Winter ends early this year ...

There has been so much going on since around Easter it has been hard to find the time to stop and write. Easter was very busy singing with my choir for the Holy Thursday, Good Friday (x2), Easter Saturday (Easter Vigil) and Easter Sunday services. (web) Since then there has been a hectic mix of Ski Patrol education and training services together with providing volunteer medical services at Mt Baw Baw, working towards completion of a Masters of Emergency Health this year and tutoring first year graduate medical students in both Case Supported Learning and Principles of Clinical Practice. Unfortunately there hasn't been much skiing this winter, just a couple of hours of cross-country and a couple of hours of downhill skiing at Mt Baw Baw. One of the photos of snow-laden snowgums under a blue sky I took out on the trails at Mt Baw Baw was used as a backdrop for the ABC News weather report two nights this week, which was rather exciting!



The weekend before last saw a trip to Mt Hotham, one of the major Victorian alpine resorts, for some Ski Patrol meetings and a bit of skiing. The long and boring drive up the Hume Freeway was shared with friends of a friend, and we all then shared a room in their lodge for the weekend. Unfortunately there hadn't been any fresh snow for a while, so conditions weren't that great. It was hard-packed/icy at the start of the morning then started to soften by mid-morning and then gradually turned to slush. However, it was a chance to try out my new telemark skis and boots, which have been a long time coming since winning a 'Patroller of the Year' award in early 2010. I first tried out telemark skiing during a trip to Kvitfjell in Norway in 2006, and really enjoyed it (with the free-heel technique like cross-country skiing). The new gear performed well. On Sunday we had the added bonus of a helicopter ride to Falls Creek for a Ski Patrol meeting there. It was a fine day and the view from the air was spectacular. Snow conditions were no better but I did take some lovely photos of the still water reflections on Pretty Valley Reservoir, and one of them was used for the Channel 10 weather report a couple of days later. It was a late night after the long road trip back to Melbourne and off to work as usual the next morning!