Anyone who knows me well enough will know that I'm pretty obsessed by snowboarding come winter. That's not to say that it dulls my enthusiam for paddling. It's just that there's not enough waking hours to achieve everything that life offers!

During one of my trips to Falls Creek back in August, I found myself constantly staring at the freezing waters of Rocky Valley Dam. As I sat on the chairlift and watched the whitecaps skim the icy surface of the water, I vowed to get back during the snow season and SUP on the dam! Why??? Because it's possible and no-one else to my knowledge had attempted it during the winter months.

It probably sounds like alot of stuffing around to pull something like this together, but with the help of one of my great mate's [Planty] at Falls Ck, I loaded up the boards and pointed my car towards the snowfields. Amidst curious stares, wondering if I'd taken a wrong turn, we arrived at Falls Ck.



Now "Planty" is one of those guys who is a true waterman. Show him any water-based board and he'll be all over it! With his help and his snow-mobile, we found a few suitable spots to launch from. Not easy when you've got km's of shoreline covered in cold, slippery, deep snow!

Boards of choice for the adventure were my trusty Starboard 9'1" Pro and a more stable 10'5" Element. In this case, compact was important. The thought of man-handling my Naish 14 Glide in the snow seemed cumbersome.

Whilst we were treated to perfect conditions, frigid waters [approx 4 degrees] , 1700m above sea-level are not conducive to having a first crack at stand up. But, once Planty found his balance point, he was off like a seasoned paddler!!

We paddled 3 days straight [ that's between my very important snowboard sessions!] One really special one at dusk in pure glass. The other stunning fact is his wife Barb also had her very first paddle during last week and they both can claim that they are the first 2 hardy individuals to ever have a maiden paddle in Australia in the snowy alps!

Anyway, enough of my waffling on. Here's a few pix. I'll manage to get a vid together soon from my Go Pro footage







For something a whole lot mellower. On our trip home, we stopped over at beautiful Beechworth and had a pleasant arvo session and a morning session the following day on the lake in town. Couldn't get the kids off the things!

i was expecting to see a lot of rubber

jindee has that in incredible lake which looks like it made for supping. i have seen wind blown waves in summer that i reckon you could have a crack at. i've been asking a mate of mine whether anyone is paddling sups in the lake. you would think it would be good summer fitness and training for skiers. the stance and body position is pretty much the same
cheers

Wow - that's unreal!

Water looks brown/dirty. I wonder why water wouldn't be clearer?

Thanks for grt pics

froggo

So cool!
Looks just like a cold version of Mambo SORRY Corona Classic!

Got to admire the wooz - when most of us 40 somethings would be gently easing into a comfy chair, post 6 hours on the slopes and after a big feed, ready to plough through a page, maybe a page and a half of a book before drifting into an afternoon nanna-nap, the great man goes stroking on a lake, bear grylls style....much respect!