Oh so quiet…..

My Darling and I took a road, similar to the one in my previous post, out of Canberra heading for the snow fields of Thredbo.  The Darling is a fantastic skier who in a former life was part of a team which ski patrolled the runs at his local mountains in Utah, USA, keeping skiers safe .  Much to his chagrin I have only ever skied once and that ended up with what looked like a game of snow skittles. Only I was the ball and a group of ski instructors were the skittles. Enough said!

We decided that we would spend a few days in Thredbo, NSW checking out the accommodation for a possible family trip next year. When we arrived it was a cold, ghost town with many of the runs closed and people gone due to poor snow falls.  Determined to enjoy a bit of ‘the white stuff’ any way we could, the Darling delved deep into the car and produced two sets of snowshoes. “Finally I get to use these things.” he proclaimed and after that there was not getting out of it.

Silly me took no pictures of the summit from Thredbo Village and it was impossible to take pictures on the chair lift due to icy fingers, sleeting rain and trying to hold on to the snow shoes.

Once at the top it was a different world. Silence greeted us and we smiled in return; put on our snow shoes and went for a 2 hour hike in some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve been in for a very long time.

It started out looking like this.

Rock formation at the summit of Thredbo

We had to walk a while to find snow.  It came upon us gradually.

Walking into snow in Thredbo, NSW, Australia

But then it became this

Snow scape on at Thredbo, NSW, Australia

and this

Snow scape on the summit at Thredbo, NSW, Australia

and finally this.

Eerie landscape at Thredbo summit

It’s a deceptive landscape with areas that seem flat in the distance revealing themselves as steep slopes.  Upon close inspection small landscapes were all around our feet. This next photo was of a small pool of icy water. I like it because it reminds me of an aerial shot of a larger landscape. What do you think?

This was the last photo I took and it seemed to sum up our hike. White, peaceful and occasionally poking our heads out of our ski jackets to fully appreciate the cold.

PS: For those interested the snowshoes were fantastic. The snow was quite deep in places and we shuffled along easily without sinking up to our thighs. Walking in snowshoes is like wearing giant slippers – loads of fun.