AAWT winter traverse - Episode 16 (Hotham to Derrick Hut)

We had a super busy day in Hotham before departing for Derrick Hut very late in the day. Our big priority was to try and sort my boot/feet issues as the pain I was experiencing not only in my ski boots but in my hiking boots was starting to become debilitating. We also had to collect and sort out our food and gear cache. Fortunately a ski patrol friend of ours was a member at a lodge so we were not only able to sort our cache but wash and dry our clothes plus recharge all our electronics. These few hours were incredibly valuable and set us up well for the next big leg through to Thredbo.
Even though I had my newish AT ski boots expanded immediately before we started our trip it was great to get them further expanded. Prior to this trip Andy had minimal bunion issues but his feet and ski boots were starting to cause him issues too so he also got his boots expanded.
Thus it was almost dark before we were ready to depart the Hotham Village. There was no way we were staying in the area another night and we could not wait to get out away from all the hustle and bustle of the downhill resort. By the time we had skied to the Loch Car Park we were skiing by headtorch light. Both of us love skiing in the dark and we quite enjoy the adventure of navigating and travelling in the dark too so for us this was probably our most fun ski of the trip to date. It was pretty late by the time we skied into Derrick Hut where we found 6 other skiers and snowboarders hanging out. Crazily one of them was Craig Doubleday who completed a SOLO WINTER TRAVERSE of the AAWT in 2017. Despite email contact we had never met so it was awesome to finally meet him in person.