BOOTHY’S BLOG – Why I Love Thredbo

Sun slush and skiing, the makings of a perfect Monday in spring Image:: Thredbo

Mountainwatch | Chris Booth

Man I love Thredbo.

It’s warm at the bottom. You get on the lift, poles under the leg, goggles down, gloves on. The tepid air gently laps at the skin on your face. Then, as you pass over Kareela Hutte winter hits you. The wind buffers the chair, you zip your collar to the top and hide behind it. Only the tip of your nose remains. The chair shakes from side to side as you come into the top station. The off-ramp is stripped back to ice. You scuffle awkwardly forward and into Eagles Nest. Behind the shelter you can breathe again.

The bluff is drifted and wind-blown and wintry. Its about -5 but feels about -100. Back on The Supertrail the snow feels packed and firm, you adjust a little bit. A few long GS turns down the corduroy, the last couple always feel the best. Just below Koscziusko mid-station the snow changes again. Its still firm, but its got a bit more water in it. It’s crystalised and slick in patches. Your ears equalise. The air is suddenly noticeable. It’s temperate. You adjust again.

Drop another 100m and you’re in the slush. You sweat a little bit in your thermals, and the foam of your goggles feels softer on your face. You turn the last bend towards the base of Crackenback past all those ski in ski out places with heated concrete. The slush deepens and people are everywhere, you get bucked by the woopty-woos and narrowly avoid a collision.

You pull up at the bottom and arrive to a whole different world. Its 8 degrees in the sun and everyone is beautiful. The social set are out on the terrace, they have somehow managed to arrange table service and lattes are in full effect. You could be at Icebergs in Bondi except that people are wearing POC and Moncler. You don’t know what it is, but whatever it is, Thredbo people just seem to do it so well. You feel daggy.

There’s a woman in all black with Chanel skis. You wonder for a moment what they ski like. But only for a moment, because there are so many other worthy distractions, and before long you’re back on the lift headed in the direction of winter. By mid-afternoon you’ve skied as many runs as your legs can handle and it’s time to pull the pin. As you cross the bridge from Crackenback to the village you notice the gentle flow of the Thredbo River below you. You are alerted to the faint but comforting smell of warm grass and dry eucalyptus leaves. The sun is on your back.

At the Thredbo Alpine Hotel people are spread out around the pool area. Apres skiers are drinking champagne on white sofas in giant black sunglasses, and everyone has perfect hair. It’s Veuve Clicquot ski week. Just beyond them a dance party is in full effect, people are gyrating in expensive puffy coats and ski boots to the sounds of Swedish House Mafia. On stage a stunning young brunette singer in American Flag tights is shaking her hair about. It looks like what Thredbo must have been like in the 80s.

Even though the snow may have been a little sparse lately, the crew from Rekorderlig Cider have kept the party going at the poolside apres sessions Image:: Steve Cuff

Fast forward an hour, it’s 4pm, you’re feeling sunburnt and on the drunk side of tipsy. A pretty girl from Veuve comes up to you and hands you a pair promotional Veuve yellow imitation Wayfarers. American flag tights is singing that song out of Gatsby, the crowd is and start to move a little. ‘A little party never killed nobody’ she sings, you don’t disagree.
You put the free sunglasses on, that Thredbo feeling starts to wash over you.

It’s a feeling that you can only get by putting yourself through extremes. Everything about Thredbo does that to you. Every run is a roller coaster ride through different environments, from freezing winter to sun-drenched slush. Every moment feels so different from the next, one minute you’re alone riding down the bluff, the next you’re in a scene from Gastby.

I feel like Thredbo really ‘gets’ this. They ‘get’ that skiing is about so much more than turns down a hill, and that really its all the other things that come together to package the experience that make it so legendary.

No other ski resort in the country even comes close.

Spring is the best time of year to go skiing, and the warmer weather really brings out the extremes in Thredbo. But this year Thredbo is taking things up a gear.
The Efterski Festival is on in just over a week, and Thredbo is offering some pretty amazing accommodation/festival packages for what will be a classic Thredbo weekend.

Thredbo forecasts,
snow reports and
live snow cams.