The slot

In August 2017 I returned to Falls Creek with my parents.

I was looking forward to skiing with Charlie, having previously skied with him earlier this year in Myoko, Japan. We had four days, a rest day and then three more mixing it up with bucketing and tethering.

Each day Charlie skied down to the Falls Creek Country Club. I was strapped into the Mountain Man bi-ski and we headed down to Gully Chairlift and made our way up the mountain. We skied right up until lunch where we’d meet my parents, re-energise before heading back out each afternoon and stopped before we froze.

Our goal was to ski The Slot. Instructors Palmy and Charlie tethered it on the Night Show as we looked on.

It was my birthday and Dave joined us for some filming. We continued practicing turning with our goal in mind. The following day with Dave still with us we were ready. Charlie gave me a pep talk and warned me of the sudden drop. I began with a big right turn. I kept turning left and right all the way down. I wasn’t scared and I didn’t notice the drop. It was an amazing feeling to be leaning so far over to wash off the speed. Goal achieved and we were ecstatic! We did it again, and again. It was so much fun!

We’d skied all slopes in great conditions, with great people. It was so much fun!

Kate Swain is a DWA member.