Charlotte Plains

The decision to make the trip from Snowmass to Charlotte Plains, Cunnamulla, SW Queensland was a spur of the moment one coming as it did immediately on termination of my winter seasonal employment and the distressing news of Reid's rapidly deteriorating health. With a very full house at Charlotte Plains already - Reid , Robyn , Anita, Rob & Caire and their 3 children , Cammo & Carmen and their 2 children and 2 property hands Neville and Geoff - I was apprehensive about causing additional and unnecessary strain on the family. But with 5 children under 6 , a sick Reid and a mass of jobs to be done on the property , I hope that I was more of a help than a hindrance in my 7 hugely enjoyable and very memorable days there.

Pics from bottom
1.Swimming in the artesian bore drain ( almost 2000 feet unpumped ! )with Neets , Robert Reid Russell V, Charlie and Mattie.
2.Reid wishing so much he could be part of the action.
3.Rob and Cammo mustering wild goats.
4.Never without a compass !
5&6. Rob and Cammo respectively.
7. The CP sign on main road at the back entrance - total acreage 70,000 acres . 8,000
sheep and 600 cattle.
8&9 On day in Cunnamulla with Reid. The latter beside ` the Cunnamulla feller `.
10.Loading goats - $50 a head approx . `Help ` from young Robert and Charlie.
11. Clearing an overgrown and blocked bore drain - more `help` from RRR V and
Charlie.
12.Watching the Royal wedding - Robyn , Neets and Claire.
13.Claire and Reid at a children's party in Cunnamulla.
14. G and Reid beside the weir on the Warrego River outside Cunnamulla.
15. After an emotional farewell.

Brisbane & Toowoomba

Aspen - Denver - LA - Brisbane . Managed to get earlier D to LA and therefore give myself time to negotiate out of having to fly LA - Auckland - Melbourne - Brisbane !
Success with only $50 surplus. Saved 12 hours of travelling time .

Rod and Jen were at B airport to meet me . Meant 5.30 am start for them from T'woomba. They took me straight to their good friends Pete and Emma who have beautiful appt right on the Brisbane river - see pic. And what a breakfast they laid on for us - on patio with the great views over the river . Masses of wonderful fresh fruit - melon , pawpaw, pineapple , custard apple and much else . Delicious . All followed by smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and English muffin. What wonderful hosts.

Then to T'woomba via Needham St , Fig Tree Pocket, where Bob and Betty had their house, Wembury, which disappeared under the B River in 1974 floods. Very nostalgic.

Lovely stay with Rod and Jen in T'woomba. Tibouchina trees - see pic - magnificent . R & J in top form and about to set off for European tour - and then Aspen in 2012 hopefully . Goodness they looked after me well . Thank you very much. T'woomba recovered well from the devastating floods. Hard to believe now.

After yet another fabulous fruit and eggs & bacon breakfast , bus to B and flight - see pic - direct to Cunnamulla and 3 hour drive with Neets ( see last pic ) to Charlotte Plains.

Skico end of season party

An amazing fact - our 5th completed ski season free of serious injury. A few close shaves and we've been lucky - no question. 75 days on the mountain for me and 49 for Mary this season.

Beautiful late season skiing with more significant snowfalls right up to last night. Peter , Mary and I did Highland Bowl 2 days running the second on our 37 wedding anniversary on 19/4after a foot of new snow.

Also a great day boarding in new snow at Snowmass , a day with John and Bernadette Barry at Breckenridge and the annual end of season SkiCo party at `Picnic palace ` , Snowmass when the resort closed except to Ski Co employees and one guest each.

Pics above show all the above including a classic of M working in the kitchen of Picnic Palace on day of Ski Co party. A long straight 8 hours of work preparing ( and cleaning up ) for over 1000 people. Also a good pic of the water slide. A mass of people throughout the party ski/board down a very steep slope and try to skim the length of that pond . Many don't make it ! Some who do, manage even a somersault having completed the ` skim `. Quite a specatacle. The 6 on ski slope with whom I skied on morning of party - Guest Services co-employees of Mary's are Herb , Dagmar , Nola , Fred , Barbara and George Baker.

Had 4 days now on bike and today a glorious ride into Aspen with Mary for last minute errands before I head off tomorrow to Australia for 10 days to see my dear cousin and good buddy Reid at Cunnamulla who is terminally ill with a brain tumour.

April powder

With season drawing to a close , we value greatly these last powder days. Mary has chalked up 46 days of ski pass use and G 70, but an overnight fall of anything over 4 inches still has us out on the 1st chair at 8.30 and as excited about it as if it was the first day of the season. And there have been some fabulous days.

1. From the Big Burn chair. Acres of the fluffy stuff all untracked.
2. A morning on Burnt Mountain with Warren before work . Through an `at your own risk gate`, but perfectly safe and epic slope and conditions.
3.From the top of Burnt Mtn just before the 2nd descent of the day there. Comes out at the bottom of Long Shot and the Two Creeks lift .
4. 1st week of April brings in Disabed Vets week . 1,000 disabled veterans come to the Silvertree Hotel and this pic shows the gathering with every type of skiing contraption for these incredible disabled athletes from all over USA.
5. Another lovely visit from the Richards family from Surrey. This was taken as we descended over the Hanging Valley Wall top ridge. Bill, Debbie , Jamie and Katie.
6 Bill and Debbie having come down from that spot ( see very top of pic ) via Upper and Lower Ladder. All those visits to the gym paid off ! Great effort after only 1 day at this altitude and broken powder making it challenging. Jamie's lost ski for a few minutes gave an indication of what can go wrong .

J & J's engagement

What better way to celebrate the last day and evening of J & J 's and D & K's visit.

Johannes had spoken to Mary and me up at the Mall during the dinner break of my evening shift and as Mary was finishing work on their penultimate evening here.

The following morning J & J got up v early, having hired x country equipment the night before, and set off right from the house for Aspen via the Owl Creek trail. As it was a Saturday, Mary sadly had to work again, but Duncan & Katy and I drove to Aspen to meet J & J at the Main St Bakery for a celebratory breakfast . Mamosas all round and the usual delicious all - American breakfast. J & J didn't quite make it on skis all the way - or if they had, they'd have been over an hour late - and managed to get a truck lift from West Buttermilk down to Hwy 82 from where they got a RFTA bus to the cafe. Great effort though and the ` engagement ` apparently took place high up on that trail ! The announcement made as we sat down for breakfast and hugs and shrieks of joy all round. Wonderful news.

Breakfast followed by a great day skiing at Aspen Mtn and a lovely dinner with champagne toast at Meadow Ranch with just the 6 of us - see 2 good pics the second on self timer. Missed Meghan , Dennis and Cormac greatly though.

All 4 got out safely the next day . M & I straight to Buddy Ski day with Gaby all at expense of Aspen Ski Co. Straight to the Terrain Park for Gaby . Huge improvement in his skiiing and lots of ' french fries ` and no more `pizzas` ! Well done Gaby!

Markley Hut trip

This hut trip on 6/7 March 2011 had been in the planning by Alan and Johannes for some time . Alan ( ski patrol - Highlands ) had booked the hut for us all months ago and we were fortunate to have 2 near perfect days with avalanche risk only at ` moderate` for the region. We all had to have avalanche beacons , probes and shovels and with the kind help of Lee Miller and Alan we had large packs for everyone with an assortment of A/T and teleski equipment for the 8 of us. Quite a logistical exercise getting us all all and equipment up to Ashcroft for a 11 o'clock departure . A superb experience and all credit to Alan and Johannes for masterminding it and particularly to Alan for guiding us through 2 major potential avalanche chutes.

Pics
1 Ensuring we had all necessary equipment at Ashcroft where we left the cars.
2 Alan , Mary, Duncan, Jane, , Katy , Darlene and Johannes at start.
3 Duncan , Katy and Johannes.
4 Johannes taking his turn at pulling the sled . Tricky on the turns. Important provisions.
5 Alan on arrival at the Markley Hut ( on the Taylor pass trail ).
6 All of us on arrival .
7 Duncan on the skin up Green Mtn.
8 Johannes showing some form on his tele's.
9 Enjoying the fruits of Alan and Johannes sled pulling feats . Johannes the photographer from ` the balcony ` .
10 All of us before setting up again for Green Mtn above the hut .
11 Jane showing a burst of skinning speed up Green Mtn.
12 Alan with Cathedral Mtn in background . See the couloir in precisely the middle of the pic. He skiied that last year .
13 Unspoilt view of Cathedral and other peaks. Wild, wild ,country.
14 Resting - what a spot for lunch.
15 The view to the west - Jane, Johannes , Duncan and Alan

Many, many thanks to Alan for getting us all in and out safely. Much responsibility with such a mixed ability ( and age ! ) crew.

Duncan & Katy's arrival

The end of Jane & Johannes's first week heralded the arrival for one week only of Duncan & Katy from Columbus , OH.

Katy was attending an orthopedic vet conference here in Snowmass Village - an extraordinary coincidence and so it was partly a working week for her. We all trouped in at 5.15pm on Tuesday to see her give her presentation on aspects of dog knee replacements to over 300 vets - most impressive.

We got a fabulous powder day at Highlands earlier that day ( and with Katy for part of it quite remarkably ), but the highlight of the week had to be the overnight hut trip which Alan Feder organised for us. A lot of gear was assembled from various kind sources , and we hired the rest from Ute Mountaineers in Aspen including avalanche bleepers , probes and shovels for all of us. Pics on that in next entry.

Pics above - including ` top of bowl ` and Johannes looking on in some trepidation as Jane starts her descent on G3. 3rd above - Duncan completing his turns on a great run on Mushroom to foot of Deep Temerity. Always a good powder run.