Fri 15 Aug - Mon 18 Aug
by David L
We arrived at Alpine Interlude lodge, Dinner Plain at various times on Friday night. Some cooked a roast dinner, two went to the Dinner Plain Hotel for a pizza, and others had eaten on the way up.
Saturday's weather was partly cloudy, so there were some sunny patchs.
Four of us drove to Wire Plain and skied around the trails to Christmas Hills, then skied up to The General near Big D for some lunch. Georgia and David then skied around wire plain for a while, and Joe and Genevieve skied the 11km or so back to Dinner Plain.
Another small group skied to Mt.Loch, but judging by the view from Wire Plain, Mt.Loch was under cloud and wouldn't have had much visibility.
Grant had difficulty starting his car in the morning, and only got some of the way to Hotham before breaking down. Apparently a fuel line problem, the car was loaded onto the back of a truck and taken to Bright. That didn't stop Grant or anyone else from skiing though!
Sunday's weather was perfect; hardly a cloud in the sky!
Four of us (Georgia, Joe, David, and Genevieve) skied to Mt.Loch, had lunch on the summit taking in the 360 degree view and the stunning view of Mt.Feathertop.
We then skied down to Derrick Hut, where we practiced our Telemark turns on the nearby slopes.
Peter B skated from Dinner Plain to Wire Plain and back, while the others braved the Downhill crowds at Hotham.
On Sunday night we all went to the Dinner Plain Hotel for a meal... and a game of snooker.
Monday was partly cloudy again.
The ten of us decided to do Downhill today, so after rising by 6:30, tidying the lodge and loading up the cars, we crammed into three cars with all our luggage and skis for the drive up to Hotham, ready to ski just after 9am.
We skied until about 1pm then met in the Snowbird Inn for lunch.
Grant, John, Peter B, and Ern decided to leave after lunch to collect Grant's car from Wangaratta (where it had since been sent), while David, Georgia, Joe, Genevieve, Anne, and Rob S continued to ski until about 4pm.
Our paths crossed again at our dinner stop, the Euroa Cafe, where we discovered Grant's car had been fixed... so all's well that ends well!
Overall - an excellent trip!!!
See the Photo Gallery for David L's photos and videos of this trip.