TR: DHG 17 July *dialup warning - lots of pics*

[SA]

First ski of the season! The plan was to meet up with JD and head out back - possibly to Leatherbarrel Creek, or just to play a bit closer in.

I drove down on the Friday, managing not to end up in Yass, unlike some frequent travellers.

1.


Saw a pretty cool sunset, and even found some local Werriwa wildlife.
2.


3.


Quiet night in Jindy as we had planned an early start. You know it's the first ski of the season when you forget things - lots of things - even before you make it up the hill. In the end, between the two of us we forgot (1) my helmet/goggles (2) my sunglasses, retrieved (3) sunscreen, and (4) common sense.

We ended up deciding to skin up DHG because we were wary of the expected weekend crowds, opting to avoid the wait for the Kosi chair. This turned out to be a mistake. Big mistake. The skin up was easily the hardest we'd done. 30-odd centimetres of uncompacted snow laying lightly on uncompacted heath made for a very tough trip. It was a novel experience being able to post-hole in skis, and made for a lot of sweating, a lot of swearing, and for my part, a lot of photography while I waited for my breath to catch up.

4.


5. Looked ok from here


6. We're off


7. A 'photo' break (puff puff)


8. The snow itself was nice and dry, but a bugger to break trail through. Despite his man flu, JD did the bulk of the work, trooper that he is.


9. Photo break #2


10. It's far far easier with a skin track in


11. Should've known better - those bloody snow snakes got me around the next corner!


12. We joined a six lane highway coming up from the higher carpark which we didn't start from - d'oh!


13. I think JD was just a little buggered at this point


The skin up took close to 3 hours, easily a record. Once we got above the tree line however, the snow looked to be in good shape and we looked forward to a bit of ski down Leatherbarrel Creek. Alas, the ridge we ended upon happened to lead mainly to a rock garden, and by this stage we were pretty stuffed.

14. We saw a few signs of others on the climb up.


15.


We broke for an early lunch, taking in the magnificient view of the Western Faces from the top.

16. To the ridge dividing DHG and LBC


17. The view was worth it


18. Testing the snowpack


19. The views:




Rather than another brutal climb back up, after lunch we opted for a few easy runs and some scouting of future lines

20. The Corrie and The Couloir - next time


21. The cornice middle of this shot had been plundered


22. Finally, a few turns of our own. Stylin'


23. The snow was good enough for another go


24. Yeah, that was worth the pain.


The snow was not deep, but it was dry and held turns nicely. Very nicely. Having ruled out more substantial climbs, we decided to go back to Thredbo and down the groomers rather than risking the inevitable snow snakes back to DHG.

25. Heading back


26. A few turns off Ramshead


The skiing was nothing to write home about compared to our previous outings, but the weather and scenery were great, and the skiing and company tolerably enjoyable (as always JD is a great travelling companion). We learned a lesson though - in future we'll head up the Kosi chair and be in the same area in around an hour, and a be hell of lot less stuffed.

Till next time

Post-script:
Pods and BlueHue kindly rescued us in the Tardis at Threbo and dropped us back to the car at DHG. Thanks again!

[Coopski]

Thanks for sharing SA. Looks puurdy. Just think how good it was for your fitness ;-)
I love the shot over lake George to the wind farm. Magnificent!

[Coopski]

Oh and I hope JDs "probe" didn't get too cold testing the snow pack ;-)

[Mute]

I saw those zebra last weekend as well. Woke the whole car up shouting "ZEBRA!" but apparently after the shock they were all happy to be shown the "native" animals.

[Silverwitch]

Thanks SA for the fantastic TR..I loved the photos and had a few laughs at the funnies!!

PS: Taking photos are a legit way to have a rest during skiing!!

[John Deere]

Do people still have Dial up???

[SA]

Dunno - maybe I should say 'Oz broadband warning'

[John Deere]

Doesn't matter if it was carrier pigeon, still be faster than us up DHG!

[SA]

We needed a carrier pigeon..

[skijacski]

Blimey, I skied down to DHG after a little BC in the Ramsheads, going down on the easterly side the snow snakes were under 60cm of windblown on the Friday. Thanks for the lovely report, I would not have wanted to be in your boots!