Last week's heavy snow, plus road closures, turned Victoria Pass at Mt Victoria into an exclusive ski run for one local.
The SES reported snowfalls of up to 20 centimetres in the Upper Mountains on the evening of Tuesday October 14 and, coupled with at least two road accidents, this led to the closure of the Great Western Highway. It also meant Mt Victoria's Tim Williams, 33, could fulfill a long-held dream - a ski down Victoria Pass.
Mr Williams, an adventure guide, skied from his Mt Victoria home.
"It was crazy, no-one was around at all. It was like a graveyard .... it was beautiful," he said of his ski down the pass. He skied down and back up the pass for more than half a kilometre, about 300 metres downhill.
"I skied as far as I could until there was not enough snow."
Mr Williams said he was "definitely not the first" to have skied the hair-raising bends of the pass but he had probably only reached speeds of 15km/hr because he had not waxed his skis.
He said he wasn't worried about the danger.
"My partner Amy just said to take a phone. If you can ride a bike down there you can ride skis."
The snow led to a cold night for many drivers stranded on the roads.
The Great Western Highway and Bells Line of Road were both shut causing queues of hundreds of motorists. Truck drivers and motorists stuck in their vehicles complained about a lack of communication, with authorities not alerting them to how long the roads might be closed.
Mark Spence, a truck driver on an overnight run to Orange, was stuck on the Great Western Highway at Blackheath for almost 12 hours overnight.
"The road was closed at 9.30pm and I pulled up near to 10pm - we were not able to move until about 9am," said Mr Spence.
Unlike the disgruntled drivers, Mr Williams is keen for the next big snow dump so he can take another exclusive run down the Mt Vic slopes.
"I've scoped out a couple of other spots maybe Mt Piddington Road."
And Gazette readers via social media thought the adventure guide may have been on to something with one reader, Craig Lees, offering up a novel tourist option for the region: "Blue Mountains Council should look at installing a ski lift..."
- with Jacob Saulwick.