Winter Group Inc. Cross Country Ski Club

The Winter Group members, who stayed at Howmans this year, we think at least, were indeed very lucky.

Although it poured with rain all day Sunday, when most members arrived, there was snow forecast for later in the night. Our 3 course meal that night was delicious but, alas, it was still raining when we went to bed.

AND when we woke up on Monday morning, three centimetres of snow had fallen over night and it was still foggy and snowing when we arrived at Windy Corner. It snowed all day, and although the visibility wasn’t very good, the skiing was excellent. Our gear was saturated by the end of the day…What the heck… What’s a salubrious drying room for anyway?

Ah-h-h…Tuesday! The sun was shining and the snow beautifully groomed. Time for David and I to go on an adventure! We decided to ski out to Sun Valley, eat lunch quietly at Dicky Knees and have a well earned cappuccino. The place seemed to have expanded since we were last there so it was a little easier for a “paper bagger” to be discreet. The weather on Tuesday was so calm and clear. Although it was obvious that much of the snow had been washed away, we were in awe of the beautiful reflections of the snow capped mountains in Rocky Valley Dam. We drove back to Howmans, enjoyed a nice hot shower, and had nibbles and drinks in the lounge room before dinner. I should add here that we had a few interesting guests at our table for dinner. Barry Jones, former president of Melbourne Nordic Ski Club, a strong skater and competitor on the 42 km Hoppet, gave us updates on the contingency 1, 2 and 3 planned courses, depending on the snow and weather conditions. Another younger guy who was also by himself asked to sit with us as well.

Wednesday was again sunny and by lunch time was very warm. David and I skied up the Mackay Road to tackle my favourite run - if it’s soft and not too busy – Wombat’s Ramble. The snow was just the right consistency (reminded me of ice-cream) to practice traverses and Stem Christies. At one stage I thought a rear vision mirror would be an added bonus (like on my bicycle) but, I’m afraid, not at all practical. After negotiating the “bump” at the bottom of the run successfully, David and I decided to try out the new “Coffee shop.” “Tom, Dick and Harry’s” turned out to be a bar and licensed restaurant. The coffee and cake for two people was $27 – the coffee strong and delicious and the cake beautifully presented with dusted icing sugar - definitely “downhill skier prices.” The cheapest part was a free shuttle bus back to Windy Corner car park.

On Thursday it was again fine but much windier than Wednesday. We decided to tackle the new track “The Pines.” It started off fairly much like any other, but sticking the finish was another matter. The last section was steep, curved with three options. Option one was a sharp left turn and up Panorama, the second straight ahead and hurtle round the corner down the lower section of Panorama or sharp right and hope you headed down the Sun Valley loop. As I was going too fast I thought I’d prop and stop. Instead I finished with a spectacular double flip. “That was quite spectacular!!” an unfamiliar voice uttered. “Did you say you were members of Winter Group? I’m Pat Cooper.” Apparently she is 73 and had no worries skiing down Aitkens. Later we caught up with Pat at Windy Corner for lunch. Some school groups had taken over the shelter, were unbearably noisy and refused to offer Pat a seat. Pat told management it was disgraceful, so she sat outside at a table to have lunch with David and me and told us about the good old days…

Friday…YUK…wet and windy…horrible driving home!! See you on the snow next time!!

Anthea and David Tomkins