Not so slow - actually quite fast.

Surprise – Kosciuszko Express opened for skiing & boarding on Saturday at 8:26am and I managed to squeeze on to first chair with Haig and Drew (spelling?). The man-made snow cover was great. The entire run was soft and carvable all the way. The bottom half was much better than on Friday from Snowgums and the local boys (and girls) were out doing big fast turns right from the start. As the day progressed the cover firmed up and scraped off a little. The natural cover on Eagle Way was showing some signs of wear and tear by midday but overall we were happily surprised with the cover and it was not crowded. High Noon was still good, as was Merritts. The other new attraction was the opening of the traverse from the top of Gunbarrel to the Cat Track and across to Crackenback.

Heavy snow making on Saturday night made Sundowner easily skiable on Sunday that now meant the entire resort was open side to side. No offence to the bus drivers or Merritts chair but it is great to be able to move back and forth between both sides of the resort on snow. With top to bottom skiing on 3 chairs, Thredbo is well under way for season 2006. Now there is only the four upper T-bars still to be opened. We need more snowfalls and wind for that.

By Sunday the Supertrail was a little firmer than on Saturday, although not as firm at the bottom was on Friday morning. After the first couple of hours of fast turns, many more people appeared on the mountain and the cover firmed up and scraped off some more. Eagle Way was in worse shape than on Saturday – mostly due to the lack of snowmaking up that high. Hopefully we will see snow guns positioned up there next year.

The Crackenback traverse from the top of Gunbarrel to the Cat Walk was patchy on Sunday afternoon and the Cat Walk itself is showing some bare bits at the top but otherwise has a good cover. High Noon was a little firmer this afternoon but a good night of snowmaking will fix that. The cover at the bottom is exceptionally good for June and there aren’t any rocks right up to either side of the Gunbarrel loading area.

Snowmaking early on Saturday morning

Upper Supertrail awaiting the onslaught from the top of Kozi chair

Snowmaking below Bunny Walk continued well into the morning

Frozen Merritts Creek below the bridge on Crackenback Traverse

Merritts Creek on the upper side of the bridge

The creek is frozen solid from the endless cold nights

Moon setting behind Crackenback late on Sunday morning – even larger than on Friday

There is still snow in the Village from the last natural fall over a week ago

Upper Supertrail - Sunday afternoon

High Noon – Sunday afternoon – still only skiers right is open

The weather remained near perfect all weekend with an undetectable light breeze in marginally zero temperatures under a clear blue sky. The Frog is still forecasting 5 days of continual snow starting Tuesday while the official forecast is not quite so optimistic. A natural fall of 30-40cms would have every area of the resort and beyond set up beautifully.