You are hereForums / By Discipline / Mountain (off road) / MTB Gear / What Kit for Winter Riding the Thredbo Valley Trail?
What Kit for Winter Riding the Thredbo Valley Trail?
Considering we are in an El Nino and the snow forecast looks less than hopeful for a decent ski season, I was considering taking my bike down to the Thredbo with me in a months time. I'm booked in and cannot cancel.
I contacted Thredbo directly to ask if the Thredbo Valley Trail will be open for riding though winter and, somewhat to my surpise, it is.
Now, it occurred to me that I might need to look at appropriate kit for riding in what will be particularly cold and very wet conditions. From experience the Valley gets to low single digits during the day, so not 'freezing' per se, so at a minimum, waterproof jacket, base layers under a longsleeve jersey or light fleece - but what am I missing here?
I presume the trail will be wet and muddy - do I need waterproof pants or shorts, overboots etc?
Any tips or previous experience would be most welcome.
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
I suppose it depends how long you intend to take.
If you're just coming down it should only take 1.5/2 hours and there's still some pedaling to keep you warm, so you should be fine in normal winter riding kit with a decent rain/windstopper.
If riding up and down and making a day of it, you'd want more clothes to keep warm.
It's a beautiful trail and well worth a ride, but even in snow should be fairly straight forward.
NPWS manage the trail so also good to check with them - i actually looked into this earlier in the week and about half the trail is closed - the top half.
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do...
I also rode in the snow (unplanned!) last May at thredbo, and a thermal base layer, waterproof jacket with long skins and shorts over, kept me warm enough. If you have some sealskinz or similar waterproof socks they will come in handy, to keep your toes warm.
Makes a lot more sense to me that the trail is, at least in part, closed!
Still, if the snow is pointless, I can hit the trail from the Diggings as you say and can always take the bike into Jindy and hit the trails there I guess.
Thanks for the tips gents!
I love the idea of riding cross country trails with a fat bike in the winter. It seems to be the thing to do in Canada and the USA at the moment. I'm sure the cross country skiers here would initially be horrified (a bit like snow boarders in the early days)but in the states it seems fat bikes improve the trail. My concern re kit would always be how cold would I get if I had a mechanical and had to stop or walk out. This happened recently in RNP in Sydney where riding and moving with my normal summer kit was fine but waiting for a mate to fix a flat in 8deg temps was pretty uncomfortable. I think I'll carry at least an over jacket from now on. Snowy Mountains I might carry a tent...
Be sure to give us a report of how it went if you do it.
From the experience of getting caught in a snow shower riding in China a few years back, I'd suggest a pair of good wind stopping gloves, shoe covers and a couple of newspapers to stuff down the front of your jersey.
Oh and a barista....
In Orange in winter I'm often riding on frosty mornings and I've been up Mount Canobolas a fair few times at dawn in snow.
Sometimes on the 6km road to Kinross forest on a cold morning I might wear my snowboarding gloves to stop my fingers going numb, then switch to more dexterous gloves for slower speeds in the forest.
I don't wear booties, but I do put on thick socks.
Wind/water proof jacket is most important. If you're concerned then pack a fleece type jumper for when you stop. If you have to do mechanical work it will be your fingers that you'll worry about most. You'll take your gloves off to pull a tyre off and they'll be wet/cold and numb. Shove them under your jersey to warm them up
I'm not sure how fast/exposed the thredbo trail is, but I've had times on frosty mornings where the water in the hydration hose froze and I couldn't get a drink. But that's not a big concern, it's just good for getting 'street cred' when you tell people later.
You'll be right, I'm sure you're tuff
Having put on chains down at Thredbo previously I know well the numbing pain of trying to be mechanical with near frozen fingers .
With much of the TVT actually closed for the winter I doubt I'll be more than a few kms from the car or some such, so I don't know that I'll need to invest in too much kit, maybe some leg waarmers or similar.
Had the thought that I could glad wrap my shoes and feet if it were really wet and cold as a poor mans overboot. Will post a photo if it gets to that...
In Jindabyne, In winter I ride in full length skins, my usual short MTB riding kit over the top, a riding jacket (wind jacket shell) and my usual full length MTB gloves. Regardless of the season I always take another layer in my bag.
Anywhere up near Thredbo in I will also take a beanie and second pair of gloves (REALLY important IMO). I have ridden in a thermal top but I found I got too hot - it usually goes in my backpack.
If it's raining or snowing in winter you probably need to consider if it's worth the risk. Getting exposure could wreck your holiday and if the weather closes then it can get really serious. I've been caught out in the rain in summer, the temp dropped to below 10°C and it got agonizingly cold to the point where I could hardly brake. Wet Australian MTB gear doesn't keep you warm like wet ski gear does.
Up around Thredbo way I'd also be pretty anal about following standard Alpine precautions:
- Check the weather report
- Have an exit plan if the weather turns nasty
- Extra layers
- Don't go out alone
- Make sure your route and time frame are known to others.
I recently did a piece on Mountain biking in the NSW Snowy Mountains
The most important thing is gear that wicks moisture away from the body
I got some undergloves from a mountain gear shop in Katoomba (like a polyprop material)
These go under my regular gloves snugly and help to keep the fingers warm
They weigh nothing so can take them off if needed and put in a pocket
I have a good Heli Hanson polyprop thermal
If it's really cold I have an old one with the sleeves cut off that goes underneath to keep the core warm
With a short or long jersey I find this good down to 0 degrees and I don't get hot (and I run pretty hot)
I will take a windproof jacket if needed, but usually I wind up carrying it unless I stop for a while
I have my cold rated skin tight longs I got from CRC
They are very comfy and have a slightly fluffy inside, but wick moisture as well
And I wear nice thick socks
A lot of heat is lost through the head so I have some cycle specific beanies that again, wick moisture away
I've done hikes in quite cold conditions with this combo as well
Remember to always have a windstopper jacket, coz it's not called Thredblow for nothing! : )
A good suggested starting point would be down at Lake Crackenback & ride up as far as you can, then at least you know it will be easy going back down & finishing off with a coffee or beer at the cafe there. The weather down there around lunchtime & after is suprisingly warm, very nice for a ride.
The only thing to be careful of will be all the metal grated platforms you have to ride over on the TVT, they could get quite slippery with frozen water on them, & remember there will hardly be anyone riding past to help you out if things go wrong, unlike summertime. Any dramas, you can walk your way back to the main road from any of the campsites along the way.
Lake Crackenback also has some loop trails that should always be open too.
can only be ridden before 10am as the soften up to much and get trashed if ridden later in the day.the trail is closed from the diggings to thredbo for winter.I spoke to a mate that did it the other day,not realising it was closed and he said it was so muddy in places it was unridable.i rode a trail at perisher today,it was minus 8 when i set out and i had on full length thermals,thick socks a neck warmer,beanie under my helmet and a fleece.I was sweating by the time i got out to the lookout but as soon as you stop moving it was brass monkeys!