Skiing locally

[rsser]

Gotta get some sanity back and luckily found a bungalow cheap in Mt Beauty, so I'm up here for a few months.

I do XC, day and overnight.

Will do Mt Bogong with a few mates soon. That's been on the bucket list for a while. Stay at Cleve Cole hut and ski the gullies.

[Gaza]

nice one,

i cant wait to hit the slopes next wk end, maybe a few BC trips this year.

[sjm]

Might see you up there, I'm a regular on Bogong, summer and winter. Usually walk in from Mountain Creek, up the staircase and camp somwhere between the summit and West Peak. I generally avoid CC, for much the same reason I avoid Federation on Feathertop. Usually spend 4-5 days at a time on Bogong massif, and another couple of shorter trips (3-4 days) on BHP, Stirling, Baw Baw areas. Always avoid huts, much rather stay in a tent for an overnighter, or build an igloo if in the one spot for a while.

[rsser]

Yeah, magnificent country in the winter.

I'm getting a wee bit decrepit so this winter's assault on the big fella will be via the East; Mulhauser Spur then Long Spur on the AAWT.

I like huts to cook and warm up in.

Always take a folding bow-saw to replace the fuel.

Anyways you might see me out there; I wear a black peaked cap.

Say hello; if I don't answer ring 000 ;-}

[RETIRED]

Say hello; if I don't answer ring 000 ;-} But you might be trying cryogenics.:wink:

[rsser]

:hahaha:

[steck]

http://www.offthemark.com/Images/skiing/ski01.gif
Sounds like an adventure, Ern!
Good for the soul! Ideal for some Gluwein, I think.

[rsser]

Is there a freeze-dry version?

Got a good first morning out today, from Windy Cnr to Pretty Valley Hut.

Filthy weather: low vis, high winds, hail coming in horiz. like buckshot; punishing on muscles and bones not yet adapted, but had a great time :D

To and from here, FWIW:

Home - SPOT Satellite Messenger (http://www.findmespot.com/mylocation/?id=5G9MF/36.89372S/147.25146E)

[rsser]

During the week the region had 70cm of snowfall so conditions are excellent.

Telemark turning on a blanket of fresh dry snow is a real high.

Next week 3 days of on-piste telemark lessons are scheduled at Hotham. Complete with video analysis - so you have rammed home to you the ways in which you're fudging proper technique.

Pic is of some pines from the hydro construction days, taken at the end of the snow dump; there's quite a length of groomed XC trails around Falls Ck for those who skate or do classical technique and this spot is in between several.

[wheelinround]

Real powder not that artificial stuff :2tsup:

[steck]

Very picturesque, Ern.
Does this mean that you have given up woodwork for the duration of the snow season?

[rsser]

Yes, 'fraid so.

Will pop back for a day or two for the missus' birthday and finish the split turning.

Otherwise I'm hoping for no close encounters with timber of any kind! Getting a pole basket hooked up in a snowgum is enough to dislocate a shoulder blade.

[sjm]

Beware of the snow snakes. :stretcher: :crutch:

[rsser]

LOL.

Last week one guy of 37 years old got choppered out of Falls Ck with a heart attack; proof positive to some that exercise is bad for you.

But the high risk times are when you're tired, the vis is low or the snow is icing up.

For the Bogong trip I've scored some lightweight boot crampons for insurance.

[rsser]

Driving over to Hotham and back yesterday I got a morning and evening shot of Bogong from the same vantage point.

[steck]

Wow! Great Pics.:2tsup:
It might almost make it worth putting up with all that COLD!

[rsser]

1 degree in Mt Beauty at 9am today! All the paddocks and lawns were white with frost.

[rsser]

But you might be trying cryogenics.:wink:

Wouldn't want him to feel he was getting the cold shoulder :D

(Why do the best ripostes come to you in the middle of the night?!).

[rsser]

The landlady's house is at the front and she's reno'd in a number of ways, not least redgum wainscoting.

But in one room, she had the ceiling lined with redgum boards all of the most spekky fiddleback. Sourced from the local mill. The figure changes are about a thumb width. Never seen the like. Drool, throttled omi-gods and chin on floor.

[rsser]

Cracked Bogong on foot and skis. Chuffed I am; though I needed my mates' help to ferry the pack up the last steep pinch before Cleve Cole hut. Bless 'em. I was completely knackered.

The intel had this approach as 2-3 hours; took us (ok me) 6 hours. Lots of trees down and regrowth after the fires meant 2 steps forward and one sideways.

We had 3 nights in the magnificent Cleve Cole hut but the vis was mis so while the summit goal was achieved, the hope of long runs down the gullies fell before my fear of further joint injuries.

Younger party members didn't feel so constrained and did Cairn Gully and Audax.