Leatherbarrel Creek - 17 July 2009
Earlier this week Wagga's weather looked good for snow.
A double rainbow outside my place on Tuesday afternoon.
I had a day to spare on Friday and i toyed with the idea of crossing the border and trying some Victorian frontcountry. Instead i thought i would get a bit more value for money out of my $200 Kosciuszko National Park annual pass and i headed off toward Thredbo and areas better known to me.
Was in the car at 5.10am, eating a great bacon and egg sanga at Khancoban's everything shop by 7.10am and was in the Thredbo Car Park by 8.30am. Bought a lift ticket then had my first run of the day - that was in the dunny just behind the ticket box. After that mess was sorted i took the lazy mans skin track up to the top of Karels and was on top of the Ramshead by 9.30am.
The Ramshead Express lift queue was empty.
Rime covered granite and a sea of cloud to the south west.
Moonscape view toward Jindabyne from near The Ramsehad.
View south from the Ramshead area. The Pilot (left) and The Cobbera's (right) sticking up out of the cloud.
From one moonly landscape to another.
View of the big fella (Mt Kosciuszko) from The Ramshead.
Cootuputamba Hut siting by the Swampy Plains River.
Second run of the day was down 'The Spur'. The top third was the usual wind beaten rime covered crap but it turned softish about 100m below the top of the Ramshead and by the time i hit the trees i was in deep goodness. The hardest choice on the way down was whether to ski The Spur or head skiers left into the nice gully that feeds into the Golden Gully. I stopped at the top to take a photo of this veteran snowgum - one of the few that survived the 2003 fires.
A rare unburnt snow gum on The Spur. He has a nice view of The Twin Humps, Mt Pinnibar, Mt Bogong and the Bogong High Plains.
And a nice colourful undercarriage.
The Twin Humps (right), Mt Pinnibar (left of centre) and Mt Bogong (left).
Both options looked great but i decided to continue down The Spur so i would end up closer to my next objective. The snow quality lower down was sensational. A very slight wind crust over 10-30cm of fresh snow.
My tracks down the lower part of The Spur.
After crossing the creek i skinned up to the top of the Twin Humps. As per usual th top section looked alot more difficult looking down from above than it did looking at it from a distance. And the upper 30 metres of the entry featured plenty of rocks that were only just covered or still sticking out. Lower down the snow cover looked good to skiers left but still a bit rocky skiers right. Needless to say after side slipping through the rocks i headed left and got some nice snow.
Whilst i was standing on top getting ready for my second run i was rudely interupted by a tele skier carving up the slopes beath The Corrie and The Coulior. It looked great.
A telemarker carves up the lower slopes of The Coulior.
On the way back up i spotted another line that looked good so it was back to the top for another go. Lack of fitness meant i was getting tired by this stage and I skied the second run like a bit of a numpty. It was still great fun.
My tracks from two runs down the Twin Humps.
My tracks from two runs down the Twin Humps.
The legs weren't feeling great so i decided to have a couple of runs down the more mellow and consistent slopes a bit north of the Twin Humps. The snow in this area was a little more crusty on top, but the crust was thin enough to allow you to easliy break in and ski the pow underneath. Had some great turns down these slopes.
My tracks down one of the mellow lines north of the Twin Humps.
My tracks down one of the mellow lines north of the Twin Humps.
A tad crusty on top but soft goodness underneath.
Another run - more of the same.
A better angle while skinning up The Spur.
By this time it was about 14.30 and the sun had all but dissappeared from the western side of the valley. The gully heading from The Spur into the Golden Gully had been hiding from view most of the day but i still remebered how good it looked earlier on so i started skinning back up The SPur with this run in mind. Problem was everything looked so good. Heading back up The Spur i couldn't help but have another short run down the lower half, next to my tracks from earlier in the day. Nothing had changed down there. Snow was still deep and in good shape.
My tracks down the lower part of The Spur.
My tracks down the lower part of The Spur.
By this stage i didn't have much left in the tank and i was happy heading back to Thredbo. That was until another sun lit snow filled gully presented itself over the rise. I couldn't miss the opportunity to put a few down the middle of the gully so i skinned across then had a short run down the gully into the shadows. Another awesome run.
More tracks.
Run heading into Golden Gully from The Spur. I wanted to keep going to the bottom but "legs say no".
By this time i was getting really tired, the temperature was dropping and wind picking up a little. Perfect time for a skin malfunction. The dry snow had rendered my skin glue useless and i couldn't keep it on the ski. After a couple of goes i gave up and boot backed to the nearest sun lit ridge. Here i was able to melt the ice off the bottom in the sun and get it to stick to the ski again.
It was now time to make the very slow skin back up the the Ramshead and then Thredbo. This was slow motion man it his best. 300m climb must have taken me 45 minutes.
High cloud had come in during the day so the sunset promised to be a ripper. Unfortunately i was to buggered to stick around. Took the skins off and then had the nice long run back the Firday Flat via Karels, Basin, Supertrail and Sundowner. This run is bloody hard when you've got nothing left in your legs and the visibility is poor. Luckily the groomer fleet was already on the job. I got a freshly groomed supertrail from just below Kareela Hutte.
High cloud over Mt Kosciuszko.
High cloud and late afternoon light on Rime Ice. The Ramshead.
Last light on granite torrs of The Ramshead range.
Last light on granite torrs of The Ramshead range.
Back in the car at 17.30. Learnt a good lesson on the way home. The servo at Khancoban closes some time before 18.50. The servos at Tumburrumba close at 19.00. You won't get a good take away feed in either place after 7pm (the pubs were still open but didn't have time for that). Luckily i had just enough fuel in the tank to get home - although i had to drive the last 100km slowly to maximise consumption. My 75L tank took 76L to fill.
Link to www.OzBC.net main page.