2_i 

Sounds like exceptional experience! I don't think I have ever stayed for extended times below -40C anywhere. Incidentally, those lowest temps in daily life stem also for me from Alberta.

Still pretty much an exception, whether across locations in Australia or time. I've done some pretty good skiing in Europe in August, but, after all, it is beyond the point.

Lebowski

when its below 40 degrees farenheit my road bike is as stiff as a board. i never had problems with any of my mountain bikes.

i use park tool polylube 1000 in my hubs and everything but the free wheel

Machka 

I live in the Victorian Alps, and there is a very active skiing community here from sometime in late June, usually until sometime in early September ... although when I was here in 2004, there were still people skiing in early October, and I suspect they're doing it this year as well because it has been a long and quite chilly winter here with lots of precipitation. It snowed above the 800 metre level here again on Wednesday.

Tasmania is also experiencing the same sort of conditions. We visited Cradle Mountain in early September and there was snow everywhere.

There is a misconception that Australia is all hot and dry. I'm sure some of it must be ... but I've been here three times now, a total of 7 months, and for the most part it has been cool and wet.

2_i 

I've been aware of the skiing in Australia and Tasmania. However, since the terrains, where it is possible, are apparently mostly limited to the elevations above 1200-1500m, they have to be naturally scarce. After all, in Europe you can find those terrains where you can ski in midsummer, but they are in no way representative.

My own impression of Victoria has been from the Australian winter and of a very arid environment. In fact, I have been impressed by the extent to which human life can be sustained there, seeing how much the vegetation was limited to the immediate vicinity of the shore and sparse otherwise. Regarding temperatures, it has been chilly during the night. In the morning, you might occasionally insist that the ground was frozen, but that was about it. However, I have not been to the mountains there. Neither I have been to those extensive forests that became known outside of Australia through this infamous case.

Machka 

Where in Victoria were/are you?

I'm toward the bottom of the Great Dividing Range, and it is quite an extensive range that runs right up into Queensland. There is skiing from where I am, just NE of Melbourne, all the way up into NSW. And they call a whole section of it the "Snowy Mountains". The snowy/ski area of mainland Australia is probably about 300 km x 300 km in size and includes numerous ski-able mountains ... there are three such mountains right in my area.

That whole area, plus some of the area around, have experienced a very wet, chilly winter this year. Since I arrived here in the middle of June, we have had a small handful of days where it has not rained. The overnight lows get down near freezing and the daytime highs have been about 10C, although they are gradually starting to warm up some days. This means that the incessant rain comes down as snow at the higher elevations (above 800 metres usually), and occasionally sleet in the valley where I am. Even though the rain is welcome here, everyone is starting to get a bit weary of it.

The more arid areas of Victoria are generally either pasture land for cattle and sheep or cereal crop land, much like Saskatchewan.

I suspect that much of what you call the "extensive forests" are gone now ... the area where we live was destroyed by the bushfire this past February. The pastures in the valley here look green, lush, and lovely now, but what trees remain are black. Earlier you mentioned Wilson Promontory with pristine forest full of ferns and otherwise ... it's not so much like that anymore.

Australia is a huge country full of lots of different climates and weather patterns.

2_i 

My base was in Geelong, west of Melbourne, and the primary purpose was visiting family, incidentally another branch of the same I have in Alberta. However, I could not sit still for long on my fingers and I started to drift in various directions in a rental car.

Did you choose that area as reminding you Canada or did you end up there by accident? Does the snow tend to be wet or mushy or does it get drier? I lived for a while in California and the skiing was there but mostly wet, OK but not as enjoyable as somewhere else. Regarding other places where there is a principal skiing, you can ski e.g. on Mt. Etna, but then not every year. The snow you may get may be old and compacted, harsh on the skin if you fall.

I wonder how people got by through that recent time with regard to the heating. I came back with a serious cold from my winter stay in Australia. In general, I find it easiest to get sick, from low temperatures, in the areas that are primarily hot, where people skim on provisions for cold temperatures. Currently, when I go in winter to a place that is normally hot, I pack a sleeping bag, even if I am going to stay indoors.

Indeed, I drove through many of those. However, I also drove for kilometers in-between inhabited areas, surrounded by what meets the definition of a desert.

I am very sorry. Of course, the news of the fires were everywhere, but from typical news it is often hard to deduce the practical extent of the damage. One would hope that the nature recovers, but historically that has not always the case, particularly with the vegetation giving way to desert.

Are you sure? The Promontory seemed to be a bit isolated patch of forest and extremely humid. If it indeed got damaged that would have been a real shame on the part of actions of humanity, i.e. in terms of the climate shift. I recall claims that the Promontory survived as a continuous forest eco-system, with no reforestation, over the last 100 million years or so. That was apparently why it had such an abundance of primitive plants, with ferns of the tree type. I was unaware, before I got there, that such a place existed on Earth.

Sure, but some are more predominant than other.

electrik

This is misleading, you have to be careful because -50C in Alberta isn't going to chill you as badly as the same number in Newfoundland,Toronto or Montreal. The main issue being the relative humidity differences.
Anyway, i'm betting it was "cold" but, I just wanted to point out that people should come up with their own acceptable temperature ranges given the conditions.

Machka 

Geelong's not a bad area ... sort of the gateway to the Great Ocean Road and Grampians. I think it is warmer down that way because of the ocean, although when I rode the Great Southern Randonnee in 2004, we encountered some very chilly and wet weather ... the Roaring 40s brought it in. They've been known to have snow on that event, so I guess I was fortunate in that regard.


My husband, an Australian, works here as an orchardist ... so I came over to be with him.

The snow tends to be a bit mushy ... but it seems to come every year and seems to attract a lot of people out to ski etc.

Here's the website for one of the local mtns: https://www.mtbuller.com.au/Summer/
And another: https://www.lakemountainresort.com.au/

And we don't have heating in our place ... or power, or much in the way of running water ....
My husband's place was burned out, as was the power grid here, and we're in temporary accommodations. Our heat has come from a fireplace which keeps the temperature around 15C inside, for the past 4 months, so we have been lucky. There were some who spent the winter living in camping situations.



Much of this area won't recover, or at least not any time soon ... the heat of the fire was too intense. And yes, the Prom was burnt in the fires too. The greenies were partly to blame for the whole thing ... lobbying against controlled burns in this area, and all the way down into the Prom. They say this whole area had the greatest fuel load on the planet prior to that fire ... and it was the 5th worst fire in recorded history. Of course the +45C temps during the week prior to Black Saturday didn't help.

This shows a map of the fire affected area in Wilson's Prom: https://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_...y.cfm?park=217

As for the practical extent of the fire ... 173 dead and 2000+ homeless, plus something like 145,000 hectares burnt.

Machka 

-50C is a very dry cold because any moisture in the air is frozen into ice fog. Not just ice fog at intersections, which places like Toronto, Winnipeg, etc. experience, but ice fog everywhere.

And yes, humidity plays a big role ... over the past 4 months I've been living in 0C to about 10C temps outside (and 15C inside), with relatively high humidity levels, and I've been an ice cube compared to being in some colder, but drier temps.


EDIT: But I will add this. There's a particular pain involved in exposing skin when temps get down around-30C and colder that I've never experienced in somewhat warmer temps no matter what the humidity level. If you've never experienced those temps, it's hard to describe. If you pull off a glove or mitt in order to make an adjustment to something, within minutes your exposed hand will be in almost unbelievable incredible agony. Imagine someone stabbing your hand with thousands of hot needles. That's probably close. I'm not sure why that happens ... probably something to do with the blood vessels.

If you are out in those sorts of temperatures, I would recommend getting a pair of mini-gloves and putting them on under heavier mitts. The double layer helps in general, and if you do have to adjust something, you can leave the mini-gloves on and they'll buy you a little bit of time before the agony sets in.



But as I explain in this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/winter-cycling/592087-what-could-happen.html ... you've got to get out and experience the temps in order to become climatized to them. Your bicycle will hold up in quite chilly temps ... you've just got to get your body used to whatever you'll experience.

2_i 

Unfortunately, I had no chance to bike during my visit. My only bike-related activity ended up being an unsuccessful expedition to a bike store in Melbourne, that I failed to find under the address taken from the web.


I wonder how the fire affected his work.

The second one appears still closed down to visitors.

I am sorry. How do you connect to the internet then?


Indeed, a thoughtless clinging to ideology hurts fur animals and climate as well.

Wow, it says that 50% of the park has burnt out. This is awful.

I am very sorry.

Machka 

The bicycle shops in Melbourne do seem to move around a bit.

Lake Mountain was open for skiing ... the main chalet survived the fire but everything else there was burnt down. So they had limited facilities.

The orchard here mainly survived the fire because of the types of trees (imported rather than native) and because of irrigation. They did lose most of the buildings, a lot of the equipment, the irrigation system, the entire power grid, and some parts of the orchard. Rowan has been helping with the rebuilding process. Lots of work!

We have a 1 KW generator to give us limited power, and we're working on setting up solar. Although with all the rain, solar has been a bit of a pointless exercise so far. We can run our laptops and some lighting, but not much else. As for the internet itself, we're on wireless broadband. Although we're very remote, we're actually quite close to a mobile tower.

Some Australian photos ... including our place: https://www.flickr.com/photos/1430288...7602419256784/

And thank you.

jamesd416

I have had this problem, I am attacking it this weekend with the IceBike strategy
https://www.icebike.org/Equipment/freehub.htm

We will see how it goes. I am pretty optimistic though, since this guy winterizes hubs for a living.