Ski Season Finally Underway

I declare my ski season is officially open. The blizzard conditions of yesterday continued through the night and into today. The resort proclaimed 15cms fell overnight adding to the 30+cms on Friday. This may be true but I suspect much of it was blown away by the 100kph winds.

There was little extra in the village this morning (1-2cms) and although a lot more terrain was open it is still a thin veneer of white except where snow making has enhanced the natural level or where the wind has pushed the snow.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every turn this morning and top-to-bottom riding from the Kosciuszko Express started for the first time this winter (albeit around 10am). You still have to be aware of the gravel patches and off-piste, if you were willing to risk it, had the grass sticking through in most lower areas.

I'm still on the rock hoppers and will be again tomorrow. The weekend + school holiday crowds filled the limited slopes fairly quickly and I didn't stay out too long but what I had was the best of in-resort skiing so far this season.

Looking up the Supertrail from above BunnyWalk - early before the crowds

Looking down from BunnyWalk

Looking up the Supertrail from above Milk Run

Looking down the Milk Run

Approaching the Cat Walk on SnowGums

The Village Trail and Cat Walk are open

Rosi Racecourse provided some nice turns

Crackenback with natural snow to the bottom

High Noon and Lower Sundance in the foreground

As you can see (almost) both sides of High Noon are open

So as not to break their averages, the forecasters got it wrong again. I won't name them but I regularly look at 4 different forecasting web sites. Yes, it did snow but at least double what was forecast. I'm not complaining (although it might sound so). If we get double every forecast for snow then bring it on.

It's still snowing and blowing and the wind chill is running around -15C to -20C. You really need to rug up well. Visibility is quite poor in some upper areas, mostly due to blowing snow and/or snow guns. The sun is attempting to break through in small patches making for a great scene.

Out of resort will be improving by the minute with the wind compacting that breakable crust and building some significant wind drifts but I won't be going there until the weather improves somewhat.

Oh, one last thing, be really careful on the roads. The number of "incidents" last night involving both 2WD & 4WD vehicles in the village was high. The roads are snow covered and the smaller shuttle buses are using chains. There is grit on the road but caution is your best defence.