Skiing 05

Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Well, the time for the annual ski trip to Falls Creek has come and gone, so I thought I'd better get around to posting an update. This year's trip was pretty good, with a few variations on the regular themes, enough to keep things interesting. The crew this year was as follows: Myself, George, Sharon and Adrian Hillier with their kids Zach, Cassie and Jade, Chris and Danielle Cawood with their kids Tamara and Nathalia, Chris and Tamara Stillwell with their kids Colin and Cayley (and pet rat Angelina), John and Jo Novak with their infant son Nicholas, Phillip and Liz with their son Nathan, and Warwick and Jackie. So that's 14 Adults, 9 kids, and one rat.

One of the variations on this trip was that we had the majority of our groceries and alcohol delivered up to our lodge for us by the supermarket in Mt Beauty. This meant that we didn't have to lug a whole lot of boxes of food and drink up through the oversnow and seriously reduced the amount of gear we had to carry up and back. Another variation was that George and I caught the bus up the mountain from Mt Beauty, along with the Cawoods and Novaks. This is something the Cawoods have done in the past because they haven't had a car themselves (they live in Perth, and fly in to stay at Chris' parent's place in Albury and get a lift down to Mt Beauty). We did the sums and it turned out to be cheaper for the two of us to buy bus tickets and park in their undercover parking, than it was to pay for a week's resort parking and chain hire, not to mention the fact that we didn't have to fit chains and trudge through the snow to the car. The only slight drawback was waiting half an hour longer for the bus on the way back home, and that was really because we booked our oversnow early enough to allow for delays. Also, this year, due to the large number of people, we had actually spilled over into a second lodge, which also gave George, me and the Cawoods a place to escape when it all got a bit too busy at the main lodge :)

The skiing itself was very good, Sunday we arrived during a clear sunny day, with lots of snow on the ground and blue skies overhead. Monday was our first day of actual skiing and despite the heavy falling snow, high winds, occasional sleet, and near total whiteout near the top of the mountains, the snow was pretty good and we got a decent morning's skiing in before deciding to go back to the lodge and give in to sanity :)
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were all bright clear days, blue skies and sun, excellent skiing all over the mountain, and to be honest, some of the best days I have had in the mountains. I was very happy with the snow, extremely happy with my gear (especially the new ski pants that were warm and dry in the blizzardyness and still cool enough on the sunny days. I skied my favourite runs at the Summit, powering down the steeps like a absolute champion. At least until my thighs were burning and my knees were calling me all sorts of bad names, when it was then time to return to the lodge (a short ski away) for much needed refreshments :)

Tuesday night was the first part of the extreme sports (apart form skiing itself) that we would get to witness this year, where some motocross riders were putting on a show of jumps and tricks in the snow outside our lodge. This was the second year they'd had this event and it was till a lot of fun to watch, especially the big finale which was one guy doing a backflip followed by fireworks, which seemed to be going off just outside our lodge, needless to say we are very happy with our choice of accommodation :)

Friday it rained and I did not ski, instead we sat in the lodge and watched DVDs, played games with the kids, and watched the rain try to wash away all of our beautiful snow.

Saturday was lightly overcast, but mainly clear, a bit cold, which meant the snow was excellent, and it was another day of great skiing.

Saturday evening saw the Big Air competition on the summit slopes about 300m in front of our lodge, with a large number of skiers and snowboarders going over a 55 foot kicker jump to compete for prizes such as Biggest Air, Best Trick, Best Costume, Best Old School trick, etc. I went out and stood in the snow for a few hours to get some good shots, and was chatting to the kids next to me and generally having a good time freezing to death in the snow at night :)

Sunday was the day to come home, and just as well since it started to rain again and was not the most pleasant of days to be in the mountains, so we left :)