Mt Tate - 17 August 2010
I wasn't sure whether Tuesday would be worth it or not. Reports were suggesting 10cm fresh during Monday afternoon but it looked to have dried up by early evening. Not wanting to have any regrets i jumped in the car at 10.30pm and drove to Jindy. Must have passed 1000 kangaroos on the way - mostly on stretch between Tumut and Talbingo. Also passed a group of brumbies near Kiandra and around 20 wombats between Adaminiby and Berridale. Luckily all stayed away from the front of the hilux.
The rain then snow played havoc with the road surface. The Snowy Mountains Highway was like an ice rink and i was sliding all over the place but managed to hold it together for a 2am arrival. Got a bit of broken sleep before it was time to get up, then hit the takeaway store for a greasy breakfast.
Met Rohan in town and we drove up to Guthega arriving to a mostly empty car park. things were looking good and only got better as i was the first to ski across the dam wall for the day. I always seemed to get beaten by someone but not today.
Fresh tracks across the dam wall.
We skinned up the old rope tow. The snow was light and fluffy in the trees so we decided to have a warm up run. Snow was great higher up but conditions weren't quite filled in enough down low so we headed over to Tate proper.
Fluffy snow in the trees.
Rohan inspecting his work.
The shinny ice on the ridge line wasn't filling us with confidence but we pushed on. Found some nice snow (albeit windpacked) on Gills Knob. Had a good run down to the creek then skinned up Mt Tate.
Our tracks from Gills Knob to Guthega Creek.
More of the same wind packed surface but nice underneath and very fun to ski. We did three runs on the main faces of Tate.
Run 1 down Tate - a boarder also dropped in for a run.
Skinning back up for another go.
A bit of Run 2
Crossing Guthega Creek
View back to the damage.
Good views on the way home.
Then skinned up the Guthega Trig and had a few fun turns and a long traverse back to the dam.
Skiing Mt Tate - 17 August 2010 from James Morrow on Vimeo.