Snowing

On my way to Berridale yesterday I saw a tower of smoke from a bush fire somewhere up near Eucumbene. On my return an hour later, the smoke had spread across the entire area from east of Kalkite to Jindabyne.

Meanwhile conditions in the resort were as they have been for some time (clear skies, sunny and cool) except that the wind was up and hit speeds above 100kph. From my reckoning, this was only the fourth windy day of season 2006. The base was firm and fast with patches of sugar on top. The bottom of Sponars and Antons were skiable in the morning but I wouldn’t bother in the afternoon. The Basin was beautiful for the first few runs and then the crowds arrived. Sundowner, High Noon and Friday Flat were amazing. Merritts was crowded and quite firm under foot. The Supertrail was holding up – mainly due to the extremely hard base under the sugar.

It started snowing this morning at 8:15am and has continued all morning. Hopefully it will continue all afternoon and into the night. There are patches of wind blown and patches of ice. Even in the poor visibility you could easily tell what you were on but you couldn’t tell for how long. The snow that started building on the roofs in the village has melted but up higher there is a noticeable difference while the lower slopes were becoming sticky. This will all enhance the base and for a while will probably soften up the boilerplate base.

Friday Flat yesterday

Wiamea, bottom of Merritts, Sponars to Eagle Way & bottom of High Noon

Signature Hill

Sponars T-bar with Basin and Karels T-bars behind

View from Lantern late yesterday

Lovers Leap Bypass yesterday

Lovers Leap Bypass this morning

Snowing below 1400m

Temperatures are dropping and hopefully will continual to do so and help dry out the snow.

Friday Update: There was lovely wind blown up high this morning. Breakable crust in flatter areas and then everything from yesterday's 10cm was set hard from below Kareela. The T-bars were the go.

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