Race & Trip Reports

Massey-Bierman Australia Trip

Paul Massey-Bierman

01.Dec.2009

Editor's note: For 10 days in late August, Marika and Quincy Massey-Bierman (and their parents, Paul and Christine) spent 9 days skiing at Falls Creek in southeast Australia - safely above the altitude when any Kangaroos and Koalas hang out. Paul passed along a write up of their time to share with all of us as we wait for snow here in the northern hemisphere.

Australia is not a continent known for snow, but from June to September, there's snow to be found and many kilometers of wide, well groomed trails at the few ski areas - most of which are above treeline. Because we've had work in Australia the last few summers, we managed to tweak our travel plans to spend time on snow in August several times now.

Falls Creek is one of only a few ski areas in Australia, and it serves as both a downhill and Nordic ski area. Falls Creek and the Bogong High Plains above it are dramatic but easy places to visit with deep mountain valleys, twisty alpine roads and wonderful expanses of snow above treeline. The area is home to many small gourmet food and wine producers and not unlike Vermont, has a strong local and slow foods movement.

Beyond the 65k of trails they groom at Falls, when the snow freezes hard, you can skate many kilometers off trail, with dramatic crust cruising. Most years, it's all sun but once in a while, the storms set in and the mountain is covered in fog and wind - that was this year.

We did two races during our stay this summer. The day after we arrived, the kids did a 5 km race (Paul did 14 km) in rain, fog and wind, all at a 1700 meter elevation (that's a mile high). There's not much oxygen at that altitude. Then, we then skied for 7 more days (in wind, snow, wind, rain, fog, wind, hail - did I say wind?) and had our second race, the Australian leg of the Worldloppet series, the Hoppet.

Quincy and Marika both did the Joey Hoppet this year, shortened from 7 to 5 km because of the extreme weather (50 km/hr wind, heavy rain, fog and thunder). Christine carried on to finish the 15 km Australian "Birkie" and Paul finished the 27 km Hoppet (both after seeing the kids back to the finish of their races). The kids won their age divisions, Quincy in 49:30 (1 of 4 for under 8 year old girls). Marika in 22:08 (1 of 12 for 8-10 year old girls). You can see a video of the race (and the fog) here.

We stayed at a great YMCA camp, Howman's Gap, where we shared meals and bunk rooms with skiers from many countries around the world, all here to ski in the Hoppet. It's a great atmosphere with skiers of all abilities and ages living and playing together. Equipment rentals are available, but as always, it's nicer skiing on your own equipment.

If you find yourself in Australia in August, it's well worth the trip to Falls Creek for some time on snow.

Here, Marika and Quincy Massey-Bierman enjoy some of the only moments of sunshine we saw in 10 days on the mountain. They are at the low elevation trail head that leads to many km of trails above tree line.

The Falls Creek Nordic Center (shown in the fog) is the start of many tens of km of Nordic trails. It's a warming hut, waxing place, has ski rentals and serves great coffee drinks and sometimes, warm, jelly donuts.

This the Howman's Gap YMCA Camp where we and several dozen other skiers from many different countries stayed for the week before the race. It's a modern place with family and bunk rooms and three meals a day plus bus service that takes only 10 minutes to cover the couple km between the camp (usually below snowline but not this year) to the Nordic Center (usually above snowline). Howmans has a large waxing/ski storage room and lots of trails for hiking.

Here we are at the start (and Quincy at the finish) of the 5 km Wallaby and the 14 km Wombat in the fog. These races run the weekend before the Hoppet and are low-key warm ups for the big race.

The terrain around falls creek is an undulating upland, with a large man-made hydroelectric reservoir as a centerpiece. There are few really steep hills but lots of long, incessant (2 to 5 km) climbs. The trails are wide, as most people skate. They do set tracks but the snow most days is boilerplate in the morning and slush by noon. The strong late-season sun combined with the mile-high elevation means that on clear days, the radiational cooling causes the fluid snowpack to freeze up solid by late afternoon. They piston bully in the late afternoon and let the corduroy freeze over night. Needless to say, morning snow is usually fast.

Quincy and Marika after the Hoppet awards ceremony with the mugs they were given as age class winners in the 5 km, Joey Hoppet.

A favorite delicacy among Australian kids is fairy bread. This a simple concoction of soft bread, spread with butter onto which the down-under version of sprinkles are added, something they call hundred and thousands. Sugar with a little fat and maybe a touch of fiber but it does the trick (at least for kids) after a morning of skiing in the cold rain!