This season has left me… uninspired. False starts, irritable visitors and sunny days has meant my gaze has been focused eastward, towards the coast. While I have had some great resort days, the Backcountry this year has been frustrating. The days I have managed to get out there I have encountered poor weather with even poorer snow, but great company.
A windy day out on Guthega Trig with Rohan and Mark.
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| Rohan and Mark up Guthega Trig |
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| Windy transition, Mark is Mr Slow! |
A wet day touring on Mount Tate with
Damian and Dave. I had borrowed Holly's lovely Lumix camera, unfortunately, these are its last photos.
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| Damian and Dave heading up Mount Tate |
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| The last photo Holly's camera ever took, on our way back to Guthega, saturated |
And finally some nice turns in the Perisher sidecountry before it turned to slop with Belly.
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| Belly and his new lib tech split, north Paralyser trig |
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| Dropping north towards Guthega |
Not to be too negative, its always great to get out in the BC with good friends and sometimes the turns are secondary to the funny things that happen and the conversation.
Anyway, contrast this with the surf!
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| Ledgy reef on the NSW far south coast |
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| A frame goodness |
So when my buddy Peter, aka Fast Rimey, made the trek up from the Melbourne for some BC action I was a tad apprehensive. I had just returned from another trip to the coast and scored some great waves and was considering a day relaxing at home. Nevertheless, we arranged to meet in Jindabyne and drove up to Thredbo. At the Thredbo base there is no snow, however, the liftys gave us the heads up that there was snow at the top so we clicked in for the ride up.
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| Peter's new Praxis BC |
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| There is snow up there! |
They were right, there was plenty of snow at the top, and with a dusting of fresh, it actually looked pretty good. So good in fact, we did a few runs on the Basin, the only lift still spinning for skiing at Thredbo.
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| Top of Kosciuszko Express looking towards The Basin and Signature Hill |
The time came to hit the BC and we made our exit from the Basin top station. Our destination was the southern ridge of Mount Kosciuszko, terrain I had scoped out earlier in the season.
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| Getting out there |
We skied out along the base of Signature Hill and came around the northern Ramshead. It was here we encountered our first of a few interesting backcountry travellers for the day. A group on Nordic skiers (the ski style, not the region!) having a tilt at the Aussie 10, the ten highest peaks in Oz. They were really pushing it and managed a quick hello as they shuffled past.
We topped out at the ridge and got a great view to the west. We could clearly see the Victorian high country and the terrain we were heading to looked tasty.
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| The Pyramid |
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| Looking west into the Victorian high country |
We did a terrible run down the western face of the Ramshead through horrible wind affected ice to Cootapatamba Creek.
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| Me dropping into second run (courtesy Richard) |
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| Our work |
We had a bite to eat with our fellow BC travellers. The skier ended up being Richard from
Richards Report, a buddy of my ski bum father. While enjoying the food hit and sunshine we noticed two hikers approaching. Obviously lost, they asked us how to get back to Thredbo. They were heading towards Leather Barrel Creek and I would hate to think where they would have ended up if we weren't around to get them back on track.
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| Lucky fellas |
Richard and the snowboarder started their climb back towards Thredbo but Pete and I were keen for one more. As we got back into climbing mode a large group of ladies skied down from the Ramshead being guided by K7. We gave a quick g’day then started our climb. About half way up it was evident that the ladies were pretty fit, they were starting to reel us in. I managed to hold them off but Rimey, stopping for a drink had them nipping at his heels for the last 50 metres or so.
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| Climbing back up for more, you can just see us on the right (courtesy Richard) |
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| Its a great spot |
It ended up being a fantastic day out in the mountains, perhaps my best BC day for the season. I'm reinvigorated and ready for a few more, 2013 isn't over yet!
