It’s April: two months til winter… Which gets us all thinking about what type of season it will be.
Most Australian snow enthusiasts know about The Grasshopper, who writes snow forecasts for MountainWatch (‘resident meteorology sensei’ at MountainWatch).
The first prediction for 2016 has arrived.
Continue reading “The Grasshopper prediction for winter 2016”
A new snowboarding and surfing film will have three premiere showings in Australia next week.
Filmed in the powder capital of Hokkaido, and focusing on the legendary Gentem Family, who have pioneered the ‘Snow Surf’ revolution epitomised by Gentemstick, this film features some of the very best Japanese and western Snow Surf riders.
Many of the key players in the movement are featured in SnowSurf, which was filmed over two years by Australian surf photographer, Shane Peel.
It features: Taro Tamai, Gerry Lopez, Ken Miyashita, Alex Yoder, Osamu “Om” Okada, Beau Young, Hideki Takeda, Hidehiko Wajima, Forrest Shearer, Makato Yamada, Par Dahlin, Timo Paarvala, Kazushi Yamauchi, Alex Lopez, Takuya Harayama, Tomomi Kuwahara, Toru Kuwahara, Toshiya Kasuga, Jarrkko Kauranen, Haruna Kito and the Gentemstick Family.
Patagonia, the major sponsor of the film, will be screening Snowsurf at their Sydney, Torquay and Byron Stores next week.
23rd September. Sydney store – 6pm (93 Bathurst St, Sydney)
25th September. Torquay store – 6pm (116 SurfCoast Hwy, Torquay)
26th September. Café Byron – 6pm (Shop1/ 58 Jonson st Byron Bay)
You can see the trailer here.
You can rsvp for the events on Facebook.
As we all know, backcountry is the new black. The ski and boarding magazines are full of stories about the western faces of the Main Range, Bogong and Feathertop. And while there are lots of new outdoor enthusiasts who are getting a good all round experience of conditions and terrain, as well as sound BC skills, we have probably all seen the 20 something (mostly male) boarders who are fresh out of the resort and ready to shred, but lacking in BC experience. This is all great. But what it does mean is that we are finding ever more good resort riders and skiers getting out into backcountry areas and big terrain, without having done any apprenticeship in the mountains. What this means is more rescues, injuries and other incidents.
As recently noted on Mountain Journal, there is now a site that reports on snow conditions for backcountry users in the Snowy Mountains, called Snow Safety Australia.
There is also a site that covers conditions right across the mainland Alps, called Snow Sense.
Snow Sense is the mastermind of Simon Murray. It seeks to cover weather as well as snow conditions across three key regions: the Kosciusko area, north east Victoria and the Central Victorian Alps. Regular updates are made, called in by ski patrollers, generally after the dawn patrol. It is a fantastic resource for all backcountry skiers, riders and snow shoers who like to get out into the higher country.
As we swing into the southern spring, it’s autumn in the northern hemisphere and everyone is gearing up for winter. All the magazines have their buyers guides and this year’s crop of mountain related films are doing the rounds.
Here’s a couple that have surfaced, for some late season inspiration.
Continue reading “It’ spring – so it’s time for ski/ boarding films”
After a good, early start to the season, the dreaded El Nino influence has seen very ordinary conditions across the Alps since opening weekend in early June…. Most resorts are getting by with very limited terrain being open, and snow making being the source of the skiable stuff. The backcountry, at least in Victoria, is bare, and the Main Range looks pretty basic.
So, this report from The Grasshopper at Mountain Watch is bringing hope to lots of folks:
“The good news: “The best hope of some decent snow is still 11 to 14 July, but unfortunately there’s a bit less agreement amongst the various computer models today. Cold air does not look like it will be an issue; with high pressure to the west and low pressure to the east we’re assured of several days of cold south-west to southerly flow.”
“The big question is whether we get the moisture to combine with that cold air to create snow. Yesterday, I was getting good signals wherever I looked and so 30 to 50cm was the call if those forecasts could hold. Today I’m just seeing a couple of uncertain wobbles in the weather pattern which means I’m going to hedge my bets a little wider and call this 10 to 50cm. Long story short, the upside potential is still very much in play, but a bit more downside has crept in. It happens.”
Check MountainWatch for updates as we get closer to the 11th.
And if you’re getting out amongst it, why not post some photos on the Mountain Journal facebook page?
[Header image: fantastic early snow on Mt Thetis, Tasmania, April 2015]
The love of mountain sports invites you and all to an Australian Backcountry Information Evening. The night is hosted by Watkin McLennan and presented in association with Marker Bindings, Rhythm Snowsports, Mountainwatch.com and Chillfactor Magazine.
When: Thursday 16th July from 7:30pm
Where: Banjo’s Back Room. 1 Kosciuszko Road, Jindabyne.
The evening is for Australian backcountry skiers and snowboarders of all levels of experience and ages. The night kicks off with a short film shot on The Roof of Australia.
Following the film Bill Barker will talk about the hazards unique to the Australian mountains. Bill has been patrolling for over 20 years, is a certified guide with the Canadian Ski Guide Association, and a member of the Canadian Avalanche Association. He is the director of ski patrol at Mt Hotham and runs epic backcountry trips to Gulmarg, India. Visit www.billstrips.com. Continue reading “Backcountry Information Night”
The ANU Mountaineering Club is hosting the Backcountry Film Festival.
Thursday, 23 July 2015 – 6:30pm to 8:30pm
A chance to get together and more importantly fire up the stoke for the ski season. We’ll be showing the Backcountry Film Festival put together by the Winter Wildlands Alliance.
The screening will be in the Haydon Allen Tank on ANU, starting at 6:30pm, Thursday 23 July.
We ask for a $5 entry donation from members and $10 from non-members with proceeds going to the Australian Himalayan Foundation.
Further information available here.
For details on the films, check here.
Backcountry is the new black.
In the last few years, all things backcountry have come in from the fringe, and are now ubiquitous, featuring in films, magazines, books, and gear. I assume that for most people its slightly voyeuristic. People like to read about the amazing runs on offer in the backcountry without necessarily actually getting out there themselves. But there certainly is a new generation of skiers and boarders heading out for an adventure, and BC specific gear is one of the growth areas in the snow equipment industry.
Here in Australia, attention has tended to focus on two of our most spectacular BC destinations: Mt Bogong in Victoria, and the western slopes of the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains (yes, there is lots more on offer, often harder to access and perhaps less iconic. Then there’s Tasmania, which has some insanely good terrain on the rare occasion that it actually comes into shape for riding. But that’s another story).
Now in its 10th year the Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival celebrates the human powered winter experience through film. The festival aims to entertain while helping to raise funds and awareness for Winter Wildlands and our like-minded partners.
The Backcountry Film Festival premieres in Boise, Idaho, and then travels to more than 100 locations worldwide. Along the way, it will be viewed by more than 20,000 outdoor enthusiasts and raise more than $110,000 each year for local organisations working on advocacy, snow safety, outdoor education and Snow School programs.
Thursday May 21, 2015
Cinema at RMIT. Building 80.
Level 1, Room 2, 445 Swanston Street.
Suggested donation: $8 conc & students/ $15 waged.
All proceeds go to the Friends of the Earth climate campaign.
Facebook page here.
The cinema is Room 80.01.02 (It can be hard to find, best bet is to enter off A’Beckett Street, just by the Oxford Scholar Hotel (map here). Building 80 is on Swanston, between Latrobe and Franklin street, opposite the main RMIT campus.
Feel free to meet at the Oxford Scholar for a drink from 6.30pm. Please aim to arrive at the Cinema around 7, we will start the films at 7.15pm.
The festival will also be shown during the 2015 Splitfest (splitboarding festival) being held in the Snowy Mountains, on friday August 22 in Jindabyne.
Please check here for a listing of the films being shown.
Last winter started late but saw fantastic snowfalls and a solid snowbase for most of the season. As we move into autumn all us skiers, boarders and snow lovers are wondering what 2015 might look like. One of the best sources is The Grasshopper, who writes for Mountainwatch.
Grasshopper has written up their forecast for the 2015 season, and the take home message is that:
We’re heading for an El Nino and it’s got a good chance of being a strong one.
A winter dominated by a ‘classic’ El Nino event generally means poor snowfalls because “Big fat highs sit down on south-eastern Australia, suppressing cloud and holding the fronts and rain from the southern oceans at bay”.
But Grasshopper notes that there are two possible forms of El Nino, the other being the so-called “Wrong-uns”:
“When these turn up the higher pressures don’t eventuate and the lower pressures move north to encroach upon Australia. This is going to mean more frequent and/or stronger westerly winds, and the air in those westerlies is going to be sourced from the southern oceans. We won’t necessarily get more precipitation, but when it does arrive it should be colder, and so more likely to fall as snow”.
This is the first forecast of the season, but the prognosis is not great:
“… in the meantime my forecast of peak snow depth at Spencers Creek this winter is a paltry, pathetic and potentially petrifying 140cm, with the first 50cm storm waiting until late July to pay a visit. That would make it the worst year since 2006, another Classic El Nino through June/July/August that only managed 85cm peak snow depth at Spencers Creek.”
There is the hopeful observation that:
“we’ll always have a roll of the dice that a couple of big storms will turn up during August”. Let’s hope.
Stay tuned for Grasshopper’s next forecast.
You can read the full report here.
Telemark Skier magazine, based in the US, is starting WORLD TELEMARK DAY.
They say:
“this inaugural event is a day for telemark skiers to get together and go telemark skiing. Wherever you might be around the world let’s gather at our local hills and drop a knee together!”
The Southern Hemisphere event will be on Saturday SEPTEMBER 5, 2015. Anyone interested in organising an event is welcome to do so: just post the details on the facebook page so other people can join you.
There will be a gathering at Mt Loch that day. We will meet in Mt Hotham resort in the morning, and ski to Mt Loch and Machinery Spur. Tele and AT skiers and splitboarders all welcome.
Some people will also be camping at JB Plain (between Mt Hotham and Dinner Plain) that weekend. You’d be welcome to join the camp. Just come fully prepared with food and gear for snow camping. There is a pub just a 2 km ski away if the need arises.
And just a ‘date claimer’ for the 2015 Splitfest DownUnder festival.
It will be over the weekend of 21-23 August, in the Main Range of the Snowies.
Check the Splitfest website closer to the event for full details and to register.
“We live in remarkable times. What is done, or isn’t done, in the next few years will determine the future”
– David Suzuki
“We need people to fall in love with the outdoors. Without that personal connection with nature it’s hard to get them to protect it”
– Jeremy Jones
Legendary snow boarder Jeremy Jones and environmentalist David Sukuki provide the narrative to the film The Little Things, which has just been released.
The Little Things is a snowboard movie project based on “environmentally conscious riders who are inspirational through their riding, as well as their sustainable ways of living and thinking”.
The film is an initiative taken on by professional snowboarder Marie-France Roy and directed by Filmmaker Darcy Turenne in which all the riders are bringing to life the importance of protecting and living in balance with our environment.
100% of the proceeds from the film will be donated to Protect Our Winters (POW) and The David Suzuki Foundation (DSF). The film makers say that “the goal is to bring snowboarding one step ahead, while inspiring positive change that will secure the same lifestyle and quality of life that we have for future generations”.
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