2016-2017 Southern/Northern Hemi Snow Season
Hey man, i was thinking of you (not in a sexy way) and wondering if you were going to head down to the hills. First real snowfall though, wondering if there's much of a base?
Have fun if you do, stay safe.
Good run of waves here in the head-high range and finally in a 3/2- Yew!
Thinking the dump earlier in the week would of laid down enough of a base for the recent snow to sit on. Gonna be so light and dry with real cold temps overnight! About to head off now, can't wait!
It'll be all about those south-east aspects, more exposed north-west faces will be smashed by the wind and likely bare.
Perisher Saturday morning was the best resort snow I've ever had in Aus. Not too crowded really early as well, and we lucked into being at the opening of areas first each time, so got to lay down first tracks in easy boot deep pow.
Headed backcountry for the arvo and Sunday, that was something else! Pics to come.
Perisher...
Same region as last year Steve, lightest and driest powder from the low temps associated with Friday's system, equivalent to powder I've had in Japan, no shit!
Been looking forward to this thread for a while now... Great pix
Nice pics Craig. Looks lovely.
Can't believe it's early summer here and I'm starting to get amped already.
Not much in Oz. Falls Creek a couple of times, Perisher a couple and Guthega years ago. I've never really lucked out in Australia but I wasn't particularly experienced back then. Coming to Japan and having the mountains on my doorstep has been a blessing. I actually look forward to winter now.
I like to think I've got the best of both worlds- snowboard Sunday, surf Monday (and more often than not, I do).
Anyways, here's hoping those that venture down to the Oz mountains or over to NZ have a great season. Keep us posted.
Very pleasant little video from Perisher yesterday.
More snow, looks great!
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/video/video-entertainment/video-enterta…
Nice Wally.
And Chook, great pic. You put the 'rust' in rustic:)
That hut is very nice Chook, NSW or Vic?
I had an Avalanche Safety Training course over the weekend with MRBC so limited time to snowboard.
Course started at 8:30am at Smiggens and because my mate missed the pow last weekend, he was keen as to do a run before class.
So we got up at 4:50am, kitted up and hiked out to Guthega Trig in the dark for a dawnie first light drop. Amazing to see the mountain slowly show with the growing light and then hiking back to the car as the sun rose.
The Avi course was excellent as well, highly recommended for those looking to do BC here and mainly abroad.
that is four mile hut, near kiandra/selwyn, nsw. it must be one of the oldest huts in the mountains now. it was narrowly saved by a determined ranger in the last fires. a helicopter flew in and he did a back burn around it with the flames a few hundred metres away.
some grerat photos, craig. those stars!
Yeah lucky that's the pebbly road and not the campsite Tworules.
Ah thanks Chook, and cheers!
It's chaos out there this morning on the roads and around the mountains according to reports. Snow from Cooma all the way up to the mountains, cars off roads, deep fresh powder and so so much snow.
Wish I was up there!!
Took the day off Tuesday to chase some fresh pow.
Not as light and deep as a few weeks ago, but still top quality Australian snow.
First tracks over Mt P then the vis got a little bad and the crowd picked up so headed towards Interceptor. Looks like we just got there a touch late as it was pretty tracked but there were some fresh pockets.
Pick was lapping Ridge Chair with hardly anyone at all around lunch before it went on hold then was shut down. Steep fresh lines off the top with my mate.
Vis dropped further and wind really came up mid-afternoon so we called it a day.
That photo with the stars and the fire crackling is pretty fucking amazing Craig.
Best of luck out there. Stay safe.
Agreed, great pics as always Craig.
2 part question- Bearing in mind that last season we were faced with a strong El Nino and Honshu had the worst snow season anyone here can remember. On the opposite side of things, coming into a (predicted) La Nina, what's your educated guess as to what we might get here this winter? We've just come out of a pretty wet Wet Season, last winter was a shocker for waves and it's been pretty quiet on the Typhoon front thus far, can you see some northern hemisphere goodness peering into your crystal ball?
Soon the "northern hemisphere goodness" will be in your hands like a crystal ball Zen.
Seasons change like our journeys in life ;)
Spot on Craig - just had a few days with the kids. First time on boards for them.
What was surprising was so few people at Thredbo. Just like getting clean off shore session with just of few your mates out, great fun.
It was a great few days at Thredbo and the kids took to the boards like ducks to water. Showed the old crust up. Another couple of sessions and who's knows ...
It's been a very consistent season to date with regular top ups.
Yeah it's just a shame this week's forecast fell apart.
All models were locked in for a deep stalling low south of Victoria with potential of up to 1m of snow.
It's all fallen apart now, and after last night's dump, there's not much follow up for the rest of the week. At least cold enough for the guns.
Bring on the next event mid-late next week.
The weekend was another cracker!!
It was going to be a case of pre-frontal rain and post-frontal snow, but the pre was only 6mm and the post 20cm of snow plus more though the days Saturday and Sunday with it not backing off.
Saturday was the day, with dry deep powder out of the wind, and me and my mate got first tracks down the steepest and best part of Perisher.
For the rest of the weekend me and my mates lucked into the right side of lift management/wind hold issues, and also made some good calls against the crowds, leaving us with empty parts of the mountain being filled in by fresh falling snow.
Here's some snaps..
The office Friday:
Face shots Saturday:
Caked:
Resting out of the wind and weather:
Yeah but not quite as water proof as your ones. Real nice but!
After watching the weather closely, the decision was made to head deep and as far as I had been into the BC on Saturday.
A pre-dawn start and beautiful cool still weather made for an easy climb towards the first mountain. The wind started to pick up on the high ascent with some low cloud in the saddle to the north, but up top it was fine.
My first view of the north faces had me spell bound. I would hike to this region just for the scenery, let alone board it.
On the walk around, ran into a couple of mates camping in the saddle, and went on to drop down the side of the Cornices (steep and fast with good snow underfoot). Not before taking a look at some of the most intimidating terrain I've ever seen.
Run out down the back steep side of where we first dropped was insane as well, bottom half, steep and foot deep powder, proper boarding.
Can't wait to venture out there again!
The objective:
Amazing scenery
Mate dropping..
Half way stop
Me checking out gnar:
Heavy:
Great pics Craig.
Did you get some nice turns in? How long was the hike and how long till the end of the run? Did you have much of a hike out?
Looks awesome.
ps I bet that first beer tasted lovely.
Nice photos Craig;)
Geez you're pretty psyched now, thats great.
It get addictive eh.
The little peak Gnar looks good ,does that face your pointing at face North!
Zen, yep, below is one of me coming down the side of the bowl (not as steep as the start role in shown above), the photo still doesn't do the steeps justice.
Took about 4 hours to get to the drop, then we were conservative on how deep we went into the valley. Could of gone further but was a very hard 30min straight up snowshoe out.
Welly, yep, that face you see faces north. And so so addictive!! I'm hooked.
Awesome pics once again man.
I'm getting psyched for this winter but you're making me realise how unadventurous I am when it comes to boarding.
Having said that, if you can, powder awaits you.
Yeah, I guess when me and my mates get onto something, we run with it haha.
Still not sure my plans this coming NH winter but will let you know ASAP :)
Lots of snow still out there after big dumps a week and a half ago.
A peak of what went down on the weekend, first time snow camping as well, will post more when I get time to edit.
Rad shot Craig. Amazing there's still that much snow.
I'm off to Niigata early November to view the autumn leaves with the wife at a place called Ishiuchi Marunama (which is pretty close to where you went when you went to Yuzawa). Having never been there before, it will be a good chance to scope out the area and also get a good indication of what the drive there might be like.
I'm starting to get antsy myself, only a couple of months away- yee hah!
Thanks Zen, yeah we got a couple of big late season dumps last week. Here's another shot in the golden light on Saturday evening straight from camp.
How's the injury coming along, all good?
Ah that sounds beautiful, will hopefully be over mid February but not sure where yet. Probably around Furano or so, when are you up that way again? (viber still screwed)
Not being a lickarse but that is seriously one of the best snowboarding pics I've ever seen. Beautiful.
I'm most of the way there injury-wise. Surfing again which is the main thing. Lost a bit of an edge but I'm getting there. Bummed though, pretty much sat out the whole summer and there'd been heaps of surf.
I'll be up the mountain every weekend from the time it starts snowing till the end. Might be able to get to Hokkaido, see how we go. Bot, as always, you have an open invitation here so if you want some mid-week emptiness (your friends included) you know where to find me.
Also, if you want a frigid surf, I reckon I could sort you out for that too.
Stoked to see you getting out into the back country and earning it. Nice.
Thanks Zen, yeah looking at some of the shots I've got, I can't remember seeing any like it from Aus BC.
And that would be epic to get some surf in. Will email when I've got an itinerary going! Should be a cracker season over there with a trend towards La Nina.
It's been almost a month since this trip, but I've finally got around to lodging it.
A few mates and I have been watching out for overnight camping windows with decent conditions since September and we finally saw a window open up.
Early Saturday morning was expected to be low cloud and drizzly, clearing through the afternoon as winds tended variable into the afternoon and evening at height, followed by incoming weather and strengthening NW winds Sunday.
We left Manly around 2:00am and got to Jindy at about 7:30am, with a mate picking up some snow shoes.
A couple of days before we did a gear prep night and sorted all our packs.
By the time we got moving it was mid-late morning and warm as the SE wind saw low cloud collecting over the Perisher and Thredbo sides of the mountains, but clear over Guthega way.
From Guthega to Illawong Lodge and bridge then to the top of Twynam and then into the saddle between West Spur it was only 4 hours, so we made really good time.
The sun was beating down and the weather warm with easing winds. Shirts off while building a snow cube barrier from the expected NW winds overnight and Sunday.
After setting up camp we walked over to Twynam West Spur and dropped into Watsons creek with soft corny and fun as snow.
Hiking out late afternoon we had an hour or so to sit and watch the sun go down with beautiful warm and glowing light setting up some amazing shots.
The sunset was so beautiful and to be up there alone witnessing such an amazing site with just mates was incredible.
For how warm it was during the late afternoon, as soon as the sun set the temps really plummeted and while making dinner, fingers started to get numb even inside gloves.
Sleeping was cosy as and no problem with cold at all.
The wind came up overnight and Sunday morning dawned overcast and crusty. We went for a walk around towards Carruthers and checked out the Sentinel south face which looked really inviting but the snow was all too crusty.
A small window of clear skies and warming winds saw the snow corn up slightly so we rushed back to camp and dropped Twynam West Spur again, the hike out a bit more enduring second time around, then packed up and headed home.
One side note, me and my mates boots got slightly wet down along the Illawong traverse on the way up and this resulted in a mild case of trench foot. My feet felt like they were so blistered up, but when taking off my socks Saturday evening they were just super wrinkled and tender.
They were good to go Sunday morning after airing out, but with new socks in an already moist boot, it took no time to start deteriorating again. The hike out of Watsons creek was super painful, and the long walk out back to the car, hellish, but so relieving once back. Will have to invest in some better boots or a good water proofer.
Arriving the other side of Twynam to see two people drop..
Nice lines!
Camp
My mate on top of Australia..
Bottom of the valley, nice snow!
Setting sun
Blow tail
One of my favs!
Jump into the evening
Amazing pics!
The season has started a month early here in Norway with -2 to -15 degrees and most resorts opening the next couple of weeks. Cant wait get on the snow!
Craig: Have you tried Sealskinz socks or similar? I use them for hiking/hunting and they'll keep your feet dry no matter how crap your boots are :)
So the season has officially begin here, solid 40cm+ dump earlier in the week and then 35cm overnight with it still falling now at 1.5-2mm/hour!!
Yew, gonna be an epic weekend!
Photo from forum.ski.com.au