Thredbo - all you need to know

itsajoke

Likes Dirt
If you know Thredbo well this is to you: I will be staying for two nights in late December with wife and daughter just before Christmas. My plan is to get in mid morning and park/store gear/ride until check in, then ride the rest of the day. Full day riding the next day, a few runs the third day before check out. We will all ride together at some point, but it will mainly be me and Little Miss 11. Now she is tackling the blue runs and soon to overtake dad.

Anyone that knows the place well, and given that gravity runs are not my priority, is the best idea to get lift passes for all days? Is a day pass used for half a day a waste? Is there enough green/blue for the family to ride together?

Thanks for any help.
 

T-Rex

Template denier
If you know Thredbo well this is to you: I will be staying for two nights in late December with wife and daughter just before Christmas. My plan is to get in mid morning and park/store gear/ride until check in, then ride the rest of the day. Full day riding the next day, a few runs the third day before check out. We will all ride together at some point, but it will mainly be me and Little Miss 11. Now she is tackling the blue runs and soon to overtake dad.

Anyone that knows the place well, and given that gravity runs are not my priority, is the best idea to get lift passes for all days? Is a day pass used for half a day a waste? Is there enough green/blue for the family to ride together?

Thanks for any help.
Half day passes start at 1pm, they don’t do a morning half day. Half day is $59, full day $85. But 15% discount for full day if you buy in advance.

at that time of year they should be running the Gunbarrel chair lift as well as the main Kozzie chair, which will give you easy access to some more green and blue runs, apart from the main Flow trail, which is likely to be very busy, if last weekend is anything to go by.

EDIT: and to clarify, it is possible to get to the green and blue runs below Gunbarrel from the Kozzie chair, but it's a fairly technical and wind exposed traverse on the upper part of the All Mountain trail, and most beginner/intermediates don't enjoy it.

If you don’t want to pay for a full days lift ticket on the last day, you could do the TVT down to Crackenback and get picked up from there. It's a green XC trail, generally descending with a few climbs, running along the river through pristine bush. That’s somewhere between 1-2 hours one way Thredbo to Crackenback depending on how strong the riders are and how much stopping for pics etc.
 
Last edited:

itsajoke

Likes Dirt
Half day passes start at 1pm, they don’t do a morning half day. Half day is $59, full day $85. But 15% discount for full day if you buy in advance.

at that time of year they should be running the Gunbarrel chair lift as well as the main Kozzie chair, which will give you easy access to some more green and blue runs, apart from the main Flow trail, which is likely to be very busy, if last weekend is anything to go by.

EDIT: and to clarify, it is possible to get to the green and blue runs below Gunbarrel from the Kozzie chair, but it's a fairly technical and wind exposed traverse on the upper part of the All Mountain trail, and most beginner/intermediates don't enjoy it.

If you don’t want to pay for a full days lift ticket on the last day, you could do the TVT down to Crackenback and get picked up from there. It's a green XC trail, generally descending with a few climbs, running along the river through pristine bush. That’s somewhere between 1-2 hours one way Thredbo to Crackenback depending on how strong the riders are and how much stopping for pics etc.
Outstanding @T-Rex thanks for your help.
 

Tim_the_Clyde

Likes Dirt
I have booked a lift pass for this Saturday. Its meant to be windy.
What are peoples experiences with wind hold on the lift....could it be out all day?
 

coarselanguagw

Likes Dirt
I have booked a lift pass for this Saturday. Its meant to be windy.
What are peoples experiences with wind hold on the lift....could it be out all day?
In the last week and a half there have been days where it has been very windy (70-80km/h), however the lift has not gone on hold.
It depends on not only the speed of the wind, but also the direction. Eg, with a NW wind the mountain may actually protect you a little from the wind. However with a W or SW wind it seems to channel through the valley and is windy even at the bottom.

Looking at the current wind forecast for Saturday NW 60-65km/h, I don't expect the lift to go on hold.

Sometimes when it is really windy I find it to be irritating when riding the more open sections of track such as the top 1/3 of flow or the top of the All Mountain trail.

One great thing about Fri/Sat/Sun is that the Gunbarrel express chairlift also operates. This lift doesn't go up as high as the Kosciuszko Express chairlift so is often more sheltered from the wind. Also Ricochet and the lower all mountain trail are mostly in the trees and are very sheltered from the wind.

So I think you will be fine on Saturday. If the wind does bother you, head on over to gunbarrel and ride ricochet or all mountain. Even the bottom half of cannonball is not that exposed.

Live weather observations (along with the last few days data can be viewed here on the BOM site.
 

Tim_the_Clyde

Likes Dirt
In the last week and a half there have been days where it has been very windy (70-80km/h), however the lift has not gone on hold.
It depends on not only the speed of the wind, but also the direction. Eg, with a NW wind the mountain may actually protect you a little from the wind. However with a W or SW wind it seems to channel through the valley and is windy even at the bottom.

Looking at the current wind forecast for Saturday NW 60-65km/h, I don't expect the lift to go on hold.

Sometimes when it is really windy I find it to be irritating when riding the more open sections of track such as the top 1/3 of flow or the top of the All Mountain trail.

One great thing about Fri/Sat/Sun is that the Gunbarrel express chairlift also operates. This lift doesn't go up as high as the Kosciuszko Express chairlift so is often more sheltered from the wind. Also Ricochet and the lower all mountain trail are mostly in the trees and are very sheltered from the wind.

So I think you will be fine on Saturday. If the wind does bother you, head on over to gunbarrel and ride ricochet or all mountain. Even the bottom half of cannonball is not that exposed.

Live weather observations (along with the last few days data can be viewed here on the BOM site.
Thanks...bloody great advice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Tubbsy

Packin' a small bird
Staff member
The Dead Horse Gap extension to the TVT is officially off to the glue factory, seemingly because it was too steep to have green options as well as some ecological concerns.

Pretty disappointing; it would have been a brilliant start to the trail.

In non-mtb news, there's talk of a rail trail over the Monaro which would be nice if it came to fruition:

 

dave_rh

Cannon Fodder
The Dead Horse Gap extension to the TVT is officially off to the glue factory, seemingly because it was too steep to have green options as well as some ecological concerns.

Pretty disappointing; it would have been a brilliant start to the trail.

In non-mtb news, there's talk of a rail trail over the Monaro which would be nice if it came to fruition:

Wow that Dead horse gap TVT news is disappointing. Its such a great track. Is there an official announcement or web page somewhere?
 

T-Rex

Template denier
I was up at Thredbo all last week “working remotely”. Thank you COVID! They were running the Gunbarrel chair all during the week in spite of very few riders, although Saturday and Sunday were pretty busy.

Heaps of snakes out and about late afternoon on the TVT, copperheads and yellow bellies, and I disturbed a copperhead at lunch time on Sunday in the berms in the middle of the Flow trail. Be careful where you take a dab!
 
Top