PERISHER, The Best Spring in Years

Bud admiring the view from the top of Olympic. Image:: Reggae Elliss

Snow Journal 7 September | Reggae Elliss

Fresh snow across NSW on Sunday and Monday have made Saturday’s heavy rain a fading memory as we enjoyed dry winter snow on Monday and Tuesday.

The resorts reported 25cm over the two day period and with overnight temps between -6 degrees and -9 degrees the snow quality was excellent. On Monday morning I skied plenty of fresh snow in Thredbo; the t-bar areas and the Bluff into Cannonball sported 10cm of fresh snow.

The sun made a return on Tuesday, which was one of those magic days in the mountains – fresh, soft snow with plenty of untracked turns to be enjoyed with minimal crowds. It was the first day this season I had the opportunity to ski outside Thredbo and I hooked up with Olympian Craig ‘Bud’ Branch for a day at Perisher. Bud grew up skiing Perisher and knows the place as well as anyone. We did the full loop, starting out at Eyre before making our way around the resort until we pulled in to Guthega Pub for lunch. The snow was sensational, light dry powder out wide of Eyre and we were still finding some untracked at 10.30am.

The view of the Main Range from Guthega. Image:: Reggae Elliss

The Craig Branch Perisher Tour
There was a racecourse set up on International where Bud said he used to train as a kid. I followed him down next to the course before he hooked a left, skied up a little shoot next to some rocks and ducked under a tree. Talk about local knowledge – a 100m drift full of untracked snow lay waiting, which we skied three times.

A hike out from the top of Olympic also led to some untracked turns before we dropped into Pretty Valley and made our way around to North Perisher. Bud was on a mission to find whatever fresh snow was left and we zig-zagged our way over, dropping through little tree glades and over fun small drop-offs. There was no one over at North Perisher we found plenty of good lines through the trees between the Interceptor Chair and North Perisher t-bar.

After a short skate from the top of the t-bar we again dropped into the trees and headed for Blue Cow. The snow in the top section was nice and light but it turned gluey down low so we cut out at the bottom of Pleasant Valley to ski lower roller Coaster down to the Ridge Chair. By this stage it was late morning and it had turned into a perfect spring day. The south facing slopes were still holding some nice dry snow and the steep pitch on Kamikaze was lovely although a little chopped up.

The Guthega pub is a great place for lunch. Image:: Reggae Elliss

After a quick dash to Guthega and a run through the trees we pulled into the pub for lunch. Guthega Pub has the best outlook of any venue in the mountains – possibly the country – and with great food and cold beer it is the perfect place to relax and rest up for the afternoon. The hard part is resisting the urge to stay there for a few hours, as on a day like yesterday it is easy to settle in. We skied out, still finding pockets of dry snow, finishing the day with a run through ‘Bright’s Pipe’ at Front Valley. A great day, in great snow and with more snow due on Friday this weekend is looking good.

“People are weird,” Bud said on the ski tube as we headed back to Bullock’s Flat. “We skied straight onto every lift we rode today and the snow was great. Two weekends ago it was as crowded as it gets, all that perfect snow and perfect weather. It’s just as good now and there’s no one here. It’s weird – why wouldn’t you down now?” Good question – get up here and enjoy the snow, it is shaping up as the best spring in years.

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