I’m a tad bit behind in trip reports soo I thought I would start off by talking about my Southern Hemisphere spring trip. My 5 month journey started off with 15 hours of flights to a place that was not exactly the ski capital of the world but some may say it is the surfing capital. I set my trip so it coincided with the Australian Splitfest which is put together by Adam West who owns a sight called FirstLight Snowboards. he was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, take me to his hometown to meet his amazing family then we were off on the road to the Great Snowy Mountains, with Meat Pie in hand.
We arrived in Jindyebyne which could be called the Wanaka of Australia it seemed like it’s the outdoor recreational capital with only an hour drive to Blue Perisher ski resort, mountain biking and some other sports I am sure I’ve never heard of right out of peoples back doors. It’s a beautiful place, made even more so by the full moon.
Day 1: Deadhorse Pass: NSW Main Range
My first day of touring in the Southern Hemi was at a place called Dead Horse Pass. Like my standard tradition I brought snow with me but it had came with vengeance, all on whiteout with snow blowing us sideways. I was touring with Adam West, owner of Firstlight snowboards and creator of the Down Under Splitfest so after running around in circles breaking a fresh skin track we thought it would be bad for the owner and pro athlete to get lost on the day of the event. My first turns were ski turns in powder. It was weird but it was rad!!
This is what they call tree skiing
Look at that rhime ice
The conditions were deteriorating really fast and we were battling with whiteout conditions and the potential of getting lost in terrain that was a navigational nightmare so we decided to call it good and head back to town, we joked that it would be horrible if the event creator and the sponsored Splitboarder got lost in the mountains.
That nights Splitfest was an amazing event with over a 100 people showing up and enough videos and slideshows to keep everyone entertained for hours on end. I was fortunate to put on a slideshow about the American Alps Traverse (which I will write up soon) and all went well, other than the comment making fun of Australian coffee. That night we celebrated our common passion and not a single person left empty handed. Huge thanks to Adam for putting the event together and really bringing Splitboarding to Australia.
Day 2: Gothika: NSW Main Range
The next day we woke up to sunshine and made our way up to the backside of Gothika ski resort and I saw the alpine for the first time. It was big, open, rollish and most off all affected by a rain event then frozen over night. Conditions started firm but as the day went on it soften up to mank conditions. People would comment have you ever skied anything like this to which I would respond, every April in the Cascades. The terrain was great for touring with endless options of whatever you wanted both steeps and mellows were there to be found. In the end I came to the conclusion, if this terrain was in Washington people would be all over it. Lets say Snoqulamie Pass but steeper terrain and a few trees here and there but it is no Alpental, actually there is only one Alpental.
Our adventure starts and ends at this dam.
A rain event happened overnight and the powder from the day before had become firm, rain runnel covered snow.
I was shown the local area by Mark and Sally Fenner both of which are Cardio trainers and nutritionists for the best bike riders in Australia, in other words I was dying just to keep up with them.
It was awesome looking at my Altimeter.
April style turns from corn to mank in 1,000 vertical feet.
Australian Spines
I love these trees
That night I was involved in yet another OZ tradition which is camping in the forests below the ski resort getting occasionally woken up by the random Kangaroo sneaking up to lick the salt off your car.
Day 3 Dead Horse Pass NSW Main Range
The third day brought me back to Dead Horse Pass but this time it was blue skies. There was at least 15 splitters all putting in steep skin track so I put in a nice guide style one and beat all them to the top. I joked that I hoped to return in two years to see everyone putting in 12 degree skin tracks.
While the terrain we were on was quite mellow off in the distance was a few steep rock lines to get the adrenaline pumping. The day was short because our ride back to Norwa (Adams house) was 6 hours long, Yes a 6 hour commute.
The next day we went back to Sydney and after a nice plate of Kangaroo steak I was off to the Airport and more specifically Queenstown, New Zealand.
Huge thanks go to Adam and Jacqui for being so kind to a dirt bag backcountry ski bum. Hoping to see both of you the next few upcoming years.
Thank you for reading and If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more ski tours abroad check out this link