At the early hour of approximately 6:45 pm I drove the arc car out of Sydney on the way south to go visit the snow. Jenny diligently marked her student's honours theses in the back while me and Nadav traded driving and Ash slept. At 1 am we arrived at rhythm Snowsports in Cooma, where the others had been getting fitted for rental gear/generally waiting for the last hour. Thankfully, we only had to rent snowshoes so we soon scooted off to camp at Jindabyne, and had a fun time trying to pitch tents in hard dirt with only snow pegs.
Even though it was a relatively warm night for Jindy, and I had this beefy insulated snow matt that packed down to the size of a sleeping bag and has some really high R value like 6 or something, I spent a relatively sleepless night feeling really cold though my matt. In the morning, we headed into town and I panic bought a foam mat to go under my pad. Mali assured me it was the failings of my quilt that was making me cold but I’m pretty sure it was just the failings of my “little bitch” psyche. Either way, the matt ended up being very useful to sit or stand on in the snow.
We left Jenny in town to do more marking and headed up to park at Dead Horse Gap. Next to the car, Nadav found a 25 cm worm with maybe 1 cm diameter, which elicited various responses of horror, awe, or both. After we finished with appropriate faf, such as Stephen strapping most of a 6 person, 13 kg tent to his backpack, we headed up the hill.
I had never been backcountry skiing before and I was surprised how well skins worked, and how easy everything was. Regardless, I was still glad that Stephen had chosen a camp spot only 1.5 km from the car, meaning we only had to ski a short distance with our packs, and could then enjoy longer expeditions from basecamp unburdened. Our camp spot was underneath Rams Head South, and near a small creek, in the same spot as this trip report. I had not been to the snow since I was in high school so was frothing how pretty it all was. We spent the middle of the day setting up camp, including the 13kg “Taj Mahal” which was our communal cooking and hanging out space.
After this we headed out for an afternoon ski. I was sadly disappointed that approximately 95% of my skiing ability had evaporated in the approx. 8 years since I had last skied, but the afternoon was a win as everyone could successfully move from A to B down a hill. We played some frisbee (with a tactically white frisbee for extra challenge) and I had a peak life experience having a scenic piss from the fork in the tree.
Nadav and Ash spent the afternoon building an igloo, which Nadav had promised would be less ambitious than the igloos of the last 2 winters which were too big for him ever to finish. This was straight lies, we returned to camp to find 25% of an igloo that could fit maybe 3 people lying straight on the ground with no issues.
Dinner that night featured more of people drinking Bailies and whip cream than actual food, and Jason made Jelly. Unsurprising, as bougieness and distance you have to carry your camping stuff in are inversely proportional.
The next day we waited for Jenny to show up. Eventually she appeared, sliding in with Birkenstocks and ski poles. It turns out she hadn’t gotten our texts saying how to get to her boots in the car, so after being relayed critical car key beta, she Birkenstocked back down to get the rest of her stuff. It turns out our amount of morning faf was approximately how long it took her to do all this, so at 10:30 we headed up the mountain for a longer full-day trip, heading north. With morning tea on Rams Head at 11:30, and our late start weighing on our minds, we debated the reality of making it to our goal of Rams Head North that day. But it turns out that, after the crux of the day (leaving camp) we were actually quite an efficient bunch, and we made it to Rams Head North and beyond easily. Some people even made it to the top of Kosci, for a total distance travelled of 18 km that day.
Nadav and Ash headed to Cootapamba Hut on snowshoes, also in the same area.
That night we ate more real food as the whip cream had run out. Half the group made plans to wake up and go see sunrise, while the more lazy of us (including me) slept in. The sunrise crew woke up and skinned up in the dark, catching a lovely sunrise midway up the mountain. Then they decided to ski up to the trig point near Rams Head South, which looked lovely in the morning sun. Halfway up and they were in cloud and winds strong enough to blow you on your skis. I can't imbed a video in this post but trust me, its loud, people are struggling to walk and visibility is approx. 20 m. It did not look fun. All survived fine but the stories of their light trauma made me glad I had slept in.
After packing up we headed back to the car, had a nice lunch in Jindy and all headed home. It was an awesome first time camping in the snow, fun to get skiing again, and very pleasant and surprisingly suffering free all but that cold first night in Jindy. Extra thanks to Stephen for planning the trip, inviting me, and providing the Taj Mahal. Thanks to Jenny and Jason for getting the Arc car and club gear. Shoutout to Owen for lending me fancy folding skis (the pamphlet, with testimony from the Polish military, explained that folding skis were of great assistance for jumping out of helicopters). However, I mostly appreciated that, unlike all the rental skis, my skin glue didn't constantly come unstuck. Thanks to the weather gods for providing 85% great weather and not raining as was forecast, and thanks to everyone on the trip for great vibes and a good time!
