WISH YOU WERE HERE

Back country Perisher, NSW

TO CAPTURE THIS particularly wintry view of Australia, photographer Jeremy Simons had to don some unusual footwear to set out across the deep snow of the Porcupine Trail. Trudging out of Perisher with a pair of snowshoes means leaving the noise of the ski resort at peak season behind and heading off into the quiet beauty of the surrounding hills. “Just 15 minutes out of Perisher you can look back onto the carpark, and there’s lots of commotion, but eventually all you can hear is the crunching of snow and the cracking of ice,” says Jeremy. “As you’re about to leave all signs of civilisation behind, you descend into the snow meadows and there’s a moment of real beauty.” The 5.6-kilometre return trail heads up a well-marked path to Porcupine Rocks from where you can look down onto Perisher Valley, the Thredbo River Valley and across to Mt Duncan. “You’ll need snowshoes in winter to get up there; the snow can be knee high in places, so you’d struggle in a pair of trainers,” says Jeremy. Snowshoeing requires no training; just strap them on, take a backpack and tell someone where you’re going.