life at the top

We have been travelling back and forth from Mt Hotham and Dinner Plain. Burning off in the North east this week and the view from Hotham was astounding. valleys folding away as far as the eye could see.
Easter is again upon us and everyone on the mountain is starting to prepare for the season to come.
It has been a wet summer, i wonder what that will mean for winter!

Powder Paradise

Look at this exquisite image complements of gifted photographer Charlie Brown, who is covering Hotham this winter. He shares his weekly adventures on his blog Mountainside.net.au which is well worth following.
Well, despite the detractors, the snow has turned up in force. Today there was a powder alert, to remind everyone where they really ought to be!
Mt Hotham is the highest Alpine Resort in Australia. We don't have massive alps like other spots in the world but we are unique. There is nothing like skiing amongst the gum trees which are twisted and gnarled by age and the elements.
The drive to Hotham is astounding. Near the top you get the full vista of North East Victoria, rolling away endlessly in a rhythm of peaks and valleys. Every day is different with an ever changing interplay of light and cloud.
Unlike many mountainsides, we enjoy a lot of clear weather in winter in Australia. Crystal days where you can see forever and glide through dry snow.
Enjoy

revisiting

I had a chance this week to revisit old skills that I haven't used for years. As a student of Graphic Design in the late 1970's, I was taught by some of the best designers in the country at that time. Our teachers were all hands on. They had to be practicing artists to get the job. A lot like TAFE teachers today.
It was a pleasure working on this job as I reflected on what those gifted people taught me so long ago. Gaining the skills was very project based. An artist literally showed you how to use the tools and materials and then watched you practice. This is how I learned to choose brushes, measure accurately, brush rule, mix paint, hand letter and present artwork.
Many of my teachers had long careers behind them. They were at the forefront of graphics for advertising and the print industry. Some of the illustrators had designed and produced the finished art for Australia's money and stamps. Others had spent their career illustrating books and ads.
One vivacious teacher had learnt to draw and perfected his skill as a soldier in Korea. He had survived 5 beach head assaults to go to Hollywood and paint scenery and then to Australia.
Some of these artists had such a level of skill that you couldn't quite imagine how anyone could make such beautiful work.
I have never attained that level of skill. Times change. Illustration made way for photography so the demand was not there. Practicing artists typically adapt to the conditions especially if they relate to the print industry.
Illustration is making its way back in to popularity but that level of dexterity seems to have gone. Technology gives us an out clause.
When I was working as a Graphic Designer you could work for a week on a job on the desk and if you weren't careful it could all be ruined in an instant.
Now you just delete latest move!
Vicki

Long weekend

The long weekend has just come and gone. The opening of the ski season in Australia. There is rarely any snow so early in the season but the media seems to be making a big deal of that this year.
Usually everyone apres skis on that first weekend. Catching up with mates and enjoying the beautiful mountains with a sense of anticipation.
Falls Creek hosts a mass swim in the Rocky Valley Dam which is not for the faint hearted. There might be something in it though.
My Brother in Law was Norwegian and his Grandmother, who lived well in to her 90's swam in the North Sea every day!
Tom used to love to ski all day, then have a sauna and roll in the snow. A habit that was not widely adopted by his Australian relatives!
We managed to finish painting outside before the weather changed, so blame us for the Indian Summer.

Winter

It has been an unseasonably warm May for Southern Australia. Good to enjoy real Autumn splendor. Some weather predictors are saying that it will be too warm to snow. It is very hard to get everything to line up perfectly.
There is seldom any snow for the opening of the season on the June long weekend. It is 13 degrees and rainy here today, which is a typical winters day. So I think it is pretty much business as usual.
Australian snow is precious. Overseas they measure it in huge proportions whereas here we treasure all we can get. Having said that, the consistency is different because of the dry climate AND we have many sunny days to enjoy it.
A snow associate working in Japan was talking about their Northern resorts where powder snow falls most days. What they don't say is that it is also overcast a lot of the time.
We enjoy blue sky, very old mountains and unique snow. What more could you want.

The last rays of Autumn

Driving down through the Alpine valleys on the weekend, the landscape was filled with glimmering light. The last colour of Autumn radiated from the trees and the sky shimmered in pink and gold.
A lone paraglider soared over Bright. One of the last chances this Autumn before it gets too cold.
The anticipation for the snow season is starting to build as everyone gets the lodges in order ready for a busy season. Last minute repairs, firewood delivered, a buzz in the air.
Frost and snow showers are starting to drift across the North East.
Winter is in the wind.

an early season

It has started to snow in the Victorian Alpine region and everyone starts talking about an early season.
It certainly was beautiful to see the slow flurry of large flakes on the weekend and the extraordinary beauty of sunlight filtering through it.
Activity on the mountain starts to gain momentum as the forecasts change and keen observers start to plan around the latest information.
The blanketing of sound is something that catches you by surprise as the landscape is defined  by its texture.
I have included an image of clouds, such deftly repeated patterns in nature.
It looks like powder snow.