Why you need a powder plan

Rachael Oakes-Ash was in Thredbo for the day of the season. This was her powder plan.

Today was the day. I know you don’t want to hear it, unless you were in Thredbo or Perisher or Falls, Hotham or Buller but today, well, it was the day of the season so far, if not the day of the decade, the century or at least since the last day of the season.

Or, as I am calling it the EOFYS – end of financial year snow. I mean, it’s still only June.

“I don’t remember this much snow since 2000” will say those who want you to know they were here in 2000.

Well I wasn’t here in 2000 but I was here today, in Thredbo after the Snowpocalypse brought over a metre last week and Snowpocalypse 2.0 backed it up with another 70cms of fresh overnight last night.

On days like this you need a plan or you’ll be left in a long lift queue searching for fresh powder others got before you.

So I made one, a plan that is. It started with no friends today, didn’t hook up with anyone I knew to jump on a lift to share the joy.

No, this day, well, this day was mine and I wasn’t going to work to anyone else’s schedule.

I figured the main Koscuizsko chairlift would have a queue halfway to Canberra so I avoided it like I used to avoid Canberra before New Acton put the city on the map.

I headed straight to Gunbarrel Express on the bus to Friday Flat with a bunch of blokes saying how they were going to hit up High Noon. So I figured I would hit elsewhere.

You have to be flexible on a powder day. My first plan was to hit Dream Run but on the lift up I could see it had been others plans as well.

Merritts chairlift had been on hold which had kept everyone away and when I arrived it had been de-iced and the only tracks down The Bowl had been made by ski patrol checking the boundary fence. I could count on one hand the number of people on the chairlift.

So I hit The Bowl lapping it for freshies until there was fresh no more.

By this stage I’d already scoped other skiers and boarders on the chairlift, though I was giving away nothing, they were giving away a lot, people love to boast on days like these and I found that Anton’s t-bar had only just opened which meant that Michael’s Mistake may yet to have tracks.

I was right, it had none until I made my own.

So I lapped that too, until I fell into a hole and had to dig my way out of snow that hit the top of my thigh, panicking that no one would find me and I would be the casualty of the snow storm that just kept giving to everyone but me that it took away.

Did I take pictures? Nope, no time for shots or Go-Pro selfie obsession.  I just wanted to live the moment, to enjoy it and take it all in.

I know that was snow selfish of me (see what I did there) but hey, no friends on a powder day, right?

Thank god, these folks didn’t feel the same way. Here’s a gallery link of the best of instagram taken today.

I’d promise you I’ll take photos tomorrow, the next day of the season, but I’d rather under promise and over deliver than the other way round.

What’s your powder plan on snow storm days? 

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