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.

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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.

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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.

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