Category Archives: Skiing

Holidays, Skiing, USA 2016

Another Great Day of Skiing Colorado …

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What a difference a day makes with me having recovered from the altitude sickness – I have obviously acclimatised to the 9600 feet elevation (at the resort) but we did go up to 11000 feet while skiing.
 
The sun was out in the morning but there was a slight breeze so even though the temperature was the same as yesterday it felt colder due to the wind chill. The car-o-meter looked OK but would have liked a lot more.
 
This didn’t stop us skiing but we did take a couple of breaks to warm up at 10 Mile Station.
 
Once again the snow was dry and there was no ice so you didn’t get the chattering of the edges when turning like back in Australia.
 
It was a little busier than yesterday but there was still no waits on the lifts. The clouds came in with some snow flurries in the afternoon. We finally gave up when our fingers and toes told us that it was getting cold.
 
We caught up with Paul and Sophie again for dinner at The Dredge as we didn’t have a chance to catch up during the day. Another good meal but too big so more leftovers in the fridge.
 
As we were about to head to bed, our hosts Anna and Dustin arrived home so we chatted into the early hours of the morning.
Holidays, Skiing, USA 2016

Is that Altitude Sickness but what about the snow …

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Well that wasn’t a good start to our skiing holiday. There is always talk of altitude sickness and it has never been an issue in the past but I guess I have never been at 9600 feet before.
 
I didn’t get any sleep, had a massive headache, felt nauseous, couldn’t eat and basically felt like shit and after consulting WebMD, it was all the symptoms for altitude sickness.
 
This wasn’t going to stop us hitting the slopes as the sun was shining even though is was -12C.
 
We headed out the door, all rugged up and caught the bus to the Beaver Run. After meeting up with Paul, lift tickets purchased, we hit the slopes.
 
With the temperatures well below zero I was expecting the conditions to be icy but it was far from it. The surface was dry powder and was great.
 
Both the runs and the lifts were long. You could fit 4 or 5 Australian runs in one of these runs and with the dry powder you didn’t feel exhausted at the end of each run.
 
It wasn’t until around 2pm that it started to cool down and start to snow so we called it a day. Jenny back was starting to become sore.
 
There was still a couple of hours of daylight so we went to explore Breckenridge, checking out the Railway Park with all the old steam trains, riding the Gondola then wandering along Main Street.
 
The sun was setting and it was getting brutally cold as we waited for the bus back to our condo.
 
It continued snowing through the night so will be interesting to see how the car-o-meter looks in the morning.
Family Life, Skiing

A bit warmer today, sort of …

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After yesterday’s shocker of a day temperature wise, today was warmer but not by much. We awoke to 4 below zero and 12 below zero with the wind chill. Even with the increase in temperature, a number of the lifts were on wind hold, so no rush to get up there. It had been snowing on and off all night with a fresh layer of snow ready to be skied.
After finally getting motivated enough to get up to the top of the mountain, we were met with wind blowing and snow falling (well sideways). Given the conditions, the skiing was pretty good with the fresh powder on top of the solid base. This seemed to scare the boarders off so it stayed like this to well into the afternoon.
The kids decided that today was boarding day so Wombats Ramble was their choice of runs. It was their first day on the boards for a while but the conditions broke them with Rachael piking out after lunch.
Jenny wasn’t much longer before heading back. Bradley and I kept the team going until the cold and heavier snow called an end to the day around 3 pm.

Day 3 Map

Family Life, Skiing

Damn it’s cold …

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This weather is unbelievable for this time of the year. What happened to global warming. It was 5 below zero and with the wind chill, 20 below zero. And don’t let the occasional glimpse of sunshine, it was cold, damn, cold. On top of that snow fell almost all day with a reprieve every 20 minutes or so for around 5 minutes.
Not a huge rush to get to the top of the mountain, as most of the lifts were on wind hold. When we finally made it up there, it was actually good skiing conditions with not too many enjoying the snow.
The only down side was having to put up with the wind while sitting on the lifts, which were on slow speed due to the winds, so got to spend a lot more time on them.
It would have been perfect for a wing suit particularly on Ruined Castle run. You could just point your skis down the slope and lean forward and not be concerned with going over the front as the wind held you upright allowing you to try some great turns on the snow.
Eventually the wind took a toll on us. It was just getting too cold so ended back in the Lodge around 3pm.

Day 2 Map

Family Life, Skiing

Not much Spring going on …

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It is a first for us, travelling over yesterday without stopping overnight in Swan Hill. Left at 815 am following me getting home from night shift (only 15 minutes later than expected) and had an uneventful journey only stopping for fuel and 3 geocaches. We arrived at Schuss Lodge in Falls Creek after 11.5 hours.
We did encounter heavy downpours at Mt Beauty, just as Jenny was grabbing a friends snowboard, but when we arrived at the top of the mountain, there was little indication of rain.
This morning saw temperatures of around 2 below zero with a wind chill of 10 below zero. We were not prepared for this, after all it is Spring skiing time. It hovered around zero for most of the day.
With the end of the season only two weeks away, staffing of the various outlets are not what is normally here so getting our skis and boots took a little longer than expected.
Finally on the slopes and it was a mixture of weather with sunshine and wind one minute followed by overcast, wind and snow the next. Despite this it was a good day skiing, which allowed for the fine tuning of skills that are a little rusty following a year since we last skied.
Following 5 hours of buffeting by the wind and snow, I called it a day with the rest of the clan lasting another hour before returning to the Lodge and plummeting temperatures.

 

Day 1 Chair

Holidays, Skiing

Another great day in Falls Creek …

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After some cold temperatures (finally) and light snow falling overnight, we awoke to 5cm of fresh snow with sunshine. We farewelled our new friends from Uruguay and headed up the hill.

The sunshine today brought out the skiers compared to yesterday, with a mountain full of people today while yesterday there was only a handful.

It only took a couple of runs down Main Street and Highway 83 dodging people to decide to trek over to Ruined Castle. It was still crowded in comparison to yesterday but we stayed there all day until the legs gave out.

The MapmyWalk App total for the day was 51 km.

Quiet night in Schuss Ski Lodge with just us and the managers, Russell and Jude. Not bad having a 50 bed lodge for yourself.

18th September

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Holidays, Skiing

Weather from the South Pole today …

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One way to ensure you have the mountain to yourself is to have weather around zero degrees, wind around 50 kph and a mixture of snow/sleet/hail. That is exactly what we had and depending what slope you tackled, it was most unlikely to see another person skiing and you got to know the lifties on a first name basis. 🙂

Even though the weather wasn’t the best, the skiing was the best we have had for a long time. The groomed runs kept firm and had a layer of fresh snow on top of the corduroy.

We stuck it out for 5 hours, getting back to the Schuss Ski Lodge a little cold and wet but it was worth it.

Distance on the MapmyWalk app for the day was 52km.

17th September
The Mawson Look ...

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Family Life, Holidays, Out and About, Skiing

Fresh snow – yay but ….

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After a night of snowing, there was a fresh 8 cm on the ground but unfortunately we had drizzle to contend with to try and enjoy it.

The temperature was around zero and the drizzle was unrelenting which led to some very slow and grippy snow. There has been no grooming of the runs for a few days and it was very hard going.

After a couple of hours we retreated to Cloud 9 to try and dry off and hope that the drizzle would change to snow. The drizzle didn’t look like it was going to let up after an hour so we headed out again but only lasted about 3/4 of an hour.

By the time we got back to the Lodge, we were saturated right through and were very welcoming of a hot shower.

Rather than finding out whether the car would start tomorrow when we left, I had some time to walk down to the car park in sleet/snow and start it up, letting it run for about 15 minutes, which didn’t even get it warm. There was still snow sitting on it after last nights snowfall.

Only one more day left of this years trip, hopefully the weather will be kind to us so we can enjoy what we have been used to with Spring Skiing in the past, T-shirts and sunglasses. 🙂

Footprints in the Fresh Snow ...
Snow on the car ...
Snow on the car ...
Snow on the car ...
Alpine Replay App
Day 4 - only 24 km ...

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Family Life, Holidays, Out and About, Skiing

Big Day of Skiing …

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As has been the case the last two days, we awoke to rain on the roof. Oh no, not another day of reduced skiing at Falls Creek.

Turned on the iPad to check the radar and it looked that the rain was just about to pass us with another couple of hours at least before the first cold front made it to us.

A quick bite of breakfast and we got up to the top of the mountain as the rain stopped at 10:30 am.

We skied until 1:00 pm mainly on the northern slopes of Main Street and Highway 83.

After some lunch, (the prices certainly haven’t got any cheaper at Cloud 9) Rachael grabbed the snowboard and headed off for a lesson. The rest of us made our way across to Ruined Castle and Scott’s for the afternoon.

The first cold front hit with about 6 spots of rain and a couple of flakes of snow, so we continued skiing.

Around 3:00 pm, the wind started picking up – a precursor of the second and stronger of the cold fronts.

Rachael had finished here lesson at 3:30 pm, so we did a few more runs with her but the rain was starting followed by sleet. It was time to head back to the Lodge.

It was lucky that we headed down when we did as they shut the lifts down 15 minutes later due to the risk of lightning.

The rain came in strong as we just got into the Lodge (that was lucky), followed by some heavy snow but this was only short-lived, lasting about 30 minutes.

The rest of the evening has been a mixture of rain, sleet, hail and snow so it will be interesting what the slopes are like in the morning and if we will get a full day. 🙂

As well as the GPS I carry in the pocket, I tried an App on the iPhone today called Alpine Replay which seemed promising except that the battery on the phone ran flat 3/4 through the day. Tomorrow I will shut everything down on the phone apart from the App and see if I can get some more time out of it.

View from Ruined Castle ...
Rachael on the board ...
Starting to snow at the Lodge ...
Snowing a little heavier now ...
Is that white on the ground ...
Parrots coming in for a feed ...
Tried a new App today ...
Day 3 - 43 km

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Family Life, Holidays, Out and About, Skiing

Stop raining already …

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We awoke again this morning to rain. In fact it had been raining all night.

It is one thing to ski in the cold and even when it is snowing but skiing in the rain is no fun as once you become saturated through you need to call it a day or you may end up with hypothermia and that is not good. 🙁

So for another morning we waited it out in Schuss Lodge.

Finally around lunchtime, the rain seemed to have abated but was still overcast. A quick bite of lunch and it was up the mountain.

For most of the afternoon, we were rain free and considering that the slopes were not groomed overnight, the snow wasn’t too bad and we managed to venture to all the 11 runs that were operating today at Falls Creek.

We skied again until closing of the lifts and managed a not too bad 33 km for the afternoon.

The weather is a little hard to predict for tomorrow as we have a low over the top of us with the last 2 days moisture circling the resort and there is a couple of cold fronts over the top of Adelaide heading this way which should make it by morning. Maybe we will get some snow. 🙂

On the lift - Day 2
33 km for today

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