2011 Mt Hotham pics...
- El_Freddo
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I've been meaning to update - but trying to sort out this new shift at night thing has held me up.
So far its been a great start to the opening weekend - except the drunken louts that think they own the mountain (and also think that its 24/7 convenience like it is in Melbourne)...
I will get more pics up when I find the time. I'm keen for some food then some sleep
Cheers
Bennie
So far its been a great start to the opening weekend - except the drunken louts that think they own the mountain (and also think that its 24/7 convenience like it is in Melbourne)...
I will get more pics up when I find the time. I'm keen for some food then some sleep
Cheers
Bennie
- El_Freddo
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^ This pic was meant to make it in with the last ones - shorts and Tshirt weather!
Ok, so these pics were taken about 3 or 4 days after the last set.* This is a great setup for the opening weekend which went well - four lefts were open by the end of the weekend, Roadrunner being the last to open.
Tuesday the 7th of June 2011, before opening:
^ Frozen moisture on Ruby Scoo
^ The reason why remote central locking is good at times - while my locks weren't frozen this time I had them freeze a couple of times last year!
^ Air moisture sticking and freezing to objects such as my scorpions.* Now in a secret location...
^ My little fleabay special weather station.* Yes it is frozen but the wind speed gadget was still spinning - porbably an inaccurate reading but anyway.* It freezes solid at times giving no readings of winds speed.* Humidity and outside temp still work.
^ Moving Ruby Scoo from Higgi drive before all the snow arrived that would have made it extremely difficult to get her and the trailer out.* She lived down at the front of the Arlberg where i may have got her bogged in the snow (road tyres and snow while towing do not mix!).* Removed the trailer, shovelled some snow and I was sorted, my chains were handy too.* Re-attached the trailer and I was done with that for a while.
^ The "random number generator" aka the clock/temp gauge on the RMB building.
^ Random ice frost formation on the window.* Not the greatest pic but hopefully you get the idea.
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- El_Freddo
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Friday 10th of June 2011. The season officially opened at 3pm...
^ Ruby Scoo was parked here for a couple of days before having to be moved to staff parking later in the arvo.
^ Higgi Drive behind the Arlberg. Good snow coverage that's about to get better with the next front. All vehicles would be banned from here at 3pm. Fines would be issued for non-compliance but weren't starting to be issued until Sunday.
^ The Coral Day Carpark looking west from just above Higgi Drive.
^ One of the snow clearing machines! The one's that clear the main roads are old MAN or International trucks with a crazy snow plow mounted on the front.
^ The important sign to take notice of when leaving town or cruising around. I love that bottom sign when that is displayed.
^ The current random number for Friday the 10th of June 2011 at about 11am - which was about right for once as my weather station was saying the same thing.
^ Icicles off the side of White Crystal apartments.
^ More Icicles, this is how they drop off the roof, this is on the RMB entrance.
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^ Ruby Scoo was parked here for a couple of days before having to be moved to staff parking later in the arvo.
^ Higgi Drive behind the Arlberg. Good snow coverage that's about to get better with the next front. All vehicles would be banned from here at 3pm. Fines would be issued for non-compliance but weren't starting to be issued until Sunday.
^ The Coral Day Carpark looking west from just above Higgi Drive.
^ One of the snow clearing machines! The one's that clear the main roads are old MAN or International trucks with a crazy snow plow mounted on the front.
^ The important sign to take notice of when leaving town or cruising around. I love that bottom sign when that is displayed.
^ The current random number for Friday the 10th of June 2011 at about 11am - which was about right for once as my weather station was saying the same thing.
^ Icicles off the side of White Crystal apartments.
^ More Icicles, this is how they drop off the roof, this is on the RMB entrance.
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- El_Freddo
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^ While in the RMB office sorting out my parking permit I saw this ice formation fall off the roof!
^ Village lift before use. It didn't get used on opening weekend and probably won't open for another week or two if we don't get any decent snow. You don't see the lifts iced up like this often!
^ Chairs on the village chair lift iced up.
^ One of the old trees that feature in a couple of pics up here, I enjoy photographing them anyway.
^ The first Forester diesel I've seen up here.
^ Ruby Scoo about to be moved to staff parking
^ Ruby's been growing some icicles...
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- El_Freddo
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And what I saw before I went to bed after my first Night Manager shift on Friday night:
Magic! Followed by a sleep of only a couple of hours...
Now we're getting foggy conditions with moisture droplets as the temps are above 0 degrees, the snow is slushy out the back on higgi drive and the road is clear and easy to drive at the moment. Hoping for more snow that continues for the next 3 months...
Cheers
Bennie
Magic! Followed by a sleep of only a couple of hours...
Now we're getting foggy conditions with moisture droplets as the temps are above 0 degrees, the snow is slushy out the back on higgi drive and the road is clear and easy to drive at the moment. Hoping for more snow that continues for the next 3 months...
Cheers
Bennie
- El_Freddo
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This is what I finish work to when there's no clouds
^ There's a fingernail moon crescent in that pic on the left... Can you spot it - photo doesn't do it justice, the whole thing was AWESOME!
The Razorback ridge line:
This is what the northern side of Mt Higginbotham looked like after some school kids trashed the beautifully laid down snow from Tuesday/Wednesday night:
I want one of these! This one is the small unit that does the cross country trails:
The sunrise yesterday:
^ From that to this on Mt Higginbotham in about 40 to 50 minutes:
I'm going to miss the sun rises once this job is over...
I'm hoping to get some pics out and about today, hopefully there will be a break in the cloud at just the right time.
For an idea of how this season is shaping up, this time last year we had 19cm of natural snow - to the point that there were barely 3 lifts open and they weren't any "decent" ones for an intermediate skier/boarder let alone an advanced skier/boarder! This year we have (as of Thursday) 98cm... 98cm!!! Awesome. And there's more on the way!
Loving it. I busted Ruby Scoo out the other day to head to melbs, on our way home I let her cut sick in some snow that was about 15cm deep in an empty carpark or two. I'm keen to get some on video. Circle work in the snow is awesome especially if it is fresh - its almost like doing circle work in your car in the water - huge sprays of snow in all directions...
Loved it - now I just want to get out and drive more as the road is covered pretty much all the way down to "The Meg" - a corner formally known as the Devil's elbow but it was changed due to religious sensitivity and the negative connotation it gave. NO SHIT!!! It's pretty much a 180 bend on a steep slope... Anyway, the Meg is about 2/3 of the way down the mountain to Harrietville!
Time to close off for the night...
Cheers
Bennie
^ There's a fingernail moon crescent in that pic on the left... Can you spot it - photo doesn't do it justice, the whole thing was AWESOME!
The Razorback ridge line:
This is what the northern side of Mt Higginbotham looked like after some school kids trashed the beautifully laid down snow from Tuesday/Wednesday night:
I want one of these! This one is the small unit that does the cross country trails:
The sunrise yesterday:
^ From that to this on Mt Higginbotham in about 40 to 50 minutes:
I'm going to miss the sun rises once this job is over...
I'm hoping to get some pics out and about today, hopefully there will be a break in the cloud at just the right time.
For an idea of how this season is shaping up, this time last year we had 19cm of natural snow - to the point that there were barely 3 lifts open and they weren't any "decent" ones for an intermediate skier/boarder let alone an advanced skier/boarder! This year we have (as of Thursday) 98cm... 98cm!!! Awesome. And there's more on the way!
Loving it. I busted Ruby Scoo out the other day to head to melbs, on our way home I let her cut sick in some snow that was about 15cm deep in an empty carpark or two. I'm keen to get some on video. Circle work in the snow is awesome especially if it is fresh - its almost like doing circle work in your car in the water - huge sprays of snow in all directions...
Loved it - now I just want to get out and drive more as the road is covered pretty much all the way down to "The Meg" - a corner formally known as the Devil's elbow but it was changed due to religious sensitivity and the negative connotation it gave. NO SHIT!!! It's pretty much a 180 bend on a steep slope... Anyway, the Meg is about 2/3 of the way down the mountain to Harrietville!
Time to close off for the night...
Cheers
Bennie
- El_Freddo
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Epic update:
Ok epic update:
Went boarding with my cousin last saturday - conditions were windy but we stuck to the Big D as it was an easy run and the lift pass couz got was only for this lift so the choice was pretty easy:
Couz and I ^
Iced up lift wheel.
Windy with small ice crystals in the air!
^ Looking east over to the davernport area of the Hotham Village.
The hill that the two ski runs go around - Easy street to the right going behind, QC to the left going down.
Iced up snow gums from the clouds whipping past them - the moisture sticks to anything thats in the way.
...
Went boarding with my cousin last saturday - conditions were windy but we stuck to the Big D as it was an easy run and the lift pass couz got was only for this lift so the choice was pretty easy:
Couz and I ^
Iced up lift wheel.
Windy with small ice crystals in the air!
^ Looking east over to the davernport area of the Hotham Village.
The hill that the two ski runs go around - Easy street to the right going behind, QC to the left going down.
Iced up snow gums from the clouds whipping past them - the moisture sticks to anything thats in the way.
...
- El_Freddo
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First tracks this morning (Monday):
The sundowner run with the Gotcha and Orchid chair lifts off in the distance.
^ On the heavenly chair, slalom gully on the left.
^ Me on the Heavenly chair ready to rip some lines.
^ Feathertop in the clouds... Interesting clouds today too - two layers, one on top of feathertop and the other in the valleys off in the distance. Amazing! I love living up at high altitude!
Wind barrier/snow harvesting technique, only this particular occasion I don't think they netted much snow on the other side, but the cloud moisture looks awesome and was about 15cm horizontally deep!
Top of Heavenly Chair lift with the top end of Hotham in the background.
Feathertop on the left with some interesting cloud formations to the right of that in what I think is the start of the Kiewa valley.
...
The sundowner run with the Gotcha and Orchid chair lifts off in the distance.
^ On the heavenly chair, slalom gully on the left.
^ Me on the Heavenly chair ready to rip some lines.
^ Feathertop in the clouds... Interesting clouds today too - two layers, one on top of feathertop and the other in the valleys off in the distance. Amazing! I love living up at high altitude!
Wind barrier/snow harvesting technique, only this particular occasion I don't think they netted much snow on the other side, but the cloud moisture looks awesome and was about 15cm horizontally deep!
Top of Heavenly Chair lift with the top end of Hotham in the background.
Feathertop on the left with some interesting cloud formations to the right of that in what I think is the start of the Kiewa valley.
...
- El_Freddo
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Top of Hotham Village with the Arlberg being the red and grey building below Mt Higginbotham, this is from the top of the Black Snake run.
On the Gotcha chair that was very heavy with ice!
Support and power cables on the Gotcha Chair all iced up - you can see the black cable near the tower, it's VERY thin!
Orchid/Keogh's Chair lift before de-icing. Every morning if there has been snow or wind blown ice the chair lifts have to be de-iced before use, this can take some time if it's been a good dump!
One very loaded heavenly chair lift!
The iced up mobile phone tower! Looks awesome when it's like this I reckon.
Heavenly chair from the bottom near snake gully hut while we waited in line to get on...
Very heavily snow/ice laden snow gums photographed from the Gotcha chair.
...
On the Gotcha chair that was very heavy with ice!
Support and power cables on the Gotcha Chair all iced up - you can see the black cable near the tower, it's VERY thin!
Orchid/Keogh's Chair lift before de-icing. Every morning if there has been snow or wind blown ice the chair lifts have to be de-iced before use, this can take some time if it's been a good dump!
One very loaded heavenly chair lift!
The iced up mobile phone tower! Looks awesome when it's like this I reckon.
Heavenly chair from the bottom near snake gully hut while we waited in line to get on...
Very heavily snow/ice laden snow gums photographed from the Gotcha chair.
...
- El_Freddo
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Keogh's bash ski run with the Keogh's chair beside it.
Frosted remains of the snow gum trees since the '06 bush fires. The trees are re-generating but these eucalypts do it from their roots rather from the epicormic "glands" under the bark.
Icy landscape with the "harsh" Australian sun out behind the Orchard Chair lift.
Looking back towards the Gotcha and Keogh's Chair with Gotcha, the Chute, Mary's slide and the Ridge ski runs visible.
Looking back over Hotham Village from Spargos - I think we were looking pretty much South East direction.
Drew at the top of One Tree Hill - where I wiped out over a little knoll half way down the slope due to too much speed, cornering and getting air - I landed but couldn't hold it, stacked and almost slid into the only tree on the slope! Good times.
Another image of Keogh's Bash with the sun on it to show how chopped out/well used it is by 1pm!
A great day out - I've had about 4-5 hours sleep between shifts so tonight could be interesting...
Cheers
Bennie
Frosted remains of the snow gum trees since the '06 bush fires. The trees are re-generating but these eucalypts do it from their roots rather from the epicormic "glands" under the bark.
Icy landscape with the "harsh" Australian sun out behind the Orchard Chair lift.
Looking back towards the Gotcha and Keogh's Chair with Gotcha, the Chute, Mary's slide and the Ridge ski runs visible.
Looking back over Hotham Village from Spargos - I think we were looking pretty much South East direction.
Drew at the top of One Tree Hill - where I wiped out over a little knoll half way down the slope due to too much speed, cornering and getting air - I landed but couldn't hold it, stacked and almost slid into the only tree on the slope! Good times.
Another image of Keogh's Bash with the sun on it to show how chopped out/well used it is by 1pm!
A great day out - I've had about 4-5 hours sleep between shifts so tonight could be interesting...
Cheers
Bennie
- El_Freddo
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Thanks mate! Nah, we don't have a balcony The wheels where chained to the fence you see in the background just behind the tyres. As we're no longer allowed to have vehicles up on Higgi drive I had to move them as well - I didn't want to leave them chained to a tree in the staff carpark as they would a) get buried in snow and b) are at the mercy of anyone who comes across them... And for a above, if you've ever tried to dig in snow you'll find that the soft powdery stuff is totally awesome and the rock hard ice pack that we usually get is not awesome at all to dig through!GOD wrote:You keep your wheels on your balcony? Nice
Cheers
Bennie
cool and i know where to get some nice scorpians with muddies :P
Cheers,
Dann
http://www.ausubaru.com/forum/showthrea ... t=dann%27s
Looking for:
- LSD diff
IMG_0957 by Dann_Evans, on Flickr
Dann
http://www.ausubaru.com/forum/showthrea ... t=dann%27s
Looking for:
- LSD diff
IMG_0957 by Dann_Evans, on Flickr
- El_Freddo
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Cheers mate! It's looking pretty clear out there at the moment. I reckon late morning/mid arvo would be the best conditions to ski today Think I'll be on to that after a nap...clogs wrote:cool, I now know were to get my Hotham report.
Nice try Dann! But sorry mate, they're not there any more...Dann wrote:cool and i know where to get some nice scorpians with muddies
Cheers
Bennie
- El_Freddo
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About to digging Ruby Scoo out from the snow in the staff carparking:
I lost the use of my clutch on the way to Lakes Entrance to visit some mates, we were halfway off the mt. We swung by a mate's pero's joint to see if there was anything we could do to fix/repair it. No go so we rang the local mechanic in Omeo who said he had some tricks up his sleeve with cable clutches. Got there, I put my foot on the clutch while he watched the fork's movement. Verdict is "you've got his far without a clutch, you could probably get there and back without it".
No worries so off we went. 300km later and we were on our way home when the pressure plate seemed to let go - so no going further for us. RACV total care got us towed to our mates joint for an extra fee. Ironically it was the same mechanic we spoke to the day before! This is where we broke down:
Thursday the 14th I went skiing with my mate again, she'd met some other older skiers at the lodge they were staying out who showed us around the mountain which was great - finding all those little nooks and crannies where there was still fresh snow to be carved. I also popped my "Australia Drift" Cherry after having never skied there until that day. This gave me some great photo ops:
The morning VERY windy, couldn't see the ground due to the wind blown ice, much like it would be in the artic or antartic areas:
The mobile tower covered in ice with the sun on it:
Then after riding the summit chair to the top I snapped this shady image of the tower:
Mt Hotham Village from the top of the Drift between the summit chair and the drift T bar - much like the one earlier in the thread but this time with snow:
My two favourite pics to add to the collection, first the mobile phone tower in all its glory:
^ At the base of the tower is a cyclone fence! Now it's a wall of ice...
Love the wind blown ice formation! This is one of the biggest I reckon I've seen!
Currently we're getting more snow in waves that is wettish and heavy, hopefully it'll crisp up again for some nice dry powder!
Cheers
Bennie
I lost the use of my clutch on the way to Lakes Entrance to visit some mates, we were halfway off the mt. We swung by a mate's pero's joint to see if there was anything we could do to fix/repair it. No go so we rang the local mechanic in Omeo who said he had some tricks up his sleeve with cable clutches. Got there, I put my foot on the clutch while he watched the fork's movement. Verdict is "you've got his far without a clutch, you could probably get there and back without it".
No worries so off we went. 300km later and we were on our way home when the pressure plate seemed to let go - so no going further for us. RACV total care got us towed to our mates joint for an extra fee. Ironically it was the same mechanic we spoke to the day before! This is where we broke down:
Thursday the 14th I went skiing with my mate again, she'd met some other older skiers at the lodge they were staying out who showed us around the mountain which was great - finding all those little nooks and crannies where there was still fresh snow to be carved. I also popped my "Australia Drift" Cherry after having never skied there until that day. This gave me some great photo ops:
The morning VERY windy, couldn't see the ground due to the wind blown ice, much like it would be in the artic or antartic areas:
The mobile tower covered in ice with the sun on it:
Then after riding the summit chair to the top I snapped this shady image of the tower:
Mt Hotham Village from the top of the Drift between the summit chair and the drift T bar - much like the one earlier in the thread but this time with snow:
My two favourite pics to add to the collection, first the mobile phone tower in all its glory:
^ At the base of the tower is a cyclone fence! Now it's a wall of ice...
Love the wind blown ice formation! This is one of the biggest I reckon I've seen!
Currently we're getting more snow in waves that is wettish and heavy, hopefully it'll crisp up again for some nice dry powder!
Cheers
Bennie
- El_Freddo
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Live update (15 mins late due to internet dropping out when I tried to post this):
It's just started puking down with some epic snow - blizzard conditions I'd say!
Temp dropped to about -2.5 degrees C from +2C then it started to snow very heavily, now the temp has risen to -0.2 and is slowly dropping again and is currently sitting on -0.3.
Hopefully this keeps up all night - if so I'll be out for first tracks for sure.
Probably the result of the weather that the coast of NSW has received recently...
In the words of Big Kev - "I'm excited!!"
Cheers
Bennie
It's just started puking down with some epic snow - blizzard conditions I'd say!
Temp dropped to about -2.5 degrees C from +2C then it started to snow very heavily, now the temp has risen to -0.2 and is slowly dropping again and is currently sitting on -0.3.
Hopefully this keeps up all night - if so I'll be out for first tracks for sure.
Probably the result of the weather that the coast of NSW has received recently...
In the words of Big Kev - "I'm excited!!"
Cheers
Bennie