At least 2 of the crew members will be spending the weekend celebrating at my bosses birthday bash so not much chance of seeing machinery for a while.
Hers a couple of shots of the road taken today. It’s clear right up to Eyre but as was pointed out in another thread by @Snowy Joey, the NP rangers were issuing tickets to a couple of vehicles parked at Eyre. Lots of clear patches looking from Mt P towards Spencer’s. My take is that there is way less snow on the road than last season so if they get onto it..... well let’s see! 1 Towards the village. 2. More towards Eyre.
Wow. Thanks @Boutros - Neither Parks or Snowy Hydro would give me a date. Last year they didn't have it open until mid October
Road should be open to Spencer’s IMO.... it’s clear to there. I guess there a proper reasons why it’s closed to the Spencer’s gate but it can’t be due to snow cover..... Took this shot from up near little Paralyser today.
Looking at the temporary barriers to road access before the gate this morning, I got the feeling that the road closure is more to do with machinery movements around Leichhardt than the snow on the road. With the only return to FV being via a rather busy HV T-bar, parking at Eyre and driving back would have been a much more preferable option. IMO
Having walked on the road today there are stretches where only 1 lane is clear. Machines are required to clear it. But my estimate (i work in construction so I’ve some idea how long civil works take) is a morning of grader work will do it. Once clear of snow the road has to be checked & cleared for use by RMS & Police who will only come and inspect when good & ready. What we need is a senior RMS person to decide they want to trout fish in Spencer’s.
The only access the NSW warriors talk about is the bitumen to Charlottes Pass! The boys need to harden up....earn their turns and be prepsred to walk a little. Stop sooking and start walking! And remember your poo tubes! Team Bears think they are waiting for the comming wet mild weather forecast to do the job! The rains are comming....the rains are comming!
Skiing the western faces as a day trip or overnighter in winter from Guthega is no different than Bogong from CCG. This is a seasonal thread because it opens up different access possibilities for light and fast day trippers, cyclists, and as touched on above trout enthusiasts But if you're that jealous you could just do what I did and move here
Nobody is snow clearing to access Mt Bogong.....nobody is snow clearing on those backcountry forest Rds. Well except for Xplora sometimes with the shovel brigade! Perhaps snowy clearing fee to open Charlottes Pass Carpark could be complemented ? We know some on this forum champion the user pays principle! Is KNP still charging it’s winter rate for vehicles in Sept?
Yes gate only. Maybe 3 days work (then add inspections & approvals) gate to turning circle based on last years snow and work.
Timing on this seems to be getting worse. Youd think better gear would mean it could open sooner as years progress. Are they still worried about leaving big drops on uphill side? Heard that was a major factor last year. If so, shame on our nanny state.
No commercial imperative. We need fisher people to push the barrow to have it open for fishing in streams opening day. This is about the only hope of addressing the current roundtuit attitude.
No-one in RMS Southern Region management knows that this is a concern. It's not a thing to them. It will not change by whining here on on FB (well, not by doing that alone). I'd lead a charge but am way to close to this given where my substantive role sits, it would be inappropriate. If someone asked me to help though I would tell them: If you would like to effect change, treat it as a serious issue and do something. You are trying to change hearts, minds and management priorities and habits of people who deal with 000's of issues a year, road fatalities, projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars, traffic committee complaints about gutter conditions on a roundabout in Bowral, random requests by Government (the Minister for Transport is Bega, the Deputy Premier Monaro), staff issues, commercial issues, program funding issues, asset failure matters, environmental conditions on sites, community outrage over stuff, serious injuries, contractual disputes, project approvals, etc, etc all day every day. You have to make 'open this road two weeks earlier makes all the difference' be a valid and reasonable argument - the cheapest way to manage the road would be to leave it until it melts in December, so many in RMS potentially think they ARE opening it early and don't get the 'issue'. Compile evidence about desire and need for access (who? What user groups? why are they important? Where do they come from? How many of them are there? Why do Parks want them there and RMS want to facilitate this access? How will they be safe? How will this be managed?) The road is a dedicated snow and ice risk road between June LWE and Oct LWE. The risk doesn't disappear on the Tuesday - how will this be approached? How can RMS's potential concerns be addressed? Correlate access with local tourism. Get support and feedback from local tourism businesses, the Chamber of Commerce, CP management, Outdoor Guides, Perisher, the cafe at Eyre, NPWS, anyone and everyone. Get them in writing. If you want to put together a social media campaign, get some actual advice on campaign management and work out what you are asking people to be worked up about and what you want them to do (ie, not just complain). An outdoor business owner is the current or past head of the Jindy CoC. Recognise that CP have a lease over part of the road that provided access until the end of the October Labour Day LWE and any earlier dates than this are subject to agreement with CP. Work out how you are going to let those people that can influence this change, aware of the issues you have and the social media support there is. Work out what concerns RMS are likely to have, and Parks. Work out how to address these concerns. Expect a process, with some to and fro. Think carefully and in a considered manner about what you are asking for and why, and why it matters. Align with key Transport/RMS and NPWS policy items on customer service, 'customer at the heart of everything we do', Parks' similar ones Where are the opportunities for good news stories for local politicians and Parks and RMS? How will you facilitate this positive process? What will the outdoor community give to assist? A few hours vollie work making the access track or lookout safe for the non-skiing visitors? Something? Anything? Good luck.
And don't use this as your contacts list, at least seven of these folks are not in these roles. Quite a few aren't in RMS. http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/business-...nloads/documents/southern_region_contacts.pdf
So embrace the pause in access & look at the Guthega and DHG access and terrain which is all pretty nice. Or ride your bike to Spencer’s.
I get your point, but what has changed in the last few years. My memory of say 2000 through 2015 was that the road always opened just after the lwe.
Main change this year is the new CP lease that has them running until LWE. In past years as soon as CP shut up shop RMS could start clearing and have it ready by LWE. Now CP need to keep running oversnow right up to the end (if conditions allow) and then straight after LWE RMS staff and contractors have a week off to recover from the winter. But as @climberman has also stated, if the demand is not known, in this day and age of limited budgets the relevant parties won’t see it as a priority to spend dollars on something that will happen naturally if left to its own devices.
Given CP has been running tyred vehicles to Spencer’s and changing to oversnow vehicles there (as per previous late seasons) for a while now, RMS could have cleared to Spencers for the fisher people to be at Spencer’s the moment the stream fishing season opened. This used to be the imperative but clearly it’s fallen off the RMS agenda, the wrong staff have retired, relocated or something.
So what's the best way we can somehow all put an email out to the RMS crew to get moving ASAP for backcountry enthusiasts. It might not happen this year but would be good to get a head start on next year!
