my last run through there with @Snow Blowey had me regretting some decisions. Especially when we had to jump a gap over the stream to get down off the side we were on and head to the exit run.
Thredbo Development - bang a gong and get it ON!
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That exit run alone will stop most people repeating the trip out there.
The worst run out I had was when there was kid ahead of me. I reckon he was about 12. Little bastard was so light he could stop in the middle of the trail after that last drop.
I ended up having to bail into the drift downhill of the track. At least it was soft.
Once the run out has lost its pillows its certainly more interesting. A case that its probably safer to ski when its closed and the snow is more forgiving.
I think we're all safe. The GCB isn't enough terrain to justify a lift. Everything worth skiing from Funnelweb across can be access via Kosi chair without using the Basin T. So why spend all those dollars for such a small gain.
Best option is to increase the capacity of the Basin T bar. That would solve a lot of problems.
From the dream on perspective, I would be happy with increased snowmaking on Cannonball and a lift from Tower 10 to the old Ramshead lift station. Provided the Basin was increased.
If we could make that Cannonball area a bit more reliable with snowmaking it would bring back the days where we would hit the bottom of the Basin T bar and keep going if the line was too long. A lot less reliable doing that these days, too much risk of swimming.
turn the basin into a chair to avoid the pile up when all the people who can't ride t-bars end up heading that way.
But again this might make more people head up towards funnelweb, franks face and GCB
Part of the reason for tbars up there is that the whole area is very exposed, and would be prone to windhold. The old ramshead chair rarely went on wind hold due to the sheltered aspect. You could probably go a little higher from that station to just below the height of Frank's Face as there is still some shelter from the bigger rocks.
yeah fair point. But gee they need something to get more people up when they have a bunch of t-bar beginners. Another 2 bars but then half the basin run is gone
Simply upgrading the T-Bars does help with this - the new Easy Rider T-Bar is going to increase the capacity by ~300pph. This only works to a point, though. T-Bars cap out at ~1100pph.
When you have noobs who can't load the pph goes right down, doesn't matter how fast the line is
To be fair the reason for the last few years of its life Ramshead didn't go on windhold was that it didn't get turned on. I'd struggle to remember days it was running in its last 5 years of life.
They need a T at FF for people to learn. Its like they assume everyone learnt at Perisher or something.
so a double t at basin and you need to prove you have passed your t bar efficiency test on the training t on FF before you allowed access to the basin
Just put a single dogleg T-bar in to replace basin and Karels. Use the spare parts to put another T-Bar up to signature hill.
Thredbo could really make better use of the beginer terrain to the north of current karels line. COuld put a nice mellow groomer down there and link it up with the creek run to conrod straight. Makes much more sense than the existing supertrail - which leaves most people poling uphill to make it across.
I think their plan is for people to keep using Easy Rider, which is part of why they're upgrading it. Dumb thing about that strategy is that it requires ski schools to go through a terrain park
that would be pretty good, is that still considered to be within resort?
Would have to move the bell then too.
IMO you need one with zero consequence if you just cant get it, all of them you are somewhere requiring a sled.
Thredbo will lose the highest lifted point to Perisher soon so if they can lift Sig Hill they should.
Just from a business POV, Devil's advocate etc, I wouldn't necessarily improve access to GCB (I never found it that difficult to get to anyway??) but I would clean it up, clean up the exit run and mark it clearer on the trail map. Experts only, famous GCB yada yada. They're missing a marketing trick there IMO.Why not turn the basin into a massive terrain park and use the new Easy Rider for Ski School.
A new Ramshead needs to go at least as high as the flat area above Frank's Face for optimal all levels access utilisation.
Black go left, blue/cyan go right all the way to Creek Station.The solution to all of this is a fixed-grip quad from the old ramshead top station to the left of top of Karels at the very top of franks face. You could even repurpose snow gums double. It would probably keep the highest lifted point at Thredbo with a small amount of earthworks at the unload. Yes, it would go on wind hold, but the only time the lines are bad on Basin and Karles is the decent weather days. So it would run on those days and 90% of people will just lap franks and the green run that loops around into the basin.
Would it not get damaged in high wind? They could build it with six-pack line gauge to give the chairs room to swing but that only helps up to a point. I don't know how much worse the winds at Karels are than the winds on the Kosi chair. If it's not much worse the chair could be viable. Environmental issues and KT laziness might stop it from happening though.
A pretty cheap option to keep highest lifted point is to just flatten out the existing Karels unload and extend the T-Bar an extra hundred metres or so into the ~2060m line. Perisher would have no ability to beat that.
I personally think it would be a brilliant idea to run the Snowgums up the Ramshead line. If you replace the drive, that lift has plenty of life left in it. More likely, they should sell Snowgums to someone else. Maybe Charlotte Pass could use it for their Stilwell lift or Selwyn could put it somewhere
The Thredbo lease boundary is around 90-100m beyond the top station of Karel's T-bar so 50-70 metres further is about the limit for extending the T-bar. Not sure how much extra elevation that would provide.
IIRC it wouldn't be enough. I don't exactly remember how far the flat section above Karels continues before it starts rising again. Surely it would be possible for Thredbo to negotiate an extension of their leasehold by 50-100m up there and a reduction in their leasehold somewhere else
Install an inclinator to the top of the Karel's boulders as a launch point and call it Australia's highest lifted point.
Put a slingshot lift up the Basin ... and some picnic tables up near the top 'cause it would be a spectator sport.
Everyone who rides Karel's must fill their pockets with rocks and empty them at the top
Really reinforces how good modern skis are and how marginal our seasons are now.
oh pfft, not a snowboard or a helmet in sight.
Its quite obvious that when snowboarders came along, they brought their safety awarenes and helmet culture with them and converted those renegade skiers from that time into what we see today!!Last edited:
I rode one of those lifts on the other side of Portillo when I had a day there in 2015. Getting on is easy as it's stationary but it's quite an art to get off without falling. With the beginner disasters that happen at the Basin load area on a regular basis it would provide a false sense of security and the offload would provide more entertainment than a Warren Miller movie.
That's great. Is this your footage.
Agree with @fenrir it really brings back how much more difficult it was to ski on the equipment we had then.
Is that a shot of sponers t bar not spinning? If so it also shows thredbo didn't like to get sponers up and running back then either.
Yep it is Sponars, Good problem to have that they can't run it due to you hitting your head on the tower pulleys.
Obviously they like to keep that dream alive by continuing to barely run it these days.
i have been hearing that if things go well (e.g. getting environmental approval on time), the new 6 seater snowgums lift could be in place in 2023. the top and bottom will be roughly the same as it is now, and there will be a mid-station just under bunnywalkLast edited:
Maybe best not to name a potential leak on social media unless approved by the person in question
But good news, sounds like the board has approved spending again after selling off property assets, probably at greater profit than anticipated.
Is there any word on when a DA will come out? Based on Merritts' timing, it won't be in by 2023 if we don't see any applications soon
yeah you are right, though i think what happened with Merritts is that they withdrew the original application and resubmitted because the original application missed things that the government didnt like, which i think is why it took forever.
It was Just a modification to the DA which still delays some but not as bad as redoing.The replacement easy rider tbar is coming along nicely
do you know what they were modifying? i think one of them was moving the midstation
They figured out that they'd need to cut down more trees for the mid-station than they originally thought, they wanted to lower the deck at the top by half a metre, and they needed to put in more comm lines and transformers at the top than they originally thought2 more winters of Snowgums before the new one is put in for 2024 winter
Wotis Merritts MH?from the half year report:
https://www.evt.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/21-22-Half-Yearly-Report-and-Accounts.pdf
