Our first day at Mt Stirling started with learning how to Cross Country Ski in the subalpine environment. The weather was cold and grey but the rain held off for most of the day. We saw many beautiful Alpine Ash trees and several different birds but as we progressed higher into the Alpine environment twisted and gnarled Snow Gums replaced the Alpine Ash trees, Sphagnum Bogs appeared and we didn’t see much fauna anymore as the conditions became colder. The top temperature for the day was 0.7 degrees.

Today both Mr Molloy and Mr Truscott taught us and we quickly discovered for ourselves how quickly the alpine conditions can change and the importance of keeping yourself warm and your hands dry. We also learnt the difference between different types of snow. The hard icy snow makes it so hard to slow down and hurts so much more when you fall and the soft slushy snow gives good grip and is much softer to land in.

The day was challenging and fun. Everyone fell over heaps and Liam’s frustration was pretty funny.

On day 2 we tackled the challenges of a full on day and experienced the full force of the alpines from the sunny start to sudden change of conditions on the summit to the full on snow shower later in the day. We started the day with a mission to reach the summit. It was so beautiful amongst the snow gums and it was especially beautiful on this day with the big dump of snow overnight which was still clinging to the trees. We reached Bluff Spur hut for somewhere to have lunch and prepare for our ski up to summit.

Eights of us made it up to the summit and it was so beautiful. The clouds cleared and you could see the amazing Victorian High Plains for as far as your eyes could see. It was like nothing I had seen before. The ski down from summit was very hard as it was so windy and icy so we had heaps of stacks but all was good.

As we had reached the top, the afternoon was all downhill. Great! It was amazing how much the group had improved in their skills from day 1 to 2. We still were not the best at snow ploughing (slowing down) so we still ended up on our butts a bit but much less than yesterday. We managed to get back down safely and got back to the bus at about 5pm. That was a big day but what a ripping day.

Day 3 was our downhill day at Mt Buller. The differences between the natural aspect of Mt Stirling to Mt Buller was amazing and a real eye opener. Our day of Snowboarding was so fun, some picked it up really quickly and progressed onto some blue runs and others stuck to the easier green runs. Visibility was pretty hard for most of the day which added another challenge. Snowboarding is definitely something I would like to have another go at as I feel like I was getting better with every run and it was so much fun.

Camp was great. We had the best time. Most of the class had never seen snow before so that was pretty exciting and a great experience

Year 11 Outdoor Enviro Class Students