Full strike mission. Ever heard of Charlotte Pass? It’s one of the most iconic Aussie ski resorts out there. It’s one of Australia’s oldest resorts and is an experience every boarder needs to try. No cars, no lines, no bad vibes…it’s a little resort with a whole lot of punch. If you haven’t been, do yourself a favour and lock it in.
Why’s it called Charlotte Pass? It was actually named after Charlotte Adams who, in 1881, was the first European woman to climb Australia’s highest peak, Mt Kosciuszko! So we invited two of Australia’s top female athletes, Jess Rich and Pacha Light to come explore and score up at Charlotte’s for the day – a mission we’ve been wanting to do all winter.
Jess Rich is an Olympic snowboarder, competing in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games in the Big Air event. Jess has been one of the top female snowboarders in the world for a while now. She’s done it all – Dew Tour, X Games, Olympics and filming for some top productions. Slopestyle is her discipline of choice and she dominates it. Style for days and a scary level of hunger and confidence. She’s taken a step back from the competitive scene the past year after a series of injuries and a few life path tweaks. Snowboarding with Jess is infectious, and when it comes to getting people stoked on the board…there’s no better ambassador and host.
Pacha Light is a pro surfer originally from Ecuador and now lives on the North Coast of New South Wales. She’s on the World Surf League’s Pro Junior series and has her eyes on landing a spot on the World Championship Tour ASAP. She is a fierce surfer in the water, but on land Pacha holds a heart of gold…another infectious attitude towards good times. Not only that, she’s an avid environmentalist, using surfing as a pathway to make this world a cleaner place. Loves to explore and prior to this mission, had never experienced the Snowy Mountains area.
“Pacha is a really cool human, and I’m stoked I had the chance to meet her and take her boarding. She’s so talented, genuine and modest plus we had a lot in common. I’m a big fan of surfing and the WSL, so it was interesting to get a behind the scenes view of what goes on” – Jess Rich
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We’d been waiting for the conditions to line up nicely for a mission out to Charlotte Pass. Blue skies, bit of fresh snow and the right crew. A couple nights before, the forecast looked strong for a little bit of fresh…so we went for it, Pacha and Jess made the trip down from around the Byron Bay area and next minute (or 10 hours) they were in the Snowy Mountains. Quick stop at Rhythm for all the gear and a solid sleep Rydges.
To get over to Charlotte Pass, you need to ride in a snow cat on a purpose built trail to access the resort…pretty rad, real old school resort vibes. To capitalise on the day we made sure to jump on the first over snow at 6:30am, which meant a 5:30am early bird departure from Jindabyne. After some coffee and eye rubs, Jess and Pacha hit it off on the way up to the over snow pick up point – so rad to hear two females at the top of their game connect on so many similar challenges, opportunities, dedication and passion to their craft – surfing and snowboarding.
Once out of the car, Pacha got a feel for just how cold it can get in the Snowies. No sun up yet, temps hovering below zero, she started to feel a little out of her comfort zone…but that didn’t dampen the stoke at all.
Once we were all COVID checked, masked up and signed in – we jumped aboard the snow cat for the 30 minute rid up to the resort. The look on Pacha’s face when we pulled up next to the snow cat…priceless.
Once we arrived, we met up with the man of many hats, DIDJ who took us on the grand tour of the resort whilst the lifts were being de-iced. He showed us photos of the old snow pack, and how they had to move the lifts because of the huge amounts of snowfalls they used to receive. There’s a lot of history behind Charlotte Pass and you sure get a feel for it once you arrive in the resort.
Once the lifts were spinning, it was time to get on the boards. It’s always a bit touch and go with how someone goes jumping back on a board after a few years, even if you’re the best surfer out there, there’s not a lot of similarities that make life any easier. Pacha however took to it like a real queen, a few bails to kick things off but with a few pro pointers from Jess, she was up and away – linking turns and wanting to shred more of the mountain.
Where too next? The top! Pacha had never ridden a T-bar before, and was instantly game to give it a go. T-bar’s are like big waves for beginner surfers…it’s a real ‘no way’ moment. So when Pacha was game, we started to realise why she charges so hard in the water. Of course, she made it to the top first try, impressed…is an understatement.
Now she really got into the swing of things, cutting hot laps on the T-bar with Jess, picking up more and more speed each time, edging more and more on her turns. The progression was awesome to watch. The stoke levels were at an all time high and when we dropped in for another run, things took a turn for the worse.
Pacha caught a heelside edge, a snowboarder’s right of passage. However, planted her wrist out to take the weight and boom…she was instantly in pain. Jess, a seasoned snowboarder and not shy of the odd injury here and there, knew straight away it was the classic broken wrist. They do come with the territory of snowboarding, but was such a bummer as Pacha was on a real high.
She was on another type of high pretty quickly as ski patrol whipped out the trusty green whistle to ease the pain. As Pacha dozed off, we started making a plan to get back to Cooma for her to have an x-ray and assess the damage. The road trip to Cooma on the green whistle, is also a snowboarder’s right of passage, a pastime that almost everyone has endured at some point in their snowboarding life. Wrists, knees, backs and necks. Getting extreme sometimes has a heavy price tag attached to it. Jess has actually been through some heavy injuries throughout her career – torn ACL, broken back, broken wrist and more heel bruises than you could imagine.
Once we made it to Cooma, it was a waiting game. Pacha was keeping her spirits high. Her positive outlook on the whole situation was something we won’t forget…incredible. Finally, Pacha walked out and a cast was applied. Straight up broken wrist, but she shrugged it off like it was nothing.
A rough end to the day for Pacha, as she was progressing more and more each run. However, she did mention that the injury has just made her more hungry to come back and master her snowboarding next time round. A love formed for the mountains. Also – Pacha is all good now! She had to have surgery to get her wrist aligned, but is in high spirits and is vibing hard to get back in the water surfing real soon.
Huge shout-out to our partners for making these winter missions possible! It’s a pretty crazy time right now to be supporting a travel series and it’s rad to see brands we love, support what we love. Thanks to Ford Australia for the wheels, Go Pro for all the cameras, YETI for all the gear, Tourism Australia for the get around knowledge and Pirate Life for the frothies to end the day in style.
