Main Range 23-26 August 2008
Since the snow began in early July there had barely been a fine weather window longer than a day or so. When the forecast indicated a few days of fine weather on the back of a cold front we jumped at the opportunity to get out on the range for a few days. Leave taken care of (some legitimate) James, Andrew, Mark and Justin headed for the hills. We wanted to get to Perisher in time for the first oversnow of the morning which involved Andrew and I leaving Canberra at 4am saturday morning, and Mark and Justin leaving Newcastle at 10.30pm Friday night for an all nighter. We managed to pull this off and we were first at the CP ticket window. When the window finally opened we were told that all the transport was booked up until 11am. We weren't happy. We weighed up a few options and decided to head up to Blue Cow on the tube then ski out from Guthega. We hadn't really packed with this route in mind so the trip out was a long and hard one.
We arrived at the targeted camp site at around 1.30 pm pretty buggered. After setting up the tent we decided that we would give skiing a miss and instead put our effort into constructing a snow cave camp kitchen. After a couple of hours digging we had constructed a deluxe four seat kitchen and bench.
Once this was complete it was time to take in the sunset from the Sentinel Ridge. I managed to get a fair way out on foot and successfully negotiated John Deere's Step!
The Crags from Sentinel Ridge
Carruthers Peak from Sentinel Ridge
The Crags just before sunset
John Deere's Step
The Crags just before sunset
The Sentinel after Sunset
Firday nights snowfall wasn't eveident on the range so there was no hurry to get into the skiing in the morning. We had a late start then headed towards Caruthers peak to finally knock off the north face. We picked a couple of chutes out and then got on our way. We'd only been walking a short while when we noticed someone else about to drop into the chute that was assigned to me. After cursing at/about this person for several minutes we ran into the designated film crew for this snow boarder. After having a bit of a chat we realised it was Dibble poaching our line. If you are going to have your line poached it way as well be a ski.com'er.
Dibble Poaching my line!
Mark happy as he approaches the north face of Carruthers.
Once on top of Carruthers we reassessed options and found two inviting chutes off the highest part of the peak. By the time we dropped in the sun had softened them just about the right amount. We both enjoyed a sensational run of sustained fall line.
Mark skiing the north face of Carruthers
Mark at the bottom of the run
Once at the bottom our film crew packed up and headed for a slightly more accessible line to the east of the funnel. They joined us at the bottom of the chutes about 30 minutes later and we all enjoyed lunch in summer like conditions down low.
Andrew and Justin making their way down Curruthers North.
After a ski back up the middle ridge it was time for Andrew to depart (he's taking his new job seriously).
The skin out.
The bootpack out for the plastic skin crew!
Andrew on his way home.
Whilst we watched Andrew ski back to the Snowy we ran into another couple of skiers. One of them turned out to be Tele Tom. He was contemplating skiing the north face of Carruthers also but had been distracted by Watsons Creek on the way out. Afterw eighing up options tele tom and his mrs parted and we headed to the crags for some late afternoon fun with some climbing tools.
TeleTom is comforted by his mrs after she tells him the north face of Carruthers will have to wait for another day.
We saw a couple of genuine climbers reaching the top of the Crags on the way.
Climbers reaching the top of the Crags
Mark playing with his tools
After another cosy night in the snow cave we woke to another fine day. We decided our main aim for the day was to ski the Triple A off Twynam. We got up there a little to early so we had a warm up run off Tenison Woods Knoll into Watsons Creek. After this we headed over to Twynam. By this stage the wind had picked up and conditions were rather chilly. At this point we encountered a pretty tough looking dude wearing only a t-shirt. We said hello and quickly realised it was another ski.comer, Telemark Fred and his brother. They were on their way to the same spot we were camped in so we told them we had no problems sharing so they headed off to set up whilst we skiied the Triple A. We had an awesome run, followed by a skin out of a very hot Watsons Creek.
Justin drops in to the Triple A
Mark skiing the Triple A
Mark and Justin skinning out along Watson's Creek
After the Triple A we headed over toward Ant Ridge to ski the line between Ant Ridge and Walters Gully. This is a pretty hard line to find from above. By the time we found it it was getting late so we abandonned our plans and headed back to the camp site. Whilst i like to think it was the time that sent us packing i think the imposing slope below us was more of a factor. Not sure if it was any steeper than Carruthers or Triple A but the continuation of the slope some 1500 vertical metres below us was enough to discourage us from dropping in.
When we got back to the camp site Tele Fred and his bro had already set up, then followed us down the Triple A and still beat us back to the camp site (oh to be fit). Since we now had five people in the camp site we got busy extending our cave kitchen to seat five or more.
Telemark Fred and his brother checking out conditions from near the camp site. Our tracks visible on the north face of Carruthers in the background.
Later in the afternoon we were treated to another impressive afternoon sky.
High cloud late Monday afternoon
Sunset over the Sentinel - Monday afternoon.
On tuesday morning we woke to stronger winds which gradually picked up during the morning. CLouds also built up with the wind and conditions were pretty ordinary by the time we started packing up.
Telemark Fred and Bro in our cave kitchen.
Mark and James in the cave kitchen
View out the door of the cave kitchen
Ainslie Harriot - Cave Kitchen Guardian and Breaker of Men
We decided to pack up and piss off rather than battle the wind for a last run. We skied back to Charlotte Pass and again got dicked around by the oversnow transport. We had to wait 2.5 hrs for the next available cat!