School Holidays Nearing End

Monday arrived with clear blue skies. The snow had hardened somewhat after the heavy snowfalls on the weekend. Thinking outside the resort would be fantastic; I headed for Dead Horse Gap. Marion and I were the first to go beyond the resort boundary since the metre or so of new snow. The top of the Golf Course was nice but once we left the resort we encountered breakable crust. We tried east and west facing slopes but nothing improved. The scenery was beautiful in the totally untracked conditions but the further we went the worse the snow conditions. Later reports indicated that the upper options softened enough to be enjoyable in the afternoon.

Tuesday was overcast, as was the remainder of the week. With a little moisture in the snow, the base softened in most areas allowing an edge to be held. In some areas the wind revealed the sheet ice underneath but these patches were generally small. Grooming has been intense but they are starting to run out of base to work with in some of the lower high-traffic areas. Unfortunately there has been little snowmaking and the natural falls have only been on the upper slopes. The brown is starting to come through around Bunny Walk station, lower High Noon and lower Supertrail. Meanwhile the upper slopes generally have a good cover.

The ridgeline towards Dead Horse Gap looked so inviting - Monday morning

Marion on the breakable crust above DHG

Deep snow on the bridge

Will have to dig out the transport

A Buddhist Nun at DHG

New boarder park being built on High Noon

Friday Flat midday - Wednesday

High Noon on Wednesday afternoon

Looking down from BunnyWalk station - Thursday

Looking back up the other way - a little thin

The forecast is for more snow turning to blizzards by Saturday. There were a few flakes falling today and last night's 10cm (more like 5cm) helped freshen the upper mountain. I suspect that once the school holidays and their races are over that the season will improve.