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+===== Skiing - Australia And U.S.A. =====
+by Dcrothy Stitt.
+The Skiing Season 1982!!? April brought the first snowfalls of the year - a promise of greater things to come? A little more in May and a little less in early June, with almost drought conditions by the end of the month.
+Having made the usual Kandahar Lodge bookings some months before, Bill Burke with the "first week in July" mob in tow, arrived in Perisher Valley to find conditions somewhat less than ideal for skiing. Perhaps it would be possible to do a bit of crosscountry skiing? Saturday afternoon was spent testing non-waxed and waxed skis (some purists among us) by walking, or rather picking our way, up Back Perisher and stumbling down again, more greenery than snow. With a party comprising Don Finch, Bob Hodgson, Phil Butt, Barry Wallace, Jim Vatiliotis, George Gray, Denise Dalton, two Rostrons, two Stitts, Uncle Tom Cobbly and all, it was obvious we would seek greener pastures or preferably whiter slopes. Our crafty leader had honourably sustained a slightly sprained ankle BEFORE leaving Sydney, and was heard to murmur, "Someone up there must love me, providing a reason to be inactive and so not cranky about the lack of snow!"
+A sunny Sunday morning, clear blue sky, transport to Charlotte Pass, and we were away to a flying start, on snow, up the summit road. Our party had grown to 15 with the addition of Di and Ian Chung, Tim Henderson and Michael Palmer, all from Technology Lodge. Leaving the road short of the saddle below Seaman's Hut we had a gentle run and climb to Mt. Clarke, and then on to the base of Mt. Northcote. Lunch was quickly consumed as the temperature did not invite lingering. Without more ado we climbed to the summit of Northcote and headed along the way of the ridge top trail with turns being practised on the run towards Mt. Lee. There were turns intentional and otherwise - some even Telemarks! Finally we all congregated at the trig on Mt. Carruthers - took photos, admired the beauty of the Main Range, watched the clouds rising in billows from Lady Northcote's Canyon and then turned our attention to the aim of the day. That long, gentle, beautiful run down Carruthers to the Snowy.	It was all of that, only the last kilometre or less was a bit bushyand grassy and necessitated some quick manoeuvres to avoid disaster. Jim had an argument with a rock, and didn't win. In fact, we did not have to remove skis until we had crossed the Snowy below Charlotte Pass.
+The weather continued fine and clear for another 24 hours and the slopes became browner. Today is Tuesday 6th July, we sit and wait for the lightly falling snow to increase in quality and quantity, hoping for a day or two of downhilling before the week's end. This seems an appropriate time to tell of other skiing experiences further afield. As you are probably aware, the Duncans - Bob and Rosslyn with children Emma and Michael - are spending 12 months in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. Corresponding with Rosslyn since their arrival in Boulder last October, I have been regaled with descriptions of seemingly endless skiing trips, which you might like to read about:-
+__4.11.81__ - "Today I went for a bushwalk with a group of women who regularly go walking on Wednesday, and it was a really good day. They are all about my age and a really interesting group. We walked up to about 10,250 ft, there was some snow on the ground, but not much. Last Sunday we went for a drive to case four of the ski areas. There are 26 ski areas within a 200 mile range of Boulder. Two of those we visited were operating already - they looked really great. The tows start at 10,000 ft. According to the locals it is too early to ski yet, they are waiting for fresh powder!"
+__20.11.81__ - "I went walking again with the girls last Wednesday, ten of us went. It was cold and windy and we walked in snow all the way. We climbed a thing called Estes Cone, elevation a bit over 10,500 ft. The top was bare of trees and rocky and the wind so strong I thought I'd be blown away. Pretty soon they'll start ski touring, I'm not sure how I'll go at that! We went skiing last weekend to Keystone which is 80 miles from here. There hasn't been much natural snow there yet, so the snow we were skiing was mostly artificial. The elevation at the base of the lower of the two chair lifts we went on was 9,300 ft, and the top of the higher one was at 11,600 ft. The adult lift tickets should have been $18/day, but we paid $9 using discount coupons which apply to off-season times. Otherwise you can get discounts by buying your lift tickets at a local supermarket in Boulder. The queue system was incredibly good - no queue jumping and the wait never more than 6 minutes, mostly much less. The longest run at Keystone is 2 1/2 miles."
+__16.1.82__ - "The weather here hasn't been too bad except for the Chinook (snoweater) winds which gust sometimes to 135 mph - not very pleasant. They are winds that sweep down over the mountains from the west and can be remarkably warm, hence the name. The lowest maximum we've had so far is about 19°F at 7 am today! Last Saturday we went skiing to Eldora and the queues were awful, it was very windy and we were cold. Today at Eldora it was windy again, so much so that the chairlift was closed at 11.30 am. We were having a lovely time as there was fresh snow everywhere and no queues - temperature at the top 16°F - however, we were given four complimentary tickets for use another day!"
+__3.2.82__ - "We are finally getting some real winter weather - the temperature was -1°F at 6 pm. We have been skiing every weekend since our San Diego trip at Christmas. Two weeks ago we went to Copper Mountain - the skiing was superb. It was 0°F at the top of the mountain with a posted warning to "beware of frostbite". We were skiing an intermediate/expert area with a vertical drop of 2,500 ft. It took 20 minutes on two chairlifts to reach the top and 8 minutes of hard skiing to get to the bottom. It was really marvellous. The weekend after next is a four-day long weekend, so we are going to Aspen - it is much too far to go there for the day. There are three mountains to ski there - Snowmass is 12 miles away and the tickets are interchangeable. The area is vast and the vertical drop at all three places is well over 3,000 ft. There is a shuttle bus between the areas and the organisation is really something."
+__24.2.82__ - "Now to tell you about Aspen. It was just marvellous - if you come to the States for skiing __that__ is where to go. Four ski areas if you count Buttermilk (a beginner/intermediate area) and we skiied them all. They are all linked by free shuttle buses which run every 15 minutes. We stayed at a very nice hotel at Aspen Highlands, 10 minutes from Aspen Town, with the ski area just across the road. I was a bit nervous about skiing at Aspen because it lists 75% of the areas as most difficult and 25% less difficult - actually it was superb. The most difficult runs are the steeply moguled sections - the rest is beautifully groomed, some steep, some not so, and the tows start right where the town finishes. An old mining town, it is full of lovely Victorian wooden and brick buildings with lots of stained glass, old-fashioned street lamps, horse-drawn sleighs and hansom cabs, and the shops are full of marvellous things. Last Wednesday I went to Winter Park with friends - it was pretty there but the runs were not very long and there were a lot of flat areas which you had to pole across. Last Saturday we went to Arapahoe Basin which is 70-odd miles from here. The top is 12,500 ft and well above the tree line. Again marvellous views. Here there was a great variety of skiing - moguls, groomed slopes, cornices, a long traverse around one wall of the basin before a steep fast run back to the tow. We had discount coupons, so it was only $9 for Bob and me and $5 each for the kids. About the clothing - the advice given is to wear layers of loose clothing in very cold weather. You really do need them too - the down parkas have nice wide sleeves so everything fits easily underneath. The parkas here are much more padded than the ones at home. Two caps make a big difference in really cold weather too. 0°F is a lot different from 0°C!
+__31.3.82__ - "Since I last wrote we have had a weekend at Vail, but Aspen is still far and away our favourite. To appreciate Vail we should have gone there first. We spent the Saturday skiing Vail - it is a very large area so we didn't cover anything like all the runs. These seem to be mostly easy or rather difficult, with not much in between. On Sunday we went to Beaver Creek, a new area 10 miles away and run by the same people as Vail. We liked it a lot better than Vail, but it was bitterly cold. To get to the very top (a rise of 3,340 ft) takes three chair lifts and 40 minutes. By the second time up, Bob had a frost-bitten nose and I was frozen through despite al1 my thick lothes. We came down to the bottom of the topmost lift where there is a restaurant, had lunch and thawed out. That day was far and away the coldest we have had skiing. Vail village is only 20 years old. It has been built after the style of an Austrian village and is very attractive, but to our way of thinking can't compare with a genuine 100-year-old mining town as Aspen is.
+"Some other skiing items:- At Arapahoe Basin which is the highest skiing area in the U.S.A., there are some very steep runs. There are various signs such as "Warning - unmarked obstacles", but the one I really liked said "Caution - Cliffs!" Needless to say, I didn't go anywhere near there. At another area, Breckenridge, we skiied the steepest slope I've ever been on - fortunately the snow conditions were perfect, no ice, no moguls. A sign at the top had a skull and crossbones and then "Dangerous Terrain - Expert Skiiers Only". Well, down we went and it was great - it was so steep that little snow balls went rolling away from under our skis all the way down and it was a long slope. As for moguls - we found one run at Copper Mountain with the worst mogul slope I've ever been on - 2,000 vertical feet of it.	It is cold enough here for the moguls to get really hard and carved and stay that way. These were wedge-shaped with the lower edges vertical or undercut. The only way to handle them, it seems, is to jump down them, several at a go. Not one of us stayed the course. The ski season ends on llth or 18th April depending on the area - so the season is not that long. Arapahoe Basin being so high sometimes stays open until June."
+__18.5.82__ - "We go skiing for the last time next_weekand. Last week there was very heavy snow in the mountains and when we went skiing on Saturday there was more snow than there has been all winter. It was very beautiful. It is nowhere near as cold skiing now, in fact much like skiing in Australia. Now we are planning a two-week trip in mid-June to Yellowstone and hopefully across to Seattle - the distances are very great. The long weekend coming up we are going to Dinosaur National Park in the N.W. corner of Colorado. The trees are greening up, everything looks so different now. I went walking last Tuesday with a group from the Y.W.C.A.	It was good to get out again."
+__3.6.82__ - We went skiing for the last time on May 23rd, although there is still a lot of snow up there. We have just had a four-day-long weekend in the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota. There had been a lot of rain in the previous three weeks so the countryside was incredibly green. There were masses of wild flowers too, including wild irises which are as big as the garden varieties, with narrower petals. We took the obligatory photos of the Presidents' Heads at Mt. Rushmore - actually they are pretty impressive. The scenic drives in that area are quite something. We saw wild buffalo in the Custer State Park near there. Across to the Badlands National Park 80 miles east - this is erosion on a grand scale. Because the grass was so green round about and the eroded parts are striped red, it was very colourful. Next weekend we are leaving for our trip to Yellowstone National Park. We are going to cross the Rockies by the Trail Ridge Road, which was only cleared of snow last weekend. It is above 10,000 ft for abaut 20 miles and is supposed to be one of the most scenic roads in the world. We are really looking forward to it."
+By October we will be welcoming the Duncans back to Sydney and look forward to seeing their photos and hearing more stories of their 12 months in the U.S.A.
+----
-SKIING - AUSTRALIA AND U.S..A.
-.	by Dcrothy Stitt.
-The Skiing Season 1982!L? April brought the first snowfalls of the
--
-year - a promise of greater things to come? A little more in May and 'a
-little less in early June, with almost drought conditions by the end of the month.
-.Having made. the usual Kandahar Lodge bookings some months before, Bill
-Burke with the ufirst week in July" mob in tow, arrived in Perisher Valley to find conditions somewhat less than ideal for skiing. Perhaps it would be possible to do a bit of crosscountry skiing? Saturday afternoon was spent testing non-waxed and waxed skis (some purists among us) by walking, or rather picking our way, up Back Perisher and stumbling down again, more greenery than snow. With a party comprising Don Finch, Bob Hodgson, Phil Butt, Barry Wallace, Jim Vatiliotis, George Gray, Denise Dalton, two Rostrons, two Stitts, Uncle .Tom Cobbly and all, it was obvious we would seek greener pastures or preferably whiter slopes. Our crafty leader had honourably sustained a slightly sprained ankle BEFORE leaving Sydney, and was heard to murmur,
-"Someone up there must love me, providing a reason to be inactive and_sp:, not
-cranky about the lack of snow!" .
-A sunny Sunday morning, clear blue sky, transport to Charlotte Pass, and we were away to a flying start, on snow, up the summit road. Our party had grown to 15 with the addition of Di and Ian Chung, Tim Henderson and Michael Palmer, all from Technology Lodge. Leaving the road short of the saddle below Seaman's Hut we had a gentle run and climb to Mt. Clarke, and then on to the base of Mt. Northcote. Lunch was quickly consumed as the temperature aid not invite lingering. Without more ado we climbed to the summit of Northcote and headed along the way of the ridge top trail with turns being practised on the run towards Mt. Lee. There were turns intentional and otherwise - some even Telemarks! Finally we all congregated at the trig on Mt. Carruthers - took photos, admired the beauty of the-Main Range, watched the clouds rising in billows from Lady Northcote's Canyon and then turned our attention to the aim of the day. That long, gentle, beautiful run down Carruthers to the Snowy.	It was all of that, only the last kilometre. or less Was a bit bushy'and grassy and necessitated some quick manoeuvres to avoid disaster. Jim had an argument with a rock, and didn't win. In fact, we did not have to remove skis until we had crossed the Snowy below Charlotte Pass.
-The weather continued fine and clear for another 24 hours and the slopes became browner. Today is Tuesday 6th July, we sit and wait for the lightly falling snow to increase in quality and quantity, hoping for a day or two of :downhilling before the week's end. This seems an appropriate time to tell of other skiing experiences further afield. As you are probably aware,the Duncans - Bob and Rosslyn with children alma and Michael - are spending 12' months in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. Corresponding with Rosslyn since their arrival in Boulder last October, I have been regaled with descriptions of seemingly endless skiing trips, which you might like to read about:-
-.11.81 - "Today I went for a bushwalk with a group of women who regularly go walking on Wednesday, and it was a really good day. They are all about my age and a really interesting group. We walked up to about 10,250 ft, there was some snow on the ground, but not much. Last Sunday we went for a drive to case four of the ski areas. There are 26 ski areas within a
-mile range of Boulder. Two of those we visited were operating already -
-Page 14	THE SYDNEY BUSHWAIKER	August, 1982.
-they looked really great. The tows start at 109000 ft. According to the locals it is too early to ski yet, they are waiting for fresh powder:"
-.11.81 - "I went walking again with the girls last Wednesday, ten of us ient. . It was cold and windy and we walked in snow all the way. We clipted ta thing called Estes Cone, elevation a bit over 10,500 ft. The top was "bare pf trees and rocky and the wind so strong I thought I'd be blown away. Pretty 'Soon they'll start ski touring, I'm not sure how I'll go at that	We went
-Skiing last weekend to Keystone which is 80 miles from here. There hasntt
-lz,,een much natural snow there yet, so the snow we were skiing was mostly artificial. The elevation at the base of the lower of the two chair lifts we, went .(i)n was 9,300 ft, wad the top of the higher one was at 11,600 ft.	The adult lift tickets should have been $18/day9 but we paid $9 using discount coupons Which apply to off-season times. Otherwise you can get discounts by .buying your lift tickets at a local supermakket in Boulder. The queue system was incredibly good - no queue jumping and the wait never more than 6 minutes, Mostly much less. The longest run at Keystone is 2j miles."
-.1.82 - "The weather here hasn't been too bad except for the Chinook (77177eater) winds which gust sometimes to 135 mph - not very pleasant. They 4re winds that sweep down over the mountains from the west and can be remarkabp warm, hence the name. The lowest maximum we've had so far is about 19 F at 7 am today: Last Saturday we went skiing to Eldora and the queues Were awful, it was very windy and we were cold. Today at Eldora it was windy again, so much so that the chairlift was closed at 11.30 am. We were having 4 lovely time as there was fresh snow everywhere and no queues - temperature at the top 16F - however, we were given four complimentary tickets for use another day:"
-.2.82- Me are finally getting some real winter weather - the temperature *as -1oF at 6 pm. We have been skiing every weekend since our San Diego trip at Christmas. Two weeks ago we went to Copper Mountain- the skiing 'as superb. It was 0F at the top of the mountain with a posted warning to '!beware of frostbite". We were skiing an intermediate/expert area with ,a vertical drop of 2,500 ft. It took 20 minutes on two chairlifts to reach the top and 8 minutes of hard skiing to get to the bottom. It was really marvellous. The weokend after next is a four-day long weekend, so we are Ooing to Aspen"- it is much too far to go there for the day. There are three 0ountains to ski there - Snowmass is 12 miles away and the tickets are inter- Changeable. The area is vast and the vertical drop at all three places is well over 3,000 ft. There is a shuttle bus between the areas and the organisation is really something."
-	 - "Now to tell you about Aspen. It was just marvellous - if you
-come to the States for skiing that is where to go. Four ski areas if you count Buttermilk (a beginner/intermediate area) and we skiied them all. They are all linked by free shuttle buses which run every 15 minutes. We stayed at a very nice hotel at Aspen Highlands, 10 minutes from Aspen Town, with the ski area just across the road. I was a bit nervous about skiing at Aspen because it lists 75% of the areas as most difficult and 25% less difficult - actually it was superb. The most difficult runs are the steeply moguled Sections - the rest is beautifully groomed, some steep, some not so, and the tows start right where the town finishes. An old mining town, it is full of lovely Victorian wooden and brick, buildings with lots of stained glass,
-Page 15	THE SYDNEY BUSHV	August 1982.-
-old-fashioned street lamps, horse-drawn sleighs and hansom cabs, and the phops are full of marvellous things. Last Wednesday I went to Tinter Park with friends - it was pretty there but the runs were not very long and there Were a lot of flat areas which you had to pole across. Last Saturday WQ
-went to Arapahoe Basin which is 70-odd miles from here. The top ia 12-j-500 ft and well above the tree line. Again marvellous views.- Here there was 4 great variety of skiing - moguls, groomed slopes, cornices, a long traverse around one wall of the basin before a steep fast run back to the tow. We had discount coupons, so it was only 39 for Bob and me and $5 each for the kids. About the clothing - the advice givari is to wear layers of loose,clothing in
-very cold weather. You really do need them too - the down parkas have nice wide sleeves so everything fits easily underneath. The parkas here are much
-more padded than the ones at home. Two caps iaks a big difference in really cold weather too. 0 F is a lot different from 0C
-.3.82 - "Since I last wrote we have had a weekend at Vail, but Aspen-is still-far and away our favourite. To appreciate Vail we ahoula have gone there first. We spent the Saturday skiing Vail - it is a very large area so
-we didn't cover anything like all the runs. These seem to be mostly easy or
-rather difficult, with not much in between. On Sunday we went to Beaver Creek, a new area 10 miles away and run by the same people as Vail. We liked it a
-lot better than Vail, but it was bitterly cold. To get to the very top '(a rise
-of 3,340 ft) takes three chair lifts and 40 minutes. By the second tithe up,
-Bob had a frost-bitten nose and I was frozen through despite ai1"mS7- thick
-Clothes. We came daan to the bottom of the topmost lift where there is a restaurant, had lunch ana thawed out. That day was far and away the coldest we have had skiing. Vail village is only 20 years old. It has been built after the style of an Austrian village and is very attractive, but to our way of thinking can't compare with a genuine 100-year-old mining toun as Aspen is.
-"Some other skiing items:- At Arapahoe Basin which is the highest skiing area in the U.S.A., there are some very steep runs. There are various
-signs such as "Warning - unmarked obstacles", but the one I really liked said 7Caution - CliffsP Needless to say, I didn't go anywhere near there. At another area, Breckenridge, we skiied the steepest slope I've ever been on - fortunately the snow conditions were perfect, no ice, no moguls. A sign at the top had a skull and crossbones and then "Dangerous Terrain - Expert Skiiers Only". Well, down we went and it was great - it was so steep that little snow balls went rolling away from under our skis all the way down and it was a long slope. As for. moguls - we found one run at Copper Mountain with the worst mogul slope I've ever been on - 2,000 vertical feet of it.	It is cold enough here for the moguls to get really hard and carved and stay that way. These were wedge-shaped with the lower edges vertical or undercut. The only
-way to handle them, it seems, is to jump down them, several at a go. Not one
-of us stayed the course. The_ski_Season ends on llth or 18th April depending on the area - so the season is not that long. Arapahoe Basin being so high sometimes stays open until June."
-.5.82 - "We go skiing for the last time next_weekand. Last week there was-very heavy snow in the mountains and when we went skiing on Saturday there was more snow than there has been all winter. It was very beautiful. It is nowhere near as cold skiing now, in fact much like skiing in Australia.
-Now we are planning a two-week trip in mid-June to Yellowstone and hopefully
-Page 16	THh SYDNEY BUSHWAIKER	August, 1982,
-across to Seattle - the distances are-Very great. The long -weekend coming up we are going to Dinosaur National Park in the N.W. corner of Colorado.
-The trees are greening up, everything looks so different now. I went walking last Tuesday with a group from the Y.W.C.A.	It swas good to get out again."
-	 - ''VTe went skiing for the last time on May 23rd, although there iS still .a lot of snow up there. We have just had a four-day-long weekend in the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota. There had been a. lot of rain in the previous three weeks so the countryside was incredibly green. There were masses of wild flowers too, including wild irises which are as big as the garden varieties, with narrower petals. We took the obligatory photos of the Presidents' Heads at Mt. Rushmore - actually they are pretty impressive. The scenic drives in that area are quite something. We saw wild buffalo in the Custer State Park near there. Across to the Badlands National Park 80 miles east - this is erosion on a grand scale. Because the grass was so green round about and the eroded parts are striped red, it was very colourful.' Next weekend we are leaving for our trip to Yellowstone National Park. We are going to cross the Rockies by the Trail Ridge Road, which was only cleared of
-snow last weekend.	It is above 10,000 ft.for.abaut 20 miles and is supposed
-to bo one of the most scenic roads in the world. We are really looking forward to it."
-By October we will be welcoming the Duncans back to Sydney and look. forward to seeing their photos and hearing more stories of their 12 months in the U.S.A.
-* * * * * * * * * *
 PUBLIC LECTURE BY SIR EDKUND HILARY.
 Using colour slides and some dramatic film footage Sir Edmund Hilary