Club Lake main chute, Australia, BC May riding

On Saturday 16th of May, Erryn, Cat and I headed into the backcountry from Charlotte Pass in search of some fresh snow around Club Lake in the NSW alps, Australia. Erryn was celebrating his 25th season in the Australian backcountry and we were super keen to get some May lines in. We strapped into the splitboards and headed off.

The conditions on the way out were pretty icy and we had to put crampons on a couple of times. We were all wondering whether the main chute was going to be rideable or not. As always it’s a not proper adventure unless something goes wrong. On the way out I slipped on the side of a hill while putting crampons on and slid all the way to the bottom and almost into a creek, I banged up my arm and there was plenty of blood and skin missing, it could have been a lot worse, I only have myself to blame it was a stupid mistake. The below picture is the hill i slid down, it was about that much again below me. You can see Erryn just about to unbind and put crampons on.

We got to Club Lake and headed for the chute, as we neared the base the snow was got really soft and fresh. About halfway up the chute the conditions started getting pretty sketchy so I decided to hold firm however Erryn, never one to miss a chance of adventure, kept going to the top. Near the crux the conditions were challenging with boilerplate ice in spots, a common issue with Club Lake. Erryn dropped in from the top and I could hear the solid ice on his edge. He managed to straight line over the ice and use the fresh patches to make turns. Once he got halfway down it was all fresh snow. He came out of the chute and bombed it back to the other side of the lake.

Next it was my turn, the snow was perfect. I was only in Whistler a month ago and had a few pow days, it almost felt like I was back there. As I headed out of the chute and back towards the lake I thought to myself, “How good is this fresh snow in May!” We then got to board about a km down from the chute as the sun had worked wonders on the firm snow we faced on the way in. What a super fun day, first backcountry turns for 2015.

That looks great, thanks for sharing.

Incredible. Great stuff, Jake.

Just awesome Jake!

This post and the subsequent exposure it’s had on social media is the beggining of 2015.

Thanks guys,

Im so stoked about the exposure it has got, really good for the Australian backcountry, i don’t think they realise how awesome some of our terrain is out there. The runs may not be long but they are still steep. I didn’t think it would be of interest to people outside Australia, the story is popping up everywhere

Most OS people are probably generally surprised that we have BC or even snow.

Others are just bemused that while it’s still snowing in the NthHe we also have ridable terrain. < That’s the feedback I received from some friends in Cali…

Awesome man, thanks heaps for sharing. Some banger shots there too!