Superwoman snow expedition

A view of Mt Hotham from Ettamogah Lodge

Having dinner with the girls last night was a good chance to reminisce about old times.  The old snow trips came up in conversation, and we were screaming in laughter about the funny things that happened on these fabulous holidays.

So it would have been at least 10 years or more since Sarah Dixon and I snowboarded together. 

The whole trip was a hit. We would usually do a convoy of cars and a mini van with 18 friends and stay at the Ettamogah Lodge right on the Davenport trail in the Mt Hotham snowfields.  It was actually quite a good place to stay, cheap and very well located right in the middle of Hotham. 

We would get up every day to have a big meal, and then snowboard down the Davenport Access trail down to the Village lift. The day was spent snowboarding, and after falling over a number of times, eating, and drinking. At night in groups of six people we would cook a shared meal and talk. After that we would go out for drinks at the Hotham pub or just go to sleep because we were so tired. In between all this we would hang out at the lodge, build snowmen and make snow angels.

Sarah and I spent the whole trip together because we were about the same level at snowboarding so we could keep up with each other and have a good laugh.  If you couldn't keep up with the others then you would probably all meet up again at the Hotham pub or cafe for hot chocolates and beers around lunch time. 

Sarah and I will never forget the fun times we had.  We followed each other around the different snowboarding courses, falling over a number of times, and laughing our heads off and enjoying delicious hot chocolates at the bottom of Slalom Gully at the Snake Gully Hut.  We were actually not too bad at snowboarding especially considering we were so new to the sport, in fact Sarah was fantastic considering it was her first year. 

I'm not sure why we thought we were so good because when we talk about what happened we were actually really terrible at it.  For instance,  at the Play Ground trail Sarah had over turned a sharp bend in the trail and disappeared over the edge of a steep hill.  Brenton and I went to see if she was okay and there she was down the side a steep hill trying to climb back up using her hands but the snow keep giving way and she would end up sliding further down the hill.  In the end she had to take off her snowboard and use it with both hands to climb back up to the top. 

Another time when negotiating the same part of the Play Ground trail, around that same bend Sarah had fallen over to stop herself going down the same steep slope.  At this point I was at the bottom of the hill waiting for her.  I watched her as she got back up and then accidentally let go of her snowboard. It came catapulting straight down the steep hill towards a cliff.  I had to  move really quickly, like you do with a snowboard strapped to your foot, and launch myself like 'superwoman' onto Sarah's snowboard to stop it going over the edge.  When we think about it now it was so funny, and we always cracked up laughing.

On the last day, Sarah and I were determined to make the most of the fresh powder available on Blue Ribbon.  Despite feeling very tired from the previous five days snowboarding we still attempted to do the trail but found ourselves falling over a number of times, getting stuck in the soft snow and in between the small trees.  We didn't know if we were going to laugh or cry.

So throughout the years, Sarah and I have been reminiscing about the funny little things that happened on our snowboarding trip.   We always laugh about Sarah's sliding down the side of the mountain, and her accidentally letting go of her snowobard to watch as it went sliding down the hill and then me having to save it from the cliff by doing a big jump just like superwoman.

So I feel lucky to have these wonderful memories and something that has bonded our friendship. 

Great times and great friends.