The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS)has issued a message to backcountry users in the Snowy Mountains. See below for full text.
Another perspective comes from Wilderness Sports who provide a daily conditions report for the Snowy Mountains on their website and facebook page.
I just discovered a new website, La Mont, from Mandy Lamont, which promises to be a ‘Mountain blog, for mountain folk by mountain folk’.
I call Jindabyne home. And after spending my first summer here in 2010/2011, my love of the mountains has extended to summer and an ever growing love of mountain biking. This blog is isn’t about me, it’s about the mountains that I love, the people and places in them and the adventures within them.
The mountains are now my life. They’re in my blood, they’re in my name.
You can find the blog here and the facebook page here.
So, the first major dump has passed over the Alps, with snow everywhere!
This update comes from Bruce at Wilderness Sports in Jindabyne.
A deep low, well to the south of Tasmania is moving slowly to the southeast. A ridge of high pressure extends across the far north of New South Wales from a high centred over South Australia. The high should move to the Tasman Sea on Friday. The next major cold front is expected to reach the far west of the state Friday night, before bringing another vigorous and colder west to southwesterly airstream over the weekend.
In terms of backcountry conditions on the Main Range:
BACKCOUNTRY:
Lots of wind and drifting snow continuing to build the snow cover on the Main Range with a further 20+cms over higher peaks. Looks so promising with the forecast of solid snowfalls continuing this week. The base will have consolidated improving backcountry skiing & Snowshoes are pretty useful at the moment to get about. Once the weather clears it will be really good but while the weather is wild and woolly patience will be rewarded so use more sheltered spots to get out. Resort Cams show building snow cover!
The NEW Cam looking towards Mount Kosciuszko is sensational to assess conditions (But not when blizzard conditions prevail).
“From field observations exposed slopes in the area averaged 40-50cms. Cross loaded terrain averaged between 50-80 cms. Protected slopes snow depths started at 70 to130+cms”.
Check the weather page on www.wildernesssports.com.au for more updates on the weather throughout the week.
For the past four years, the backcountry film festival has been attracting good numbers of people and is showing in more locations.
It seems like it might be time to have our own festival – with films made in Australia.
At previous Melbourne shows, we have added a film about skiing and boarding on The Bluff, and this year saw OFF GRID, a new effort on Mt Bogong from SoO Airtime.
The plan is to hold an Australian backcountry film festival in late spring 2014 with only local content. There are some fantastic film makers out there, and we hope to be able to showcase some of these.
We are seeking expressions of interest from film makers who would like to submit films.
Any human and gravity powered backcountry adventure would be welcome: walking, skiing, boarding, MTBing, paddling, climbing, …
As this is an entirely volunteer effort, with no budget, we are not able to offer payment for showing the films.
Films can be in two length categories. We hope to show an hours worth of short films (3 to 7 minutes) then up to 2 longer films (30 – 40 minutes).
At this point we are looking at doing a Melbourne showing, with the ability to offer the festival to other places once its packaged up.
If you’re keen, please get in touch: cam.walker@foe.org.au
And get out there and getting filming!
This trip is from several years ago but remains an impressive effort: a traverse of the Alpine Walking Track (AWT) from near Canberra through to Walhalla in winter.
This short video gives some highlights of a trip done in 2005 by two brothers, Andrew and Mark Oates. The main ranges images are lovely, but it’s the earlier stages of slogging through the wet plains of the northern Snowies and fording flooded rivers that is perhaps the most impressive.
They say of their trip:
Our first seven days involved walking and carrying our skis, with pack weights around 35 kg. We first put on our skis just after Kiandra and apart from one or two days of pure walking we were able to ski most of the way from there to Hotham. A 60 cm dump of light dry snow near Thredbo helped keep us on our skis but it also made the first few days afterwards extremely challenging. Even with the fattest touring skis available we were still sinking at times thigh deep in snow with our skis on.
After crossing the three highest peaks in the ACT, NSW and Victoria we reached Hotham after four weeks. Unfortunately though the snow did not last – our fifth week out, from Hotham to Howitt saw us experiencing a week of solid rain and strong winds. This resulted in much of the existing snow along the remainder of our route melting away before our eyes.
There is a 4min 40 sec short version of their adventure available here.
Check Mark Oates vimeo page for the 2 longer videos. He also has a youtube page.
The AWT remains the quintessential trail through the Australian Alps, and at 680 km in length remains a committing project with complex logistics, because of the need for multiple food drops along the route. You can find some extra info on the track here.
So, after the ‘autumn break’ and decent rainfalls across the south east, we are finally steering towards cooler and wetter conditions which are expected to bring the first significant snowfalls of the year.
As reported on MountainWatch, the esteemed forecaster Grasshopper is quoted as saying:
“At this stage it’s looking like some snow worth mentioning – it’s plenty cold enough – but the totals won’t be crazy. Don’t expect this snow to stick around, at best it will ruin a few hiker’s days and help to cool the ground. But any ground-cooling event at this time of year is positive!”
‘So this mightn’t be a season-starter, but it’s worthwhile getting hyped about’.
And the final analysis?
5 to 20cm across Friday/Saturday (Alert level: Confident).
Read the full report here.
The BOM is not quite so enthusiastic, forecasting ‘snow showers’ across much of the High Country over the next week.
Now in its 9th year the Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival celebrates the human powered winter experience through film.
The festival is now a pre winter event here in Australia, in its 4th season.
The Melbourne show for 2014 will be held on
at Melbourne Uni (exact location soon). From 6.30pm, films start at 7pm.
Suggested donation: $8 conc & students/ $12 waged.
Co-hosted with Melbourne University Ski Club.
The festival is run by not-for-profit hosts, and in Australia, all funds raised will support the Friends of the Earth campaign against new coal and gas.
Full details here, including the trailer and list of films.
Facebook event here: please feel free to invite your friends.
Once the weather starts to cool down in southern Australia, something interesting starts to happen to this website: traffic to the ‘sidecountry’ skiing and boarding guide to Mt Hotham starts to climb, peaking in early June.
Its that time of year where we can almost smell the snow and are locking in trips. While this rain has been good, its still really warm. So, what type of winter do we have coming? After last years boom-and-bust cycle of good snow alternating with warm air and rain, lets hope its more consistent. The media is warning of a strong El Nino event this winter, meaning warm and dry conditions. The much trusted weather guru, The Grasshopper who writes for Mountain Watch recently released their initial forecast for the 2014 season.
Amongst some interesting analysis of what an El Nino event actually means, the bottom line on forecast is:
More likely than not we will have a mediocre to above average season and there will be plenty of opportunity for fresh provided you are ready for it. But even if things tend towards the lower end of the scale, my gut tells me we will be compensated by plenty of cool clear nights with copious amounts of snow making to keep the groomed areas looking tip top.
Read the full report here.
And keep checking Mountain Watch for an update closer to June.
Fingers crossed!
This film is billed as the best selling ski film of all time. One that ‘compares the challenges of big mountain skiing to the challenges of climate change’. I liked its trailer, which did seem to be saying something about over consumption and energy. As a backcountry skier and climate campaigner, I was stoked when I finally got to watch it, a few years after it came out.
Yes, its beautiful, compelling and also great fun, covering some of the finest skiing terrain on the planet. There are great people skiing incredible lines, and having a lot of fun doing it. There is an urban skiing scene that is one of the best clips I have ever seen in a ski film.
But in its claim that it is tackling the climate change issue, it is also a dangerous piece of propaganda for ‘business as usual’ capitalism. I am amazed that the film wasn’t paid for by coal companies. How can a group of switched on people get it so wrong?
I love these people: Human-Powered Mountaineers use bikes to access the peaks for their adventures (as well as promoting sustainable food production and lifestyles).
Human-Powered Mountaineers is a grassroots organisation that was started by Justene Sweet and Christopher Bangs. Their mission involves climbing mountains completely under their own power all the way from their own doorstep. To accomplish this they incorporate the use of their bicycles to get them from their homes to the trailheads, and then they start climbing from there. They are based in Bozeman, Montana.
They say:
Our mission is to inspire people to be passionate about environmental stewardship through bicycle advocacy, and local organic farming. We aim to educate people about creating a positive change in the world through simple daily actions, while continuing to live life to the absolute fullest of potentials.
A current project they have this (northern) winter is to climb and ski the highest peak in each of the 7 mountain ranges that surround Bozeman. All 100% human-powered on a 100% plant based diet.
This project is raising money for our grassroots networks; BIKE TO FARM, and School Slide Show Series.
They attempted all 7 peaks and summited on two.
As they say in the wrap-up,
winter human-powered ski mountaineering IS REALLY FREAKING HARD!!!!!!!
Check the site for some excellent videos of their attempts on the peaks.
Ok, it’s late summer. Its been stinking hot, dry, and fires have been going for weeks in East Gippsland and a number of spots in the high country. We still have a long warm spell ahead of us.
We all need some cheering up. This short film from Mark Allen, and coming via Backcountry magazine may do the job. Nine days of snow storms sounds kind of like a nice option when compared with the smokey humidity of late February … Enjoy.
The blurb about the film:
“Outdoor Research Athletes Mark Allen and Sheldon Kerr have grand ideas of first ski descents in a remote area of Glacier Bay National Park in Southeast Alaska. After hiring a bush pilot to fly them deep into the park from Haines everything goes well, at first. The ski mountaineering powder fest turns in to some major tent time and days filled by camp maintenance while pinned in a storm for 9 days. The two try to figure out how to stay fed with 7 days of rations in an unchanging situation. Once the two learned the pilot was not coming back, the adventure began”.
This is a great project. A group of back country skiers from Montana have joined together to make a film that looks at wilderness in their state – the first in the USA to create wilderness. Designated wilderness areas prohibit mechanised recreation like the use of snowmobiles. The US phenomena of ‘slednecks’ is a huge issue across a lot of the mountainous public lands in the ‘States.
They say:
Land of No Use is a two year documentary project using winter recreation to explore the value of Montana’s public lands. The title comes from an old bumper sticker and slogan for opponents of wilderness designations (i.e. motorised recreation enthusiasts and timber corporations) that reads, “Wilderness = Land of No Use.” The narrative of the land management debate will shadow that of a group of young athletes exploring terrain where humans are mere visitors, in a state named for its mountains.
The people behind the project recently successfully crowd sourced funds for the filming and production.
They plan to have it ready for distribution later this year.
Their blog has some great images and videos of their back country adventures.
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