A first trip ‘round the world, part 54

The early 70s saw the peak of the so-called sexual revolution. Mt. Buller was no exception and by and large, visitors to ski resorts didn’t hesitate a second to let their hair down, partying and drinking, in a totally carefree mode. 

Unlike what was going on with most skis resorts in the rest of the world, skiing was something that wasn’t quite part of the Australian culture. Most visitors had never seen snow, because it simply never snowed in big cities like Melbourne or Sydney. 

Going on the snow was something folks often tried once to get a sense of how it felt like, as the activities sounded as much alien as exotic to them. On top of that, people only came just for a short weekend, with one big night, and when pressed by time, people don’t have much room left to think.

They were all excited by a full day out in the snow, their adrenaline was flowing high, they drank way too much, were piled on top of each others in tiny lodges and when they finally let out the steam accumulated over a full workweek, all bets were off. 

As a society, young Australians were more likely to place stimulation and hedonism as their main values and religion wasn’t the tempering element that it could have been to their American cousins. Much more so than in Europe, social situations quickly turned out of control and cause people to often do things they’d soon regret. 

At the risk of repeating myself, Kooroora was the epicenter of that hedonistic culture, the spot rowdy crowds found themselves at, when no other place was still open. The perfect spot for live music, loud rock ‘n roll, whiskey and coke, where new friends were instantly found but lost the next morning, where integrity took a back seat and the world feels suddenly like a better place at 3am. 

All this set the stage for some wild nights that didn’t let young European ski instructors totally indifferent. So crazy was this “Aussie” form of fun that it got exported all the way to St. Anton, in Austria, at the Krazy Kanguruh. 

I could go on with that story, but it might be far too taxing to cover on that blog!