PERISHER NSW , AUSTRALIA .JULY 3,4,5, 2018

Happen to be near Perisher NSW, visiting kid # 2 who moved to Australia from Jasper, Alberta two years ago. This is about as far as i can go from my Quebec base for skiing. Skiing was quite good once you find your way around. Lot of flat sections and not very steep but still a lot of interesting sections out by the boundary markers. Blue cow and the other far side had quite a few options. Early in the season but a storm of over 2 feet helped open up the natural stuff. Sent in few pics below. Temps above freezing but snow stayed dry even found wind blown powder yesterday. You can ski anywhere between the rocks and gum trees. Interesting ski scene as the only snow is in the high elevation mountains above 4000 feet. The valley locations are dry and semi arid. Stayed in a camper trailer down in the valley .

Just noticed this -- thanks for posting, Anthony. Are those gum trees? I'm interested in seeing pix from Thredbo too.

It looks like a slightly better version of the skiing I had at Thredbo July 18, 1997. Snow quality was similarly good but I think Anthony had a deeper snowpack. Pictures were on film and are buried in a photo album somewhere. The gum trees in the ski areas have very colorful bark.

Patrick has lots of pictures from 6! Australian ski areas this year, some of which are on Facebook. He got home about a week ago. The streak has reached the 13 year milestone.
Thredbo Sept. 3: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.corcor ... ?__tn__=-R
Perisher, Sept. 4: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.corcor ... ?__tn__=-R
Patrick had 104 ski days in 2017-18.

My Thredbo notes from July 18, 1997:

Base thin but surface good from 8 in. snow 2 days ago. Light breeze on top T-bar. Lower mtn skiable on 2 snowmaking supertrails. Alpine T-bars rocky but a few good lines. Cool but calm & sunny.

Warmup E side, then High Noon & Anton/Sponars T-bars. First time up Karels T-bar followed lady under rope to Funnelweb, usually mogulled but smooth as few had skied it. PM on T-bars & Crackenback, then High Noon to car.
21,800 vertical.

Snow Gums at tree line:


View down to Thredbo base:


Anton/Sponars alpine sector:

Yes it was thin but snow was good and I was on then-new very maneuverable 180cm demo shaped skis from Head.

View from top of Aussie lift service at 6,800 feet:

That's still dangerously low for its latitude of 36.5 degrees, about the same as Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Maybe the Virginia/North Carolina border is a better analogy.

Basin/Karels alpine sector:


View down Funnelweb:

It's mid-afternoon but this was the only run steep enough to be in the shade most of the day.

This was perhaps the first of my trips that preceded a natural disaster, in this case only 12 days later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Thredbo_landslide My New Zealand 2010 and Japan 2011 trips preceded major earthquakes by about 6 weeks.

I wasn't aware of the Thredbo landslide following your visit, wow. Funny that you mentioned the novelty of "shaped skis" back then.

jamesdeluxe":mpo17bgu said:

Funny that you mentioned the novelty of "shaped skis" back then.

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I did not have notes at the time, but here's brief summary of my experience with the new ski technology in the 1990's.

I did not think I needed shaped skis to assist carving turns but I did think I needed a powder ski as my experiences were very erratic and highly sensitive to snow quality. Therefore I demoed the Volant Chubb in March 1996, took it off the backside of Mammoth where it performed impressively in variable crust. I wanted to buy them immediately but they were sold out, so I bought in November 1996 and took them on my first trip on the Powder Highway (Island Lake, Fernie, Whitewater, Red Mt.) in late Feb. 1997 and they were my powder skis into 2008.

In early Feb. 1997 at Mammoth I demoed the K2 Four, which at that time was touted as the most versatile shaped ski. It required some adjustment in technique but clearly turn initiation/effort was easier so I bought a pair that spring for my ex-wife. She was on her way out of skiing and it turns out quit skiing completely from 1998-2006. However those 183cm K2 Fours became Adam's daily driver ski from 2001-2004.

1997 was also the start of the Inside Tracks subscription newsletter, for which I wrote resort reviews and other features. http://bestsnow.net/insdtrak.htm Peter Keelty wrote their equipment reviews and I recall whatever new shaped ski Head had just introduced was his top choice. A Jindabyne shop had that ski but at 180cm which was about 10cm short for me in that design. So they didn't have the best high speed stability but they were great in the low tide alpine/off piste terrain at Thredbo.

I have no notes regarding the demo/rental skis later in that trip skiing 4 days in New Zealand. We would have had fat skis for the day with Harris Heli though. I know my impression of demo skis in NZ was favorable as it was on later trips in 2006 and 2010. I do not think it's necessary to bring your own skis to Oz/NZ as the demos are good and it's a big pain to drag skis through the other more tropical places one is likely to be visiting on those trips. This is in contrast to South America, where rentals can be sketchy and I strongly recommend you bring your own even if it is a travel nuisance.

I probably did not try a shaped ski again until demos in April 1999 at Lake Louise and at my first NASJA meeting at Mammoth. I was demoing the Volant Power Ti on April 9, 1999, which remains the greatest lift served ski day of my life: http://bestsnow.net/19990409mmthtc.HTML I ordered a pair of those that summer, and they were my daily driver skis from 2000-2006.

Hard to believe that the Chubbs, with a waist of 88mm, were once considered fat. Mine, with the zebra graphic on the base, have been repurposed as feet for my Adirondack ski chair.

The original Chubb was 110-90-100. There was a later Chubb with more sidecut that was 87 underfoot. Shane McConkey and Scott Gaffney noticed that the new Chubb was worse in powder than the old one. https://unofficialnetworks.com/2012/07/ ... wder-skis/ This led Shane to design the Spatula, of which only a few hundred were made before Volant was completely taken over by Atomic. Shane then moved to K2 and designed the Pontoon. https://www.powder.com/stories/classics/the-catalyst/ I demoed the Pontoon for 3 days at Chatter Creek in 2009.

Later in 2009 I won a Head ski from NASJA, chose the Jimi. At 130-110-120 it had the exact sidecut of my old Chubbs, wider by 20mm in all dimensions. It was a good powder ski but not as good as the Armada JJ, introduced about the same time with lots of rocker. A week after Chatter Creek 2009 I had a day at Eagle Pass Heli. The guide and one of the clients were on the then-new JJ's and raved about them.

With regard to James' comment, my current daily driver Blizzard Bonafides are 133-98-118 and have tip rocker. Powder performance is better than the Chubbs or Jimis yet they also rip on groomers. It's thus a perfect ski for the Alps, which is why I bought them a month before my first trip to the Arlberg in January 2013. Val d'Isere was the first time I have used a dedicated powder ski in the Alps, and the main reason for that is that my DPS Wailer 112's have AT bindings, which both iSKI and Alpine Experience want their clients to use.

Tony Crocker":2cjpsbb0 said:

Patrick has lots of pictures from 6! Australian ski areas this year, some of which are on Facebook. He got home about a week ago. The streak has reached the 13 year milestone.
Thredbo Sept. 3: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.corcor ... ?__tn__=-R" ;
Perisher, Sept. 4: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.corcor ... ?__tn__=-R"

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Links to Facebook don't work for me whether using iPhone, iPad or Windows 10 laptop, even if I delete the extra? characters. I also tried going through his posts to find Australian skiing in the last month and couldn't find it, but maybe that is because I'm not his Facebook friend. I did see earlier on madpatski that he was in Australia, but there no details or pictures were posted.

Sorry for getting off-topic, but while I know Australia and New Zealand had decent seasons, what about S America? Snowbrains (whose accuracy I've questioned more that once) said Valle Nevado got recent snow and extended season see https://snowbrains.com/valle-nevado-chile-open-october/ But I also got an e-mail from Snowbrains that said nearby La Parva only had received 7" of snow all season. See https://snowbrains.com/chilean-resorts-closing-early/

Portillo is the only area down there with reliable reporting. In late August/early Sept. Portillo was reporting 130 inches season-to-date snowfall, 51% of the 1970-2007 average. They closed Sept. 9, which tells me all I need to know. If an important ski area in the Northern Hemisphere has to close by March 9, it's headline news but sadly not so uncommon in South America during the past decade. 2009 was the last above average season in Portillo/Valle Nevado/Las Lenas. The past years of drought intensity at those places is comparable to 2012-2015 in the Sierra.

Other places farther south can get different weather patterns, but most of them are lower altitude and get more rain. And the ones in Argentina get less snow being leeward of the Andes crest.

Nevados de Chillan is overall the most consistent by logic and reputation though there is zero data to corroborate that. Patrick had excellent skiing there in 2007 but it was sketchy in 2012. Mattadvproject has been running trips to Chillan the past 3 seasons in late August. His first year in 2016 was possibly Chillan's worst year on record and it was in danger of closing by the time of his trip. They got some snow just in time but still closed in early September within two weeks after he left. 2017 was a big year in the southern resorts like Chillan, which contributed to there being too much water in the Futaleufu River during our ill fated trip last December.

The details of Matt's 2018 trip are here: https://www.pugski.com/threads/chile-20 ... des.10535/ It was a below average year with adequate snow up high but not much at the base. Chillan has a lot of sidecountry and touring assisted skiing. In 2018 some of that required hiking out at lower elevations to return to the resort.

tseeb":13u8c92u said:

Links to Facebook don't work for me whether using iPhone, iPad or Windows 10 laptop, even if I delete the extra? characters. I also tried going through his posts to find Australian skiing in the last month and couldn't find it, but maybe that is because I'm not his Facebook friend. I did see earlier on madpatski that he was in Australia, but there no details or pictures were posted.

Sorry for getting off-topic, but while I know Australia and New Zealand had decent seasons, what about S America?

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From all that I have heard, South America had a terrible season. As for Australia, everyone was saying that it was their best season in maybe 20 years. Truly great trips with awesome views and great terrain. Totally what one wouldn't expect when thinking about skiing in Australia.

I've been overwhelmed with life since I came back, zero times on ski forums or my blog.

Here are some Instagram links I posted during the trip.

Mount Buller, Victoria

Good Monday / Bon lundi
Ski Day 98, Month 155.
Aug 27, 2018
Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Buller
Stay tune for more pictures.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnBUuTcAO8i ... _copy_link

Ski Day 98, Month 155.
Monday August 27, 2018 - Part 1 - early morning firmness, but great to back on snow.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Buller
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnCqQ3LAG_J ... _copy_link

Ski Day 98, Month 155.
Monday August 27, 2018 - Part 2 - Fanny’s Finish is FIRMly steep fun.
Steep and Firm. Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Buller
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnDmqfCgCDe ... _copy_link

Ski Day 98, Month 155.
Monday August 27, 2018 - Part 3 - they are no bad skiing, just bad skiers. Firm moguls, firm steeps, but lower angle south facing runs were real corny.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Buller
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnD-rduAfx5 ... _copy_link

Monday August 27, 2018 - Part 4 - National Alpine Museum of Australia at Mt Buller .
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnFUpWigLNa ... _copy_link

Mount Hotham, Victoria

Ski Day 99, Month 155.
Tuesday August 28, 2018 - Part 1 - very early morning bus ride from Bright to Hotham. A cool -9c and in the clouds to start off your day.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Hotham
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnFam6Lg0BG ... _copy_link

Ski Day 99, Month 155.
Tuesday August 28, 2018 - Part 2 - Early morning carving firmness at Hotham. A cool -9c and in the clouds to start off your day.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Hotham
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnFb0TdgOJ_ ... _copy_link

Ski Day 99, Month 155.
Tuesday August 28, 2018 - Part 3 - Still morning, found some nice snow. Skiers are all on the same trails...I’m still moving across this vast terrain. Still a few lifts and terrain to explore, but I’m starving.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Hotham
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnGvCoLg-P_ ... _copy_link

Ski Day 99, Month 155.
Tuesday August 28, 2018 - Part 4 - Sunny afternoon - continuation in the exploration of Hotham. Nice steeps.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Hotham
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnGw7N3gsLj ... _copy_link

Ski Day 99, Month 155.
Tuesday August 28, 2018 - Part 5 - Last few runs of the day.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Mount Hotham
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnHmfvkAZsw ... _copy_link

Falls Creek, Victoria

Ski Day 100, Month 155.
Wednesday August 29 2018 - Part 1 - Exploring Victoria’s largest ski resort. Great family hill where the beginners are at the top (where it’s flatter and snow is more secure). There is also a bit of something for everyone.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Falls Creek
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnH-6K5ABoE ... _copy_link

Ski Day 100, Month 155.
Wednesday August 29 2018 - Part 2 - Exploring Victoria’s largest ski resort. Great family hill where the beginners are at the top (where it’s flatter and snow is more secure). There is also a bit of something for everyone.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Falls Creek
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnIL5HtA6-M ... _copy_link

Ski Day 100, Month 155.
Wednesday August 29 2018 - Part 3 - A bit of afternoon corn in the Maze after lunch. I love high speed detachable poma lifts.
Skiing in Australia, skiing Falls Creek
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnJOMP8APV3 ... _copy_link

Vendredi / Friday August 31 août, 2018 - Part 1
Rainy day / journée pluvieuse Jindabyne to/à Thredbo
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnLyabcgVBi ... _copy_link

Friday / vendredi August 31 août, 2018 - Part 2
Thredbo Alpine Museum
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnOMvdEAChT ... _copy_link

Thredbo, New South Wales

Ski Day 101, Month 156.
Saturday September 1, 2018 - Part 1 - A bit of every type of weather and snow conditions at Thredbo
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnOXXh9AV7- ... _copy_link

Ski Day 101, Month 156.
Saturday September 1, 2018 - Part 2 - A bit of every type of weather and snow conditions at Thredbo.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnQW2pzABnC ... _copy_link

Ski Day 101, Month 156.
Saturday September 1, 2018 - Part 3 - A bit of every type of weather and snow conditions at Thredbo.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnQXyHmAhcR ... _copy_link

Ski Day 101, Month 156.
Saturday September 1, 2018 - Part 4 - Skiing with rainbows. A bit of every type of weather and snow conditions at Thredbo.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnQgCl0AtZV ... _copy_link

Charlotte Pass, New South Wales

Ski Day 102, Month 156.
SUNday September 2, 2018 - Part 1 - The way to Charlotte Pass. Car, Skitube and oversnow transport
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnQxlyUAi52 ... _copy_link

Ski Day 102, Month 156.
SUNday September 2, 2018 - Part 2 - Fathers’ Day at Charlotte Pass.
The Ski World is small. I got on the chair (twice of three times) with an older man. Started chatting, he became a regular and instructor at Charlotte Pass. He discovered skiing in Norway and was hooked. Was in a Bogner film and mentioned that you would be fired if you talk about rain when he was an instructor in Canada (I mentioned the rain that had fallen the previous day). Asked him where was he an instructor? Tremblant and was also hired at Villa Bellevue at around 1960. Very close to the years my father was teaching and eventually ski school director at Villa Bellevue in circa 1959. He didn’t remember my fathers name, but knew Ernie McCulloch, John Fripp and Réal Charette who didn’t hire him because of his beard at the time. Turns out that the man was 90 and skiing nonstop. I want to be him when I grow up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnTfSA2gY6U ... _copy_link

Perisher Day 1, New South Wales

Ski Day 103, Month 156.
Monday September 3, 2018 - Part 1 - Perisher (Blue Cow) Skitube to Blue Cow turns
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnTotPKAZVA ... _copy_link

Ski Day 103, Month 156.
Monday September 3, 2018 - Part 2 - Perisher (Blue Cow) Canadian and French National freestyle teams training. Next destination: Guthega
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnUf36LA2-f ... _copy_link

Ski Day 103, Month 156.
Monday September 3, 2018 - Part 3 - Perisher (Guthega). Fresh corn on the menu.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnUqkV_A0dc ... _copy_link

Ski Day 103, Month 156.
Monday September 3, 2018 - Part 4 - Perisher (Blue Cow) Cornapalooza continues. Next destination: Perisher Valley
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnVfR2tgYGQ ... _copy_link

Ski Day 103, Month 156.
Monday September 3, 2018 - Part 5 - Last few runs on the busy frontside at Perisher (Perisher Valley)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnXTydHgidU ... _copy_link

Perisher Day 2, New South Wales

Last Ski Day of my season, Day #104, Month 156.
Tuesday September 4, 2018 - Part 1 - Morning tour of the 4 resorts of Perisher (Smiggin Hole, Blue Cow, Guthega and Perisher Valley)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnYrdT1gyYU ... _copy_link

Ski Day 104, Month 156.
Tuesday September 4, 2018 - Part 2 - No time to wait for lunch on the last day when the corn snow is so good and the steeps off the Olympic T-Bar are so much fun
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnYtIt7AWMJ ... _copy_link

Ski Day 104, Month 156.
Tuesday September 4, 2018 - Part 3 - View of Charlotte Pass from the top of Mt. Perisher
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnYu2VxgTjL ... _copy_link

Ski Day 104, Month 156.
Tuesday September 4, 2018 - Part 4 - From Black to Green, last few runs before calling it a season and heading North
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnYyZtjgnk_ ... _copy_link

Après-ski Tuesday September 4, 2018 - Part 5 - From The Perisher Historical Society to Bits and Pizzas in Jindabyne. Bye Bye Snowy Mountains and Australian Skiing, It’s been great. Yes, Ski Year-Round @perisher_resort @bitsandpizzas_jindabyne
Skiing in Australia. Hope to come back.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnYzvXqgCA4 ... _copy_link

You can find many more pictures from my Australian trips, life in Ottawa, etc via my Instagram account. @madpatski

Patrick and I corresponded before his trip. I was highly skeptical, as Aussie skiing conditions are probably more erratic than the Northeast with comparable rain frequency, so highly risky given the time and $$$ involved. Australia is also more expensive than New Zealand, Chile or Argentina and the ski areas are smaller.

Patrick did not commit until sometime in July when the season had started very favorably. I have intermittently read online reports from Australia since before my trip in 1997, and those are what formed my basis for skepticism. It is not uncommon for some terrain to be inadequately covered or the advanced terrain to be closed for dangerous conditions, which by the way was the case on both of my days at Mt. Hutt in New Zealand in 1982 and 2010.

So there's no question Patrick got lucky with this trip, which he certainly deserves after being in New Zealand during one of its worst seasons in 2016. Everything in his Oz ski pictures looked well covered and open. He commented on some firm snow, but those of us who have skied with Patrick know that's rather irrelevant to him. If it's covered and open Patrick will ski it and it will look like packed powder to an observer.

Terrain at Mt. Buller and Mt. Hotham looked better than I expected, and probably better than what I saw first hand at Thredbo.

Tony Crocker":1ydzt0ih said:

Patrick did not commit until sometime in July when the season had started very favorably.

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Even closer to the August 22 departure date: I booked only about 3 weeks prior.

Tony Crocker":1ydzt0ih said:

Everything in his Oz ski pictures looked well covered and open. He commented on some firm snow, but those of us who have skied with Patrick know that's rather irrelevant to him. If it's covered and open Patrick will ski it and it will look like packed powder to an observer.

Terrain at Mt. Buller and Mt. Hotham looked better than I expected, and probably better than what I saw first hand at Thredbo.

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The snow was firm earlier in the week at the Victoria ski areas which are further south and where the weather would remain mostly below or at freezing levels. I had -9c start to my day at Hotman.

Here is a quick summary when asked about my impressions on the Australian ski forum.
https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/trave ... 305/page-4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I totally had a blast. Scenery, terrain, etc. When the snow is present, Australia has nothing to be ashamed of terrain wise. Maybe not in the league with the big World ski areas, but not far off the ones in NZ. More later, trying to plan the next few days.
I just posted some more IG posts.

Very quick and honest impression (note, Saturday’s weather at Thredbo might have limited my perception. Although the Charlotte Pass Poma is out of service, I got a good sense of the terrain).

Best variety: Perisher
Best steeps: Hotham
Best big mountain runs: Thredbo
Best family/beginner (meaning something for everyone in a family of different skills): Falls Creek
Best small with everything to have fun: Buller
Best views, calm and classic feel: Charlotte Pass
Best Terrain Parks: Perisher and Falls Creek

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[/quote]

Patrick's impression vs. NZ is surely influenced by the excellent 2018 season in Oz vs. the crappy one in 2016 in NZ.

New Zealand is no paragon of snow reliability. All the South Island areas are on the leeward side of the Southern Alps and they are not high enough to avoid rain either. Adjusting for higher latitude they are 1,000 - 1,500 feet higher than in Australia though.

The main difference is terrain, geologically young mountains vs. older mountains, like the Alps vs. eastern North America. In the mediocre 1982, 1997 and 2010 New Zealand seasons I skied some but not a lot of terrain comparable to what Patrick did at Buller and Hotham. So overall I'd say Patrick's trip this year rates above those 3. In the good 2006 New Zealand season I got to ski some steeps comparable to Mammoth or AltaBird and everything was wide open with good snow. That trip was comparable to an above average week in Western North America or the Alps.

From pictures and observation Australia is an interesting comparison with the the Northeast. Australia scores points for having some alpine terrain, but many Northeast areas have more vertical and some a lot more. Vermont and Quebec City rate to be better for snow. Topography/pitch of the mountains is quite similar.

Tony Crocker":3cr7y5fd said:

From pictures and observation Australia is an interesting comparison with the the Northeast. (...) Topography/pitch of the mountains is quite similar.

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That's what I was thinking; however, instead of hardwoods I see those exotic-looking gum trees. Japan has something similar, right?

The gum trees are rather unique in my ski experience. Japan has deciduous forests, some like western cottonwoods, some probably more like the US Northeast.

It's almost a year later and I finally clicked through a bunch of Patrick's Instagram links from this trip. Impressive photos of what looks like nice coverage. They seem to confirm Tony's perception that Patrick captured lightning in a bottle on a destination trip.

jamesdeluxe":2s6vl8kk said:

It's almost a year later and I finally clicked through a bunch of Patrick's Instagram links from this trip. Impressive photos of what looks like nice coverage. They seem to confirm Tony's perception that Patrick captured lightning in a bottle on a destination trip.

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I didn't book until 3 weeks prior to my departure for Australia. I knew that Australia was having a great season, best in two decades according to some locals. I managed my days around weather issues, but not as much as during my NZ like added an extra day off when I arrived in New South Wales and postponing my Thredbo day from Friday to Saturday even if I knew that weekends are a bit of a zoo.

In terms of snow reliability, perhaps massive closures of previously open terrain from rain/freeze are less likely in Australia than in the Northeast. I think the Aussie temperatures might be more like the SoCal locals, sort of a perpetual spring with random episodes of true winter.

So similar to here, in a good Aussie snow year when a healthy base is established, perhaps you can expect full operation will last awhile even though surface conditions may change on short notice. Unfortunately the last season like that in SoCal was 2009-10.

In terms of terrain quality, IMHO Australia fits between James' second and third tier definitions in the Northeast.

Heading down under the last week of August for the 2019 NSW Freestyle Championships. Also going to hit Mt Buller. I was going to rent a car since there is quite a lot of distance between the resorts. Flying into Sydney and back from Melbourne. Any tips, tricks and hints would be great. This will get me my first 12 month season!