TRIP REPORT- Sydney Uni Bushwalking Club Ski Trip
September 19th 2006 06:05
I am part of the Sydney University Bushwalking club. However, we dont just bushwalk. We also X Country Ski! After each trip members have the fun of preparing trip reports. The one below is particularly funny! I wasnt lucky enough to go on a club trip this year....so i have included the trip report from one of the groups that went last week. The writing is by Chris Berwick- his website has photos, the site has been included in the report for anyone interested.
Trip Report: X-country skiing - 18-20 August 2006
Party: Catherine, Jiri, Vannessa and me
Photos: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/553930108LRjsgU
- Day 1 Sydney to base camp near Guthega
The four of us met up at Newtown and left Sydney at the ungodly hour of
3am. Jiri drove the whole way, so some of us got some broken sleep on
the way. We stopped by Cooma to hire skis, and also grab some delicious
fat-drenched egg, bacon and cheese rolls from the local bakery.
We arrived on-schedule at Guthega and were rather hopeful about the
skiing conditions due to a fresh 5-10cms of snow overnight. As there was
enough snow on the ground, we decided to head up along the Snowy River.
To our disappointment, the going was rather difficult as we crossed a
side creek and then continued on through the trees. The snow cover was
very thin and we took a long time before we eventually reached the
Illawong suspension bridge for lunch.
We enjoyed a relaxing lunch in some patchy sunshine before proceeding
across the bridge and up the hill towards the Main Range. On the other
side of the river the snow cover was much better without near as many
shrubs poking out. So the skiing was finally reasonable.
As we were out for a leisurely long weekend, and as the wind was still
howling about the peaks, we decided to set up camp early and aimed for a
sheltered spot in amongst some lovely gum trees at the bottom of an
ideal skiing slope. We then had the remainder of the afternoon to enjoy
the surrounding slopes, practicing our turns in the half-crusty snow
conditions.
It began snowing that afternoon and continued overnight. We retreated to
the warmth and shelter of our tents and sleeping bags quite early.
- Day 2 Accident
The weather the next morning was pretty much the same, patchy sunshine
with a cold wind coming down from the peaks, so we werent in any rush
to get up or move on. As thered been some fresh snow overnight I was
keen to try out the slope at our back door. A good 5cm of powder had
fallen and the skiing was great! I practiced my parallel turns on tele
skis. In the meantime Catherine and Jiri cooked some pancakes for a late
breakfast which they shared with the Vannessa and I.
The same theme was followed for the afternoon, where we all got out
skiing and practicing our turns on the surrounding slopes. This was when
Vannessa had a fall and didnt come up smiling! It became apparent very
quickly that there was a serious injury at hand. We all rushed over to
help. Vannessas knee had been injured and we immediately carried her
back to the tent.
We agreed wed still stay the second night (in the hope that Vannessas
knee would somehow improve by morning). An off-duty ski patrol medic
happened to be passing by, so Jiri asked him if hed be able to take a
look at Vannessas knee. He kindly did so, and couldnt determine what
the problem was, other than it seemed to serious. We bandaged it and
iced it (using the readily available snow). We spent the rest of the
afternoon practicing our turns again. Jiri tried to teach Catherine and
I how to tele turn.
- Day 3 Evacuation and return
The next morning Vannessas knee was worse, so we decided to call for
help as we didnt want to risk worsening the injury on the way out.
Luckily there was mobile phone reception as we werent too far from
Guthega. Due to the low snow cover making it difficult to get a ski-doo
in, they decided to send in a chopper. We quickly packed up our tents
and put all the heavy items in Vannessas bag. The chopper soon arrived
and we tried to flag it down by waving ski poles! It hovered over
another partys camp, before we got out a tent fly from one of our tents
and waved it about.
Theyd finally spotted us and came towards our camp. They winched down
one of the paramedics as Jiri and I began carrying Vannessa towards the
chopper. Catherine was taking photos of all the action. The chopper
circled about and came back to a flat area as directed by the paramedic
on the ground. It half-landed and we took Vannessa to the chopper. After
Vannessa was inside, they motioned for us to move back and took off
immediately. We tried to motion to them that we had a backpack ready for
them to take as well, but they werent interested (we later found out
they thought the risk of sinking into the snow was too high). So off
they went (to where we didnt know), leaving the three of us behind with
all of Vannessas gear and skis. It was all over in a matter of minutes,
and with almost no verbal communication.
After splitting Vannessas gear between us, we decided to head back on
the other side of the Snowy River as we were expecting more snow on the
south facing slopes. This proved true for most of the way, as the snow
became sticky in the early afternoon sunshine. Jiri and Catherine stayed
lower, while I took a higher route noticing many animal footprints along
the way. Coming around to Guthega dam the snow became patchy and
eventually disappeared just before the dam. We met at the dam before
trudging up the road to the resort.
We found out by SMS that Vannessa was at Perisher, so we drove round to
pick her up before heading home. On the way back to Sydney we stopped
for some excellent pizza in Cooma.
It was an eventful but still enjoyable trip, and Vannessas knee is
recovering well. Many thanks to Jiri and Catherine for all of their
help.
Trip Report: X-country skiing - 18-20 August 2006
Party: Catherine, Jiri, Vannessa and me
Photos: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/553930108LRjsgU
- Day 1 Sydney to base camp near Guthega
The four of us met up at Newtown and left Sydney at the ungodly hour of
3am. Jiri drove the whole way, so some of us got some broken sleep on
the way. We stopped by Cooma to hire skis, and also grab some delicious
fat-drenched egg, bacon and cheese rolls from the local bakery.
We arrived on-schedule at Guthega and were rather hopeful about the
skiing conditions due to a fresh 5-10cms of snow overnight. As there was
enough snow on the ground, we decided to head up along the Snowy River.
To our disappointment, the going was rather difficult as we crossed a
side creek and then continued on through the trees. The snow cover was
very thin and we took a long time before we eventually reached the
Illawong suspension bridge for lunch.
We enjoyed a relaxing lunch in some patchy sunshine before proceeding
across the bridge and up the hill towards the Main Range. On the other
side of the river the snow cover was much better without near as many
shrubs poking out. So the skiing was finally reasonable.
As we were out for a leisurely long weekend, and as the wind was still
howling about the peaks, we decided to set up camp early and aimed for a
sheltered spot in amongst some lovely gum trees at the bottom of an
ideal skiing slope. We then had the remainder of the afternoon to enjoy
the surrounding slopes, practicing our turns in the half-crusty snow
conditions.
It began snowing that afternoon and continued overnight. We retreated to
the warmth and shelter of our tents and sleeping bags quite early.
- Day 2 Accident
The weather the next morning was pretty much the same, patchy sunshine
with a cold wind coming down from the peaks, so we werent in any rush
to get up or move on. As thered been some fresh snow overnight I was
keen to try out the slope at our back door. A good 5cm of powder had
fallen and the skiing was great! I practiced my parallel turns on tele
skis. In the meantime Catherine and Jiri cooked some pancakes for a late
breakfast which they shared with the Vannessa and I.
The same theme was followed for the afternoon, where we all got out
skiing and practicing our turns on the surrounding slopes. This was when
Vannessa had a fall and didnt come up smiling! It became apparent very
quickly that there was a serious injury at hand. We all rushed over to
help. Vannessas knee had been injured and we immediately carried her
back to the tent.
We agreed wed still stay the second night (in the hope that Vannessas
knee would somehow improve by morning). An off-duty ski patrol medic
happened to be passing by, so Jiri asked him if hed be able to take a
look at Vannessas knee. He kindly did so, and couldnt determine what
the problem was, other than it seemed to serious. We bandaged it and
iced it (using the readily available snow). We spent the rest of the
afternoon practicing our turns again. Jiri tried to teach Catherine and
I how to tele turn.
- Day 3 Evacuation and return
The next morning Vannessas knee was worse, so we decided to call for
help as we didnt want to risk worsening the injury on the way out.
Luckily there was mobile phone reception as we werent too far from
Guthega. Due to the low snow cover making it difficult to get a ski-doo
in, they decided to send in a chopper. We quickly packed up our tents
and put all the heavy items in Vannessas bag. The chopper soon arrived
and we tried to flag it down by waving ski poles! It hovered over
another partys camp, before we got out a tent fly from one of our tents
and waved it about.
Theyd finally spotted us and came towards our camp. They winched down
one of the paramedics as Jiri and I began carrying Vannessa towards the
chopper. Catherine was taking photos of all the action. The chopper
circled about and came back to a flat area as directed by the paramedic
on the ground. It half-landed and we took Vannessa to the chopper. After
Vannessa was inside, they motioned for us to move back and took off
immediately. We tried to motion to them that we had a backpack ready for
them to take as well, but they werent interested (we later found out
they thought the risk of sinking into the snow was too high). So off
they went (to where we didnt know), leaving the three of us behind with
all of Vannessas gear and skis. It was all over in a matter of minutes,
and with almost no verbal communication.
After splitting Vannessas gear between us, we decided to head back on
the other side of the Snowy River as we were expecting more snow on the
south facing slopes. This proved true for most of the way, as the snow
became sticky in the early afternoon sunshine. Jiri and Catherine stayed
lower, while I took a higher route noticing many animal footprints along
the way. Coming around to Guthega dam the snow became patchy and
eventually disappeared just before the dam. We met at the dam before
trudging up the road to the resort.
We found out by SMS that Vannessa was at Perisher, so we drove round to
pick her up before heading home. On the way back to Sydney we stopped
for some excellent pizza in Cooma.
It was an eventful but still enjoyable trip, and Vannessas knee is
recovering well. Many thanks to Jiri and Catherine for all of their
help.
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