Anyone For Marbles

By Friday the slopes had suffered somewhat under the wet conditions. The bottom of high noon was so bad that after one run I decided not to return to the Gunbarrel chair again until there was more snow.

Antons T-bar had finally opened but apart from one groomed trail there was not a lot on offer. The best was upper Supertrail accessed by SnowGums chair. Lover’s Leap station was open and the ski/board from the top of SnowGums to Lover’s Leap was enjoyable.

A cold clear night on Friday had the snowmakers doing their best. By Saturday morning there was top to bottom skiing. All but 3 lifts were running. The snow base was hard and fast and luckily very well groomed … but … there was a thick layer of frozen marbles across the middle slopes. This was challenging to both keeping an edge and keeping your dental fillings.

Karels and The Basin were open. The best quality snow was in the Basin and consequently soon the biggest crowds. The off piste was probably best described as breakable crust. Treacherous to the uninitiated and a real workout for the experienced – the term ‘survival skiing’ was heard several times. The man made snow provided a good cover, compared to Friday, on the lower Supertrail, Sundowner and High Noon.

It rained lightly on Saturday night and although I was not aware of any snowmaking, the groomers managed to repair the high traffic damage to the bottom of High Noon and some other areas. Conditions today were slightly better than yesterday but ‘hard and fast’ was still the phrase of the day.

The cats were working Sponars today so we may see it open in a day or two. The cover is good on Easy Rider T-bar but was still not open today. The cloud started to roll in today and a few drops of moisture were felt.

Kosciuszko Express open for riders on Saturday

Kosciuszko Express open for riders on Saturday

Basin groomed runs provided the best quality in the resort

Found some powder somewhere

Found some powder somewhere

Breakable crust on the edge of the Basin

Lift queue on the popular Basin T-bar

First flare run for season 2005

The crowds were out and the race clubs busy. The season is truly underway and the school holiday family groups have started arriving from interstate. A few more cold dry nights will help the snow quality and allow the snow makers to improve the conditions. There is a slight possibility of more natural snow this week.