From Wednesday the 30th July to Tuesday the 5th August 2008 it was time to embark for the annual family ski trip to Mt.Selwyn. This year we would stay for the second year in a row at Jim and Claire’s farm Windradeen near Adaminaby, mostly because the number of players had increased to include 5 families. This years group included Gary, Uts, Luke, Lauren, Max (Fumeauxs), Sabina, Jeff, Matthew and Eliza (Wildman), Michael, Lui (Gerber) with Sabina, Sam and Leena with Tommy, Maiga and Annalie, and Louise, Roman, Chris, Roman Junior (Rosenbaums) to make up a grand total of 21 skiers. Windradeen is made up of three individual houses with two large houses the Homestead and the older former Sheep shearer quarters accommodating two families each, in addition to the smaller Guesthouse for one family.

           Most of us left Sydney early to arrive around lunch time on Wednesday in Cooma and head toward the ski rental at RhythmSnow Sports. That way we did not have to waste time going to Alp Sports in Epping and Uts and Gary’s entrepreneurial skills ensured that we would also get a nice group discount. As an interesting aside the same shop has recently opened a retail outlet in Niseko Japan view the Skihire Japan website which is becoming more popular for Australian skiers. Whereas the Fumeauxs headed over to the visit one of NSW most famous Lebanese eateries just outside of Cooma, the Rosenbaum’s went straight to Windradeen to enjoy a little bit of country air in the hills surrounding Adaminaby. The rest of the families would arrive over the next couple of days with each family taking care of one night of cooking and 4 nights of watching other people prepare to outdo each other. The dinners were truly superb and the culinary delights got better with each day of skiing – ranging from fully baked dinners to homemade pizza delights. Thanks everyone for putting in a stellar performance.

           The first morning dawned early and the plan was to ski Thursday and Friday with Saturday as a day off to avoid the crowds and give the legs a rest. Then we would follow up with two more days on Sunday and Monday, and head back home on Tuesday to recover the next day at work. Thursday morning the weather in Adaminaby was sunny but cold and we decided to take the Fumeaux’s people mover to head up to the snow. The weather changed immediately as we hit the 45 km road to the ski resort and by the time we arrived it became apparent that Selwyn was having a good year with regards to snow. This year we decided not to book the ski schools but rather just turn up and try our luck. This was a mistake since even though we were told that a booking at this time of the year (outside of school holiday) was not essential, the ski school was full and we had to change our plans and join the individual lessons starting at 10:00AM. (The moral of the story is that if you have a young one for the ski school/crèche make sure you book ahead as it starts early from 9:00 AM and last till 11:45.) Once everybody was booked into the various ski lessons the day began with a few casual warm up runs down front valley and ended usually with everybody having lunch at the main restaurant at Selwyn Center (1550m). It was the chips with gravy and hot Milo and coffee that gave must of us a second wind to get out there and do it all over again. After lunch it was game on for the mums and dad to spend the afternoon skiing with our little ones. Usually, by four O’clock everybody was sufficiently tired to concede defeat and head back to the car for the 30 minute drive back to our farm stay. A few notable exceptions were Max who skied pretty much every day, all day without a rest day and Michael and Lui who had to commute back and forth to Canberra to pick up Sabina but still managed to ski five straight days with his shins asking for mercy. So day one ended all too quickly and Michael’s expert cooking followed by lots of chocolate and wine lulled us comfortably into our beds with the cosy heating blankets on full blast.

            Friday morning was cold and the sun was nowhere to be seen. The failed to heed the ominous signs and headed towards the ski-field defiantly. The morning started with a blizzard warning at Selwyn and the snow was wet so much so that we were soaked through and through by lunch time. Should we call it quits or keep going, after a little rest and an improvement from wet snow to dry sleet we decided to keep going despite the strong wind and heavy snowfall. Visibility was poor and I had trouble moving the boys across the top of Mount Selwyn (1614m) from the protected Plum Pine Run to Home Run because the gale force winds on the summit were driving us backwards on our skies. By Three o’clock everybody was exhausted and we were looking forward to a day of rest on Saturday. It snowed throughout the night and road conditions were getting tricky.

            Whereas most of us decided to take Saturday of Uts, Max with Michael and Lui braved the conditions and headed up to give the freshly fallen powder a run. The rest of us took it easy on the farm and went exploring. On Friday Gary had hired some cross-country skies from the resort and spent a whole day trying to get the hang of telemarking on old style straight skies. Today he exchanged his skies in Cooma for a set of new carving telemarks with stiffer shoes and once he came back we went exploring on Jim’s property. The first thing we discovered to the delight of the kids was a few tiny sleeping bats hidden amidst the hay. Next it was time to have a ‘close’ look at the sheep and Gary brought up a story about how difficult it was to catch one of them. Leaving a half-dead sheep which had lost an eye to the vicious crows we strategically manoeuvred the sheep into a corner and caught one for a photo shoot. The poor thing was probably surprised that it did not end up on the dinner table and we returned to our farm where Jim let us feed the cows with lots of hay. All in all this was one of the most rewarding days with lots of farming activities and as usual a nice warm dinner prepared by Louise with help from Sabina to cap it all off. Tomorrow we would head back to the snow again.

Sunday morning, road conditions were a little tricky with some snow on the road but all our cars made it to the snow field past the police breath-testing us without any problems. On day four the snow was still falling but conditions had eased off a little and most importantly the wind was gone. Roman, Chris and Lauren headed to one of the many crazy Austrian ski instructors by the name of Flo and while Gary tested his new carving skies, Roman tried the straight telemarks and joined the ranks of beginners. The snow kept falling all day and since all of our five families had arrived we literally took over the ski field apart from a few holiday buses that rivalled us in numbers. Day four ended all too quickly and it was time to retire to our log fires, meatballs (Fumeauxs) and pizzas (…) and marshmallow for the kids.

As Monday our last day dawned early with signs of good weather everybody headed to the snow for a last assault on the ski slopes but there were already rumours of skiing for an extra day. This was by far the longest day and since the sun occasionally broke through the patchy clouds while remarkably the snow kept falling we stayed until the last lift closed. The final group photo in front of the Mount Selwyn ski school billboard marked the highlight of this year’s trip. With Sabina and family heading to Bahamas and the Fumeaux to Switzerland it felt as if an era was coming to an end…………