: Snow

By: g | No Comments » |

Everyone else was off cross country racing, but the light dusting of white on the nearby ranges looked too good to miss, so Pete and I hatched a plan for a day chasing snow in the Brindabellas.

We had planned to drive from Canberra out past the Uriarra homestead and up to Piccadilly Circus in Namadgi National Park, but some last minute snow and road closures put a lid on that. As an alternative, we decided to start a ride down at about 700 metres and climb until the conditions turned us back.

Sunday morning I layered on the warm clothes, stuffed some food bars in the backpack and rode over to Pete’s place. We loaded his car with bikes and bits, then drove out around Mt McDonald and Uriarra forest to the junction of Warks and Brindabella roads. On the last big climb before the road junction, we passed Cath spinning her way up the hill on the mtb. She would join us, but had taken the hardcore option of riding out there.

We parked on Warks road next to Condor creek and unloaded. Cath arrived and we tried to keep warm while waiting for Steph. I don’t know what the air temperature was, but it was certainly minus something. Pete went for a warm up ride, I found a tiny patch of sunshine and Cath stood there slowly freezing. After ten minutes that felt like two hours, Steph’s car trundled down the hill and we were all set.

Given the cold, it was fortunate that the first few kilometres were up a gradual climb. In fact most of Warks road is a climb of one sort or another, much of it gradual and easy enough in the middle ring. Pete soon discovered that nearly any standing water had turned to ice, so amused himself by riding from puddle to puddle and crunching his way through. Chatting and rolling along, we arrived at the edge of the National Park in less than an hour’s riding.

The park border is a sign for the road to become rocky and it’s the start of a steady climb for several kilometres. Not a killer climb, but a long and demanding one. Even more demanding if you’re trying to pretend you’re just cruising while in reality you’re doing your best to charge up it (who, me?). Cath was alongside me the whole way and for some reason it always looked to me as though she had an easier line through the rocks. Later she said that my line had looked the easy one.

Part way up the climb Steph reached her time limit and had to turn for home. A shame really, because just a few minutes up the track, we came across the first patches of SNOW. Yippee! This is what I came for. I stopped to take a couple of pictures of Pete and Cath riding through it, “just in case we don’t see any more.” Well, I needn’t have worried. We saw a LOT more.

After the main climb, Warks road flattens out and after a couple of kilometres of small undulations, meets the Bendora dam road. We arrived at the road junction to see an orange plastic barrier across the end of Warks road, and full snow coverage on the Bendora rd. Without even pausing to discuss it, we pointed the bikes up the hill and started climbing through the snow.

What a hoot! The snow makes a great noise as the bike tyres crunch through it. It’s slow going, even in a very low gear, but so much fun that it doesn’t seem like hard work. Steering became pretty tricky, and on the steeper pitches, traction became very hard to find. We each spun to a halt on several occasions. Of course it’s the nature of snow to become deeper the higher you go and the 5cm we started in became 10, then 15. Following the wheel track of the bike in front was the path of least resistance, but when that wheel track resembles a drunken snake, it’s not always possible.

The climb to Bulls Head at 1300 metres is a solid one even without the snow, and we wondered if it would be possible to get all the way up there. During one of our shared “forced dismounts”, we discussed our options. Turn back? Keep going?

Cath had ridden furthest, so she had the call. Pete offered her a lift back in the car at the end, so the decision was made. Keep going. We’re glad we did. The snow did get deeper and harder to grind through, but most of the time we were laughing too hard to notice. A couple more bends in the road and we arrived at the locked gate at Bulls Head. The gate had kept the 4WD hoons off our private snowfield, so we were quite happy to see it.

The sun was shining and melting the snow in the picnic ground where we lay the bikes down to thaw out while we sat at a picnic table to eat. A cappuccino would have been very welcome, but that’s not the sort of luxury available up there. Toilets, water, tables, shelter, but no hot coffee. Next time I think I’ll take a thermos.

We had considered riding back along the main Brindabella rd, but the combination of 4WD cars everywhere and a road turned to slush by their tyres made it very unattractive. We decided to return the way we had come up, on the car-free Bendora rd in the snow.

Ice and snow made the brakes only about half useable, but if we kept to the deeper snow, it slowed us down enough to stay upright. Once we got the hang of very gentle steering and keeping the front tyre very light, the descent over snow was fantastic. Amazingly we all kept it upright and avoided a snowy tumble, though not without a few out of control slides. All too soon we were back at Warks rd and off the good snow. What little snow remained there had mostly melted, resulting in a very muddy slush that we were soon covered in.

The nice thing about riding from 1300 metres to 700 metres is that you spend a lot of time going very fast and very downhill. The hard work of climbing was repaid with interest on the big descent. The bends and rocks made it just interesting enough to demand full concentration, but I couldn’t help trying to do each section faster than the last. Okay, I’m a blouse when it comes to DH, but I’d rate the Warks descent as my favourite piece of downhill in this part of the world.

Rolling along in the sunshine, over a few small hills and there’s a final big ring blast down to Condor creek and the car. Four hours, 45 km, no crashes, no mechanicals, a spattering of mud, lashings of snow and the most fun I’ve had on a bike in ages. If you get the chance, go snow biking.

Words and pix: Michael Carden.

 

Tags:Brindabella,Canberra,Namadgi National Park,Snow,Uriarra


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