Today was a bit of a scorcher in the Derwent Valley, and the tourists were bumper to bumper on the road. But up on the mountain it was nothing short of spectacular – warm, calm and an extraordinary deep blue sky. A perfect day for an STSA Working Bee at Mt Mawson!
The day started with a good discussion with the Senior Ranger in Charge, Brendan Moodie – and very pleasing to see the strong grass growth under the shadecloth at the bottom of the Mawson run. Then it was in to the hard yakka for our small band of energetic volunteers. The plan was to move some new timber to the top of the mountain to construct tripods for a snow fence to improve the drift at the top of the Mawson run, but after 16 individual carries to the top of the mountain we were, well, a little tired. We turned our attention to repairing one of the critical snow fences at the top left of the Mawson run, which after 20 years of good service was lying down on the job.
Damaged snow fence at Mt Mawson
Very soon the team had the area tidied up.
Step 1 – prepare the area for action.
Wherever possible STSA tries to recycle materials, but on this occasion it was necessary to carry yet more new timber up to do the repairs. Even STSA’s trusty gold drill bit broke off – it was that sort of day!
Ambrose checking that Karen and Matthew have the drilling under control
Nevertheless perseverance paid off, and by the end of the day the replacement snow fence was fully framed up, and we could all again take in the spectacular view of Mt Field National Park and the Derwent Valley from the top of the Mt Mawson Ski Field. A big thanks to Sasha and Alisa Stepanov, Wendy James, Ambrose Canning, and Peter, Karen and Matthew Davis for their efforts.
The next STSA working bee will focus on completing these snow fence panels, and will be held on 19th February.
Partially completed snow fence repair – Mt Mawson 29 Jan 2017
