Tips on a planing a trip to Thredbo

hey man, having just coming back i can reccomend, if you feel comfortable dowbhilling on your rig, i suggest u take that as its easy to not have to adjust to a new bike, however, they are rolling new iron horse sunday's and everyone looks pretty chuffed with them, they will cost a bit of $$ though to hire...as for your own bike, i just suggest u have good brakes! im sure yours would be fine, there were guys doing it on hardtails and am bikes..you should get ur self some armour though if you dont have it, some high speed crashes and rocky falls could be nasty without it, full faces are cumpolsory, and they hire armor too..
as for accomodation, i think everyone was pretty happy with theirs at thredbo alpine apartments, has access to pool spa etc and is a massive complex right in front of the mtb chairlift..i was in thredbo alpine hotel (part of same complex) and i would say for the $ (175 a night for king room) it was pretty average and service was pretty crap...for the money..and stairs everywhere no lifts, a bit annoying when your legs are cactus the whole time!
i noticed house of ullr are doing what looks like pretty good accomodation for 90 a night, im not sure if u can get much better price than that without going out of thredbo village, and into hostels etc..

it was bloody hot when we were there (take fly repellant!) but i believe it can get bloody cold in the blink of an eye, especially if your going in march, i would take warm gear too..

as for girlfriends, maybe leave them at home lol mine didnt buy the "its really pretty and relaxing enough to keep you happy" for very long haha..no it is relaxing, but bare in mind if your not on the mountain mtb'ing or doing stuff, theres really bugger all to do, needless to say i wont be able to drag my mrs back!

as for saving cash, my only suggestion is whatever you can take down urself (food, drinks etc.) do, as everything down there is pretty pricey..(think sydney prices + another 25%)

ourimbah? sounds good i was thinking of heading up this sat maybe for a peddle, might see if theres any takers

cheers!

I havnt been down to Thredbo since last March (for Interschools) and the track was in good condition then, as they will be doing work in preperation for the event. I would advise being careful on the dates, as they are running the interschools in March again this year (5th until 9th) i believe. As for your bike, take it...if you arent comforatable hire out a sunday or other DH rig. But ive seen photos of people pinning it away on an Enduro SL. I ride HT and i handled the track fine (a tad slow) but as for bumps and rough stuff its pretty low key so a 6" AM/FR rig would be fine.

When AMB did a review of the enduro SL they said that it handled hard drops, tight landings and general abuse better than some of the other longer travel bikes, and that it was only its lightweight wheel set that was holding it back from hucks and 10+ foot drops. they also said the suspension worked a treat and i guess that means that you will be ok. Ourimbah is rougher than Thredbo in my opinion, and far sketchier too...just not as high speed, so if you handled Ourimbah fine Thredbo will be very enjoyable.

As for accomomidation, try the Kosicuiozko Alpine Club - KAC (sorry im hopeless with hard words), we stayed there with school during interschools and it was fairly cheap (possibly because we had around 40 people staying) but it TVs, DVD, Fussball table and buffet breakfast every day!!! I dont think there was any double or Queen sized beds, so that might be difficult when taking the mrs (wink wink) but just push two singles together.

My 2c
Andy