(Trip Report) Camping at Thredbo - A How To Guide :P

Here is a little TR of our trip down to Thredbo last weekend (29 & 30/6). My bro took all the photos and I’ll try to get more off him, but the best two are below anyway.

My brother, Lui, and my housemate, Ryan, had planned this trip for awhile now. It was going to be my first time down to the snow this season and it was to be their first time on a snowboard (minus a couple days 10 years ago, which hardly counts). Sat was also Lui’s birthday.

The three of us had been getting more and more excited as the trip approached. We were super keen to go shred! I had slowly gathered all necessary items such as tents, mattresses, -10 sleeping bags, extra blankets, chairs, torches, and even lots of munchies haha.

So we took off on Thursday afternoon later than expected as Ryan’s car broke down and we had to leave it at work. Not the best start but we packed up my Forester to the max and headed down to Canberra to stay at Josh’s (Parkway Josh) for the night.

We took off from Canberra at 5am. Picked up gear for the boys at Rhythm and had the obligatory Maccas breakfast. We arrived in Thredbo and they made their first timer lessons by about 2 mins, so a great start. I smashed some Cruiser and High Noon laps while they had their lessons. The conditions were average, raining on and off over the whole mountain and super slushy. But the coverage was surprisingly good this time of year.

I caught up with the boys after their lesson. They both had fallen in love with their chick instructor hahaha. We soon made our way up to Merritts and I spent most of the arvo with them. We worked on falling leaf etc and when we moved up to linking turns they were all over it. They had progressed really fast which was awesome to see. The slushy condition were perfect for learning on.

At the end of the day we arrived at Thredbo Diggings with just enough light to set the two 3 man tents up. We then just made it to the aquatic centre in time for a shower. By the time we had a beer and meal at the bistro we were feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves. Everything had worked out perfectly to plan and the boys had picked up snowboarding really fast. After a few more drinks at The Schuss Bar we decided to head back to camp…

That’s when our luck ran out…

The really strong wind had broken the rods of one of the tents, and with the rain, Ryan’s stuff was pretty wet. The other tent soon followed suit and one of the two rods broke, leaving it about a quarter of the size.

We all headed to the car to sleep. A pretty disappointing moment to be honest. But Lui was in good spirits as he swigged Jager Meister (and managed to score the front passenger seat). Ryan was in the back seat with a mountain of crap next to him nearly to the roof of the car. After we celebrated Lui’s birthday with a few more swigs of Jager he then commenced to fall asleep and snore haha. After little sleep I couldn’t stay in the car any longer, my back was aching, and I decided to give this tent another go. Somehow I crawled in there and with my jacket and -10 sleeping bag was actually pretty comfy and warm. The wind and rain had stopped, thankfully. Lui took the below snap of me in my dodgy little cocoon the next morning hahaha.

After a slow start we pulled the broken tents apart (which we threw out later) and repacked the car. It was nearly 12 by the time we got on the mountain. The conditions were terrible, especially for beginners. There was a little bit of fresh snow near the sides of the runs but all that slush had frozen into solid ice, and it was cold and windy. Josh and Al came up for the day and it was fun riding with them.

We eagerly took up Josh’s offer to stay with him and Al that night in Canberra. Big Thanks to them for having us two of the three nights. The warm house, pizza, beers, and Blade 2, was heaven after the previous nights effort.

So that’s about it. On Sun we drove back to the Blue Mountains. I was devoed when I checked my facebook and saw that Sunday was supposedly the day of the season, with some good snowfall and the wild conditions easing off. Oh well, there’s always next time.

There were still lots of fun moments on the trip but somehow I don’t think I will be camping at the snow again in a hurry I will attempt it again one time though…

Me in my cocoon. If it had rained again I was screwed!

The next morning…

I bet after all that happen you wouldn’t change anything!! at least you had fun!!!

hahaha that is gold, good effort with the tents, if i decide to do something similar this season i think ill get some nice heavy duty poles

Yea, sans the rain, you would have been fine. Just got unlucky with the rainy day / night :(

Priceless!!

River Inn will be waaay better!

Nice one Dan!!!!!

Like eddie said, ya gonna have those memories for ever!!!!!

Try a tarpaulin next time though, with some extra pegs and ropes!!!!! Well worth a few more minutes and turns a cheap arse tent into a super dome when the weather turns bad!!!!!

hahah unrucky!

come to think of it, after that experience i think you(dan, or anyone else realy) might be a good person to recommend a suitable sleeping bag for the colder climate

Always bring a tarp. When me and a mate camped at Woodford folk festival, the tarp made the difference between crappy holiday and EPIC holiday.

I learned my lesson of the tarp the very first time we went campin as a family!!!!!

It was around easter and we had only been there one day, a storm came over head that while wasn’t very windy it had about 100mm of rain in 2 hours to unleash onto us!!!!!!

The friggin thing literally washed our tent away!!!!! 

I have since been in similar situations along with strong winds, and with the tarp it has stood the test!!!!! Now I sit and watch others flee as I enjoy a beer from the safety of my covers!!!!!!

Awesome trip report, mate. Shame about the weather though.

I can imagine your feet sticking out the end of the tent.

Make sure you post the link to this thread in the Trip Report Contest thread: http://www.boardworld.com.au/trip-report

Yes, we will not be forgetting the trip in a hurry

I’m no camping expert (that should be pretty obvious by now!) but how would the tarp really help for wind??? I can see it being great for rain. i was close to buying one from Kmart before the trip too.

Rider, yes, when I stretchd out, my feet were sticking out the end  

Will post it in the TR thread once I hopefully get some more photos.

Once ya angle the tarp down to the ground, facin the wind direction or exposed area (ie the opposite side to bushes/car etc etc) it will make a massive difference to the stability of the tent in strong winds!!!!!

Use trees/car as an anchor point and barrier, along with solid ground pegs and good guy ropes and you’ll be sweet as!!!!!

Ohh, but the only downside is that they can get noisy too!!!!!

Little foam ear plugs are great when campin in shitty weather!!!!!

Yes and no. Im not certain the tarp would do much…especially in an alpine environment (other than become a kite . Its the wind thats the killer. What’s crucial is the pitch. If a tunnel tent pitch it foot end into the wind, if a geodesic dome (and or tunnel tent) make sure its pitched properly, door facing away from the wind with fly attached properly and guy lines deployed in the right directions (and deployed long…not close to the tent). Something as simple as not getting the pole sleeves correctly snug can cause failure of a pole and a loose flapping fly can tear quickly in a gust.

Don’t give up on it. looks like you guys had a ball none the less. Camping is great fun (not to mention cheap accomodation I just always recommend practicing pitching your tent first in your yard and getting it down pat. Then its nice n easy and your not trying to read instructions with a huge wind gusting (seen that done many a time).

Couldn’t help it had to share this pic.

Down in the gong camping on Aus Day.

Blowing a gale trying to read instructions and put this tent up.

There was a man watching us for a good hour before he came over and helped us out!