Snowkiting

So here's a write up of yesterday's events.

Perfect blue sky day with a light breeze blowing. Once we got all the hire gear sorted it was quickly onto the chair for the trip up top to get in a few runs and test out the legs. Conditions were definitely "spring" style with soft snow that turned to wet snow or no snow anywhere North facing. Realising it may be the only day with suitable weather to get the kite out I advised my 2 fellow skiers that I was off to the car to grab my gear and I'd catch them later.

After heading back up to Karels I headed off to a clear arrea to launch. A quick set up and the kite was in the air. Woohoo! I mucked around trying to drag 2 other skiers with me on the kite but clearly that was a complete joke. It was like trying to drag an anvil behind you. Great for a laugh and that's about it.

I ditched the hangers on and headed up into the ramshead bowl. After a bit of exploring with the 5m Frenzy it was clear the 8m Manta would be more the go for heading upwind towards Koz. I switched kites and explored the Ramshead basin as I worked my way North. Great rock formations to kite past and definitely worth it even if a longer trip can't be made.

Ramshead Bowl

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Ramshead 2

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Having made it past North Ramshead it was easy to pick my next line to track towards Cootapamba Lookout. Staying high this presented sweeping views all around. After snacking on my Voilet Crumble and absorbing the view from the lookout I headed on to Etheridge Ridge. The Manta was super stable and provided masses of power, too much at one stage and the depower was required. Fantastic way to make it to the top of the hill.

Towards Cootapatamba from Etheridge

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I headed down off Etheridge to where a few xcountry skiers were about to head up the last pitch to the summit of Kosciuszko from Rawsons Pass. With the wind direction NNW yesterday this put me right in the lee of Koz and of course that brought my kite powered travels to a halt. After taking a couple of pics I managed to relaunch the kite and headed back up Etheridge to follow my tracks back to Thredbo.

Mt Koz

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It was an awesome day out. I hope before I head home on Friday monring that the weather and snow conditions provide the opportunity to head back up there. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Hey Wazza. Good to see the winds were kind to you. Nice shots of the backcountry too.

Shame you couldn't get to the top of Mt Kossi. Last time we did that we had a SE I think behind us which got us to the top, and then I got overpowered and nearly ended up in Victoria!!

I went up last Sunday and although the winds were a bit light on in the morning, they picked up a tad early/mid arvo 8-16knots, so my 7m Frenzy worked OK and I had some good runs in between top of Thredbo heading towards Seamans Hut. I saw a couple of kiters towards Mt Kossi but they stayed up that way, so I don't know who they were.

Snow conditions were OK in most of the backcountry last weekend, but downhill sking was the pits....very soft and wet....not worth paying good money for a downhill ticket!!!

Depending on snow/weather conditions I might try to get to the snow the weekend of 17-18 Sept.

Thanks for sharing the pics and story Wazz1. Looks like you had a much better go of it than some of the people at work, they didn't have kites and relied 100% on man made snow.