Caravaning in the snow.

[Macropod]

Photos below from trip to Wombeyan caves in 2010 - June long weekend. Woke up to find the temp reading was -9 at around 6am. All our pipes froze and the brass fitting on the tap blew apart. Snapped a pick of one of the taps that was dripping and formed an icicle. This was in a 16.49.1 no hardlid and we just had a fan heater on all night - and electric blankets. Warm in the van but outside...not so warm.

 

[BigSkiddy]

Hi @BigSkiddy
We are thinking of doing something similar next year, will watch this with interest, you say it's getting Exy, what sort of things are making it expensive if you don't mind me asking.

Thx - HM

This is our first time to the snow so there's the snow gear such as jackets, pants, boots. Then then to ski it's a $100 a day plus hire of skis. At this stage I'm thinking of doing 3 days of skiing and the remainder tobogganing.
But that said, once the initial outlay is done should be okay. Just got to hope it snows.

 

[Holden_man]

Yer we're the same, no snow gear. Not much call for it up here....
Aldi have a big snow gear sale on tomorrow up here, not sure about down your way. Our youngest is heading to the snow during the school holidays for the traditional year 7 Canberra school trip, so boss is heading to Aldi in the morning.

 

[relgate]

Yer we're the same, no snow gear. Not much call for it up here....
Aldi have a big snow gear sale on tomorrow up here, not sure about down your way. Our youngest is heading to the snow during the school holidays for the traditional year 7 Canberra school trip, so boss is heading to Aldi in the morning.

Yeh, Aldi has the snow gear here tomorrow.
We have friends that bought it last year so we plan to borrow theirs!

Good luck @BigSkiddy
I'm watching to see how you go. Should be fun!

 

[BigSkiddy]

It was looking grim as I arrived at Nowra Aldi at 8am. At least 100 people lining up. However they had heaps of gear and staff were really helpful in bringing out sizes that were stored out back.
Got everything we needed.

 

[Dede]

Hi BigSkiddy, have you thought of getting a lift, lesson and ski hire plus clothing hire, can work out cheaper. I have all my own ski gear, including skis, but insisted the kids have lessons, makes for a much more pleasant afternoon of skiing together as a family. They have lesson in the morning and we can check out their improvements that afternoon. One skis, the other snow boards, both we're doing blue runs by the end of the second day.

 

[Dede]

Hi BigSkiddy, me again, can highly recommend going across to Blue Cow, nice green runs for beginners and not crowded like Smiggins and Perisher, you can get there via ski tube from Perisher, this is included on your lift ticket.

 

[Dede]

Hi BigSkiddy, just another thought, carpet in the van, makes a huge difference for winter camping. We bought a length of dark grey carpet from Clark Rubber with a rubber type backing, worked a treat, till we rolled it up for summer holidays, the backing had rubbed off into the floor! Nothing that a bit of elbow grease took to remove it. We bought an old fashioned wooden scrubbing brush with hair bristles to sweep the carpet with, worked a treat, also worked to remove the rubber backing off the floor! Anyway, highly recommend carpet to keep the old tootsies warm.

 

[BigSkiddy]

Thanks @Dede. This is first time skiing for the whole family we've booked for a week but I don't think they'll handle 5 days of skiing, so we're are doing the 3 day lift,ski hire, lesson package at $1416.

All up so far I have totalled the cost of $2800 for the week (2adults 2kids) which includes van park fees, snow gear, 3 days skiing, 2 x toboggans. Already have an annual pass for National Park entry. Just have to add fuel and food to that.

 

[relgate]

$2800? Wow, it really adds up!

 

[Macropod]

Believe me - that's not bad for a week at the snow. We used to book accommodation for the week which would run up around the $2500 mark - add all the other bits and you can kiss $5K away real quick. Compare that to few hundred at Kosciusko Mountain Retreat - way ahead. Have used Aldi ski gear for the kids for years now. In the early days it was crap but now, the pants and jackets are brilliant. Gloves - not so much. Helmets - great, Socks - perfect. Compression skins - brilliant. Warm, dry kids = no whinging. Get the best gloves you can afford - cold fingers = maximum whinging. Lessons are a must - the new smaller class sizes really help. Make sure you head over to Guthega - the new Freedom chair is opening up some spots that I would rather they kept under wraps - but its great for the kids once they get a bit of experience under their belts. Ski tube is OK - but can get crowded - I always prefer to have the car at the resort.

If you and the kids are skiing - the walk in the carpark with the skis and poles is one of the most gruelling things you will do all day. Inevitably you will end up being the pack mule and will be trying to balance items that were never meant to be carried together. My big tip - make some of these :

http://www.mountaingoatskitote.com/

If you are handy with webbing and Velcro and a sewing machine - $4 worth of parts and a hour of work will pay off big time in the carpark. We made a couple of these and keep them in our pocket. Throw 2 sets skis and poles in each one and walk easily from the lifts to the car without falling, wiping out snowboarders (which is OK to do - who needs snowboarders !) , or scratching the crap out of every BMW in the carpark. Make a couple for the kids as well and let them carry their own.

 

[Dede]

Hi BigSkiddy, it's a holiday, forget about the money, your doing the right thing by saving on your accommodation. We use to rent a house in Jindy with another family every year and drive up to Smiggens daily, car park is much closer to the snow and you can ski over to Perisher from Smiggens or take a free bus. We use to take a cut lunch in back packs, everyone learnt to ski, snowboard with a backpack. You can pick up the ski tube from the left side of the Perisher car park (snow being on the right side) and go across to Blue Cow if your kids are just beginners. As for gloves, buy a couple of pair of fur lined "riggers" gloves from Bunnings or Rays, dish washing plastic gloves over top of any ski gloves if it's raining and you will never have cold, wet hands. My gloves are gortex, 15 years old and still work better than any gloves we have bought in the previous 10 years. You do realise you are making a HUGH mistake taking the kids skiing, learn from my experience, don't make it enjoyable or you will be going every year from now on!!!! Here endeth the lesson!

 

[BigSkiddy]

Thanks @Dede and @Macropod! Your comments have eased the fears of the Minister of Finance!

 

[BigSkiddy]

The snow is coming down! Hopefully it will hang around for another 2 weeks.
Got myself an electric oil heater from Aldi for $50, should keep us silently warm during the night.

 

[Holden_man]

When are you up there @BigSkiddy, my little man is going to Blue Cow last week of school hols on their Grade 7 Snow Trip. Might be worth staying clear of all the little ratbags ....

 

[billykidd]

@BigSkiddy. Just make sure your family don't hear about skiing overseas. Then you can really kiss the cash bye bye. Got to agree withe dede, keep those hands dry. As others have said aldi is good for almost everything, but gloves.

 

[DRW]

hahaha heard it al before, my kids, son in particular fell in love with the snow (I can see how) he is there right now, went to Canada last year, has a annual pass for the snow fields at Perisher, has been to NZ a few times and just told me he is spending all of January in Japan skiing, the best thing is he has flown the coup and now he pays for everything thank goodness.

 

[DRW]

@BigSkiddy one thought also is the toboggas are a pain in the arse (IMO) our first trip about 20 years ago the kids went to the kids lessons and we went to adult lessons early each morning, we all had lunch together and skied together all afternoon, we we instantly addicted and extended our trip, all up $10K from memory ended up being there for 10 days and hired everything. If I had my time over I would do it again in a heart beat, probably stay at Perisher instead of Jindabyne though.

 

[BigSkiddy]

I'm heading down on the 12th July for the week. Most of the public schools go back that week so should be a little quieter.

Might not be skiing now as my wife wants a new lounge and she also has a FAI.
http://www.hipfai.com/

Kids are happy to toboggan at this stage.

 

[BigSkiddy]

We successfully completed our trip, check out my trip report on Kosciusko Mountain Retreat.
http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/kosciuszko-mountain-retreat.5495/#post-83357

In short everything went well, stayed warm with a 1500w oil heater and a 2000w blow heater going. Left the oil heater going all night.
Pipes did freeze during the night so I just filled the kettle and water bottles the night before. Condensation inside the van was significant, had to keep wiping it down.



The Aldi Ski gear held up really well, even the gloves, everything stayed dry and no complaints from the kids. First two days we had sunshine, then the next two were blizzard conditions. I have those 'Wet Seat' covers on the Jeep so when coming home we left all our gear on, on the outside it was sobbing wet, but by the time we got back to the van everything was dry, no need to put in front of the heater.

I took too many clothes. Only put on a clean shirt and underwear on each day. Kept the ski gear on when back at van and then had a shower and put on PJ's.

We had premade dinners such as curries, stew and bolognaise, so we just pulled one out the night before, let it defrost and cooked up the pasta/rice for it. We were pretty knackered each night so glad we had done this. Took up hotdogs and cup-a-soups for lunches and made sandwiches the night before. We parked and skied at Smiggins so were close to car, and saved a bit of cash by doing this.

Overall had a great time. Might do another trip down there for 3 nights again soon.