The winter of 2023 will be remembered as one of the saddest in Australian snow history. It started early, tapered off, then came back in with a vengence, but then disappeared again. All ski resorts closed early. lutruwita/ Tasmania fared even worse than the mainland, with no really solid snowfalls through the entire winter.

Here, John McLaine reflects on winters past.

John is an educator and wilderness traveller based in Launceston in lutruwita/ Tasmania. He is passionate about wilderness and adventure, particularly packrafting. He reflects on the glory of winter’s gone by and how quickly reliable winter snow in Tasmania has become a thing of the past.

McLaine1

AFL Grand Final weekend. From my early ’20s to mid ’30s (circa 1985-2000) grand final weekend always meant one thing to me; Tasmanian back country skiing. Friends would gather and head to Cradle Mt., Mt Rufus, The Walls, Mt Anne, Ben Lomond, etc. There was always reliable snow.

McLaine2

We would head off on Friday night, camp rough in the car park, then start up early on Saturday, cross-country skiing to the high slopes, and pitch a tent or dig a snow cave to sleep in Saturday night by candlelight.

McClaine3

The skiing could last even later in the year; this picture was taken during Launceston show weekend (early October) around 1990; skiing the Labyrinth in the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair national park with superb snow cover. The idea of skiing Grand Final weekend or beyond is long gone now, sadly.

You can find John on X/twitter here.