjudged KT and that they knew there would be no snow and so have delayed filling in the bike tracks until after this weekend but I doubt it. If I'm wrong, I apologise now for the following comments.

The major piste runs in Thredbo are a disgrace! Traversed with deep mountain bike tracks. There appears to have been no attempt to level out the slopes and only appear to contain the occasional straw bale to limit erosion by rain.

How much extra snow will be required before a "smooth" piste run can be provided for skiers and boarders? The photos above are of World Cup but Supertrail and other runs have equally deep trenches across them. I sincerely hope (as I'm sure the ski patrol do) that no skiers or boarders end up with serious injuries due to the danger of dipping a tip into a deep trench on Thredbo's premier piste runs. And what will become of these slopes in Spring when as the snow base is depleted?

Not happy Jan. Very disappointing!