Author: Bill Purcell

My first overnight cross country ski tour was on the Bogong High Plains, in perfect sunny weather. After a minor speed wobble, I plunged face first into the snow, my sweaty brow producing an instant and crippling ice-cream headache. A nanosecond later the back of my head was punched deeper into the snow by the sudden and unexpected arrival of my 25kg backpack. I lay face down, starfished, immobilised, and brain frozen, while I worked out the extrication sequence (stocks off, hip belt undone, sternum strap, shoulder straps off, shrug pack off, roll over, align skis, stand up, expel...