The October long weekend is becoming a bit of an annual event in my calendar. The opening of the road out to Charlotte Pass makes for easy access to the main range, reducing the slog out from Guthega to a much shorter walk up from the Snowy River. It also usually offers nice snow conditions, with enough cover up high for great touring and corn snow that makes for fun turns.
James and I headed out at a moderate hour on Saturday morning, with a few uncovered patches shortly after the river requiring skis off, but then solid cover up to the top of Carruthers. We made camp slightly below the peak, assuming that a small fin of rock would provide enough shelter for a pleasant night. We were completely wrong, and by around 6pm the wind direction had shifted the speed accelerated. We put up a rather poor little snow wall (that blew on top of me during the night), then settled in for some sunset photos followed by dinner. It was possibly the worst nights sleep I have had in a tent, with the nylon constantly flapping across my face.
We managed some great runs, swapping the splitboard and tele skis regularly. I snowboarded down into club lake via the middle chute, then skied down into Little Austria. We also did a few easy runs on the north east side of Carruthers. On the Sunday we toured out towards Watson's Crags, and although we weren't able to ski any of the great terrain on offer, it has provided plenty of inspiration for future trips.
We ended the weekend sitting in the grass by the snowy river, enjoying a cup of tea and some crisps and soaking up the warmth of the sun.
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