[GALLERY] [JAPOW] [BACK COUNTRY]

Going Camping in The Backcountry By Tim Vlandis

When Barton called to say that he was going on a expedition camping in the backcountry and would I like to go I jumped at the chance, especially considering that I have been snowboarding 17 years and never camped in the snow, it was an opportunity not to be missed. Barton also explained to me that E.P.E. (Explore Planet Earth) would be supplying us with all the gear to make our stay out in the elements as comfortable as ‘five star livin’. Our mission was to test drive the E.P.E. equipment and shoot photos for this story and for Barton’s TV show “RA” (screening on FOX 8). So the backcountry crew went like this: Barton Lynch, our guides Brett Archer and Cosmic Carl Drury, professional surfer Peter Hayse, photographer Tony Harrington, Peter Maybelly from Snowy Mountains TV, skier Jimmy Netzer, and snowboarders Danah Besson and myself.

The weather was dodgy when Barton and I arrived in Jindabyne. We used the Internet to do constant checks on the weather maps and determined that the ‘good weather’ was a few days away so we postponed our departure. On the first “bluebird” day, Barton, Brett, Danah, Cosmic and myself took a recon trip to locate a campsite and we wanted to scope out the slopes to ride and rocks to jump off, including the Kosi cornice. There is some really fun stuff to do backcountry if you scope out the terrain properly. We chose a campsite at North Ramshead, amongst a huge rock cluster and a little peak that stood behind where we planned to set up the tents. Everything was all ready to go, the only thing stopping us was mother nature.

After waiting for a couple more days it was time to start the backcountry snow happening. We all met up at the Jindy Town Hall to pack the cars for the drive to Thredbo, everything was falling into place. The weather looked good until we got over the big hill just before the park gates. Let me tell you, if you’re in Jindy, looking towards the mountains, the weather can be very deceiving until you get near the park gate.

The wind was howling and there was not one patch of blue sky to be seen, but we knew the good weather was just around the corner and wild horses couldn’t keep us away at this stage, we were going backcountry no matter what. It was getting late and with no time to waste the crew was at the top of the Crackenback chairlift where the wind was howling even more and the visibility was very bad. Cosmic and the sled (that had our tents and supplies) were towed by a snowmobile to the pre-chosen campsite at Nth Rams head.

The only problem was working out where Nth Ramshead was!

This is how everything unfolded: First, Cosmic had left with the snow mobile, Peter had gone ahead to get shots of the crew and we the crew started walking towards Mount Kosciusko. The low level of cloud meant that we were basically walking into a “white out”, and not able to see 20 feet in front of us. We couldn’t see Peter and thought Cosmic had gone to the chosen campsite. The crew walked by Braille to where we thought Nth Ramshead would be but it was virtually impossible to locate because of the severe weather.

We found Pete with the use of our whistles and eventually found Cosmic, but we weren’t at Nth Ramshead. Everyone was so stoked to be in the same place altogether in the pea soup. The next thing was to set up camp before it got dark. The crew set tents up whilst Cosmic set up the kitchen and made dinner. Just as we got the tents set up darkness was upon us so we put on our head torches and had some hard earn't dinner. As the night went on we could see that the cloud was lifting and the stars were visible but the wind was still raging.

There is not much to do in the backcountry at night when the weather is bad so some of the crew retired whilst Barton, Hazey and myself checked out the weather on the portable TV and we could see that there was some good weather for the next few days. Our plan was to get up early and find out where we had camped. The noise of the wind made sleeping difficult. Most of the crew drifted in and out of consciousness that night. When we woke it was “bluebird” not a cloud in the sky. We were able to establish that we were a good kilometer from our chosen campsite at Nth Ramshead but all was not lost with our position; Harro was able to get some wicked shots of me jumping off a rock with the campsite in the background. After playing around, the group packed up camp and moved to Nth Ramshead.We didn’t have the snow mobile to move the big sled so Barton, Brett and Myself dragged it to the campsite. It was like dragging a Holden wagon with no wheels! At North Ramshead we met local skier Jimmy Netzer and Grant Johnson from EPE. Everybody got stuck into setting up the gear again. In no time we had a great campsite and the group spent the afternoon snow boarding and making sure that we had sufficient supplies of the all important water. We got back to the camp in the late arvo and sat around to plan what we would do the following day. The plan was to jump off Kosy cornice and attack a huge windlip that ran along side. The sunset, later that evening was amazing.

After dinner the crew laid around talking and watching the light show going on in the sky. Besides the millions of stars, there were so many satellites moving around at unbelievable speeds. It was super cosy in the EPE equipment and with not a breath of wind you could here a pin drop, Sleep came easy that night. The next morning was another perfect day. First thing to do was have a big breakfast and make sure we had plenty of water and sunscreen. It wasn’t all that far to the cornice but the day was going to be a scorcher. I was amped to jump off, considering I hadn’t launched off Kosy in over ten years. She was super fat, caused by the great snowfall that season. We had to be careful because there were huge cracks in the cornice. Jimmy went first taking a nice line. I jumped off the biggest part of the cornice, next to the crack, making sure the cornice didn’t break off and chase me down the face. It was hard to get speed because the top of Kosy is flat and the lack of speed caused me to land on a kink which bucked me. The rest of the crew lined up to jump, Brett ,Danah, Barton and Cosmic did some nice turns along side the cornice. Watching everybody jump off from the bottom and stick their landings, motivated me to do it again. I lined it up the second time just to the left of where I launched the first time, thinking that I would clear the kink, I practically landed in the same spot, but this time I stomped it. After that it was time to hit the wicked wind lip together, so we all lined up at the top and bombed it. Everyone was doing snap re-entry turns and jumping of the wind lip. When we turned around and looked back up there were tracks everywhere and everybody was buzzing from the communal run and the stoke was high.

By the time we got back everybody was starving so we made some sandwiches and talked about the day. After another amazing sunset we sat around and looked at the millions of stars and soaked up the environment. Some of us wanted to stay camping out for a couple more days but there was bad weather approaching and we had a lot of stuff to carry back. The next day we packed up, cleaned up and headed back to the bottom of Crackenback, packed the cars and headed for the Bistro to have a few schooners and reminisce about the trip. I said to Barton that we would definitely be doing this next year and he said “hell yeah” we will. Im already looking forward to the thrill of the back country again.

The Japanese are the kindest, most respectful people you are ever likely to meet and
Shoko and Myumi at Gravity Worx (the coolest place to hang in Hakuba) helped us so much and the resorts of Iwatake, Happo, Hakuba 47 and Hanaba treated the boys with unprecedented hospitality.

It was that first impression though of being somewhere you thought you knew and realizing that you had no clue, what a difference a season makes. Japan is a true winter wonderland that I will always return to. I love it!

Lets all keep our fingers crossed that this Aussie winter brings great snow.

SAYONARA
BL