Memory can be a strange thing. Special and significant moments, experiences and events lodge in our mind and when something triggers their presence, they can feel as clear and fresh as the moment you experienced them for the first time. They can be cornerstones around which you build your life, those memories of the moments and times and events that give life meaning and joy, or which strip away the day-to-dayness of ‘normal’ life to reveal a truth.

The dilemma, of course, is when we extrapolate or equate a personal memory or experience with what is happening in the outside world. ‘FeelPinons’ drive a lot of the debate in the online world and anecdotes can get confused with data and trends.

So, there was a strange debate about last winter. Forecasts were for a late start to winter and the likelihood of warmer than average temperatures. But by the time June arrived, we were blessed with wonderful and repeat snow storms that delivered the goods. After a couple of very mediocre winters everyone needed a good winter. It was good for resort and valley town businesses and workers and it was wonderful for the spirits of everyone who craves the cold and deep snow pack. And it dragged on in the best possible way, with lines in the backcountry lasting until late in spring.

In that blurring of memory and data, of lived experience and the need for the media to run hyperbolic headlines about ‘the best ski season in years’, its hard to actually say if it was a ‘great’ winter or an ’average’ one.

Near Cope hut, Bogong High Plains

To do that, we need to go to the snowpack data. The truth, of course, is that climate change is reducing the overall amount of snow we receive in Australia. The snow pack has been in decline since at least 1957. We also know that the loss of snow is being felt especially at lower elevations, as was shown this winter. When we look at a season like 2025 and people talk about how good it is, often we forget that the old ‘normal’ is now gone. What we are witnessing is a deteriorating landscape, yet mostly we think it is ‘normal’ because we don’t have a memory of what was here before. Anecdotal memory is hard to trust (we all know that skier who says ‘we always had good and bad winters, so climate change is crap’.) Sadly, personal observation isn’t the same as data. And the data is clear.

There is a bit more on the winter of 2025 here and this story from the ABC demonstrates how climate change still impacted on winter last year.

But I will certainly take it where I can get it and I am grateful for a wonderful winter, lots of good backcountry time, a backcountry festival that rocked, and many great days with friends. Here’s to a mild summer and another solid winter.

Remember, action is always the antidote to despair.

In terms of visitation to the website, these were the most visited pages in 2025:

  • Ongoing problems with the fleet of vehicles used to fight fires on public lands in Victoria (here)
  • The slow progress on the Victorian government’s plan to ‘upgrade’ the Falls to Hotham Crossing – a walk that is being developed to facilitate commercial development within the Alpine national and which is being strongly resisted by many in the outdoors community and environment movement (here)
  • The ever popular Hotham Sidecountry Stash – which outlines a lot of the easily accessible skiing and riding terrain around the resort. Because the Great Alpine road crosses so much great mountain country between Harrietville and the resort there is an enormous amount of wonderful slopes, gullies and ridgelines which are accessible from the road. (here)
  • The ‘Ducane traverse’ – which describes an unmarked walking route between the Overland track in the Cradle Mountain Lakes St Clair national park and the famous Labyrinth – a wonderland of sub alpine lakes, deciduous beech and pencil pine. In my opinion, it is definitely the best alpine traverse in the country. (here)
Bogong High Plains

 

[These are various images from winter 2025. Bogong High Plains, Hotham area, Namadgi national park]