Schlinks hut Snow-Shoeing

As a celebration of three years since our first snow date, Cassie and I went snowshoeing. We set off from Guthega power station and made the climb up the switchbacks. After a few false starts of putting the snow shoes on for only a small patch of snow, we finally reached consistent snow.

We stopped in at every hut to have a chat along the way. Everyone out in the back country was super interesting - we saw a family with two young kids, which was part of a large party doing “Christmas in July in the Backcountry (in August)”. We met a lot of people who’d been out for week long missions, visiting different huts and carrying heaps and heaps of gear.

Whites River hut with an ensemble of tents

Schlink’s Hilton was similarly full of interesting characters (an age diverse range of mostly white guys) when we arrived around 3pm. After setting up our tents, we all chatted inside till quite late, discussing electric cars, nuclear vs renewable energy, if biathlon is actually difficult, and whether telemark skiing is cool.

Since it was a clear night and a full moon, the snow was lit up amazingly. It was definitely bright enough to walk around without a head torch.

On the way out we went via Disappointment Spur, which has a cute little hut halfway along it. The log book did not disappoint, with some extremely creative entries from several different groups of (seemingly unsupervised) high schoolers.

Flame Robin Chilling at Guthega Power Station

It was great to get out for a snow mission together in the back country. It was definitely more adventurous than our first trip together cutting laps of the Perisher XC trails, but they were both very special trips.