Thredbo extends their season

“Thredbo has announced that the resort will remain open beyond the traditional closing date and extend their skiing and snowboarding season through until 10 October.”

(Via Thredbo – Media Releases.)

Charlotte Pass freezes lift ticket prices!: “For the third season in a row Charlotte Pass Ski Resort has frozen all lift ticket prices for the 2010 winter snow season.”

(Via Charlotte Pass Ski Resort.)

Four nights and three days skiing in Falls Creek, Victoria, Australia…

The skiing was surprisingly good. None of the trails were particularly challenging, in terms of gradient, although the weather conditions on the first day made things difficult. (The most difficult terrain (the majority of the black runs) were closed for most of our visit due to the main lift (Summit) that served the area being broken (a lightening strike)).

Snowy peaks in the distance in Australia – the Falls Creek area

The trails were not overly long, lifts were generally fast, and lift queue short. The trails were well groomed and hazards well marked. The mountain was generally well sign-posted and trail maps adequate (we always took two trail maps with us as I have never come across a trail map that disintegrated so easily!).

The hotel (Koki) was adequate, although not very welcoming. Ski equipment hire was cheap with a good selection.

Eating out could prove difficult for a full week as even though there was a number of restaurants they all seemed to serve the same dishes.

No active ‘Apres ski’ scene was found – this may have been due to the fact that it was late season.

Watch out for hidden costs such as taking your car in to the village to drop off bags ($50 Australian) and the $25 (Australian) per day charge to take your car in to the state park. Also, you need to carry snow chains.

Falls Creek, Australia – map it

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The drive out from Falls Creek….

After three days of mixed skiing (some great conditions and some truly awful) we had to face the long drive back to Melbourne. The first problem we faced was getting back to, and finding, the car. As the weather had been warm, and with the help of the village ‘snow-cat’ bus, the roads were now clear of snow. We walked back down to the reception and then the driver caught the bus back to the car whilst we waited in the reception area car-park.

Start of the journey back to Melbourne – the car-park and reception area at Falls Creek

The view the reception area at Falls Creek

The start of the long drive back to Melbourne

We left Falls Creek around 9:30 am (no breakfast) and drove back down the mountain. By 11 am we were in a small town at the base of the mountain, sitting outside a cafe enjoying breakfast on a warm sunny morning with a view of the snow covered peaks.

The valley region below Falls Creek

View across to the town below Falls Creek with snow-capped mountains in the background

On the drive back we took the ‘gourmet trail’ which takes you past a number of small farms and businesses selling locally produced food and wine. We stopped at a fantastic olive farm, a very small nut farm and a large wine and cheese producing operation and finally a well known vineyard.

Falls Creek, Australia – map it

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Last day of skiing at Falls Creek…

Last night we were told off for making to much noise in the room at Koki Hotel. It wasn’t even 11 pm, all we were doing was chatting, and yet the owner came along to tell us to be quiet!

The ‘hotel’ was full of little notices saying ‘don’t do this’ and ‘don’t do that’. The swimming pool and sauna were only open for a few hours in the evening, and the hotel owner seemed to be permanently grumpy (think ‘Filch’ in Harry Potter!). Really not a pleasant or welcoming place to stay.

The day started badly as the high winds and clouds were back. However, by mid-afternoon the sky had cleared, the wind dropped and the sun was out. Again, skiing was, generally, very good and the mountain well groomed. We had to hunt around for the best runs but we found a couple early afternoon that were fantastic and we skied them again and again (around the Tower lift – trail map). The weather was wonderful. Lovely and warm, with some excellent spring skiing conditions. A great end to the ski trip.

Skiing at Falls Creek

A heated shelter at Falls Creek – this is the most fancy heated shelter I have ever seen

Trail map: map

Falls Creek, Australia – map it

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Despite yesterdays high winds and the snow that fell gave a fairly good covering at Falls Creek…

The village of Falls Creek was ‘skiable’. All the roads in the village were covered and it was possible to ski on (i.e. down from the hotel to the base station) and off (i.e. by selecting the correct trail) the mountain. However, the roads lost a lot of snow during the day because it was warm (and sunny), and this wasn’t helped by the village ‘bus’, which is a ‘snow-cat’ on tracks and therefore really cut things up.

Skiing today was very good. The mountain had been very well groomed and the slopes repaired. The stream from which I pulled a ski out yesterday (post) had been filled in, and a number of areas that had been skied-off were looking better. Considering it was very late in the season it was surprising that so many trails and lifts were open and we were able to really explore the mountain. We found some truly excellent runs and had a lot of fun (in and around the Ruined Castle lift – trail map). In one area we found a ‘trick’ park that had been set up and a group of skiers and boarders were practicing some amazing aerial acrobatics and stunts (over on St Elmo’s Slice, near the Ruined Castle lift – trail map).

Some runs at Falls Creek – the Ruined Castle area was particularly good fun!

Skiing in Australia is odd. For a start the hills are the ‘wrong shape’. In north America and Europe the hills tend to be very ‘spiky’ with lots of sharp summits and peaks, however, at Falls Creek the hills look much more rounded and smooth. Also, the trees are very different. In Europe and north America the trees (when present) tend to be conifers with all their branches sloping downwards which makes sense as the snow can slide off and therefore not rip branches from the trees. In Australia they have a tree called a ‘Snow Gum‘ (Eucalyptus pauciflora). This tree has ‘upward’ facing branches so the snow can collect. It is surprising that these trees survive the heavy snow falls.

A lake at the top of Falls Creek…

I think I have also answered the question as to why I saw so many injured skiers on the first night, and met a woman on the hill on the first day, in awful weather conditions, who couldn’t ski (see earlier post). I think some Australians think that as they are generally good at sports that they should be equally good at skiing and therefore tend to try things they shouldn’t. I saw an example of this today when a young skier had a horrific crash. The skier was coming down a blue run (Race Course), which was quite steep in parts, in a snow-plough. The run was far too steep for a ‘plough’ and he was gathering speed, and leaning back. He was completely out of control. Luckily (if that is the right word!) for him he crashed because if he had continued he would have surely have hit one of the lift support pylons (Scott lift – trail map).

On the slopes at Falls Creek

Trail map: map

Falls Creek, Australia – map it

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After a wild and wind swept day on the slopes of Falls Creek we went off looking for some ‘post-ski’ drinking and fun.

The village of is quiet, very quiet. We really couldn’t find any significant ‘Apres ski’ activity. This may be due to the fact that it is the end of the season, or that there is no real ‘Apres ski’. We did find one busy bar but it seemed to be holding a ticket-only event.

Falls Creek, Australia – map it

Wow… What a start at Falls Creek….

The weather was awful. Load cloud / fog, a howling gale and driving snow. It was also very cold. Not many lifts were open and most of the mountain was closed.

We bought our ski pass ($240 (Australia) for 3 days, no photo required) at the base lodge and grabbed breakfast (actually breakfast took some time as I ordered a full breakfast – Snowlands). Two of the group went off for ski lessons.

From the base lodge we took a chair to the top of the mountain. If the weather was bad at the base it was unbelievable at the top! The wind was blowing so hard that we could not make ourselves heard. We did a couple of runs, stopped for an early lunch, and did a couple of more runs after lunch. The weather was so bad we couldn’t really make out which run was what and where it was going. Interestingly a number of runs were closed off with ropes and yet people were clearly still skiing them.

On one of the last runs (a green – Rudi’s – trail map) I found an Australian skier that had crashed in to a small stream that had appeared on the slope. I helped her to her feet and was surprised to discover that she couldn’t even snow-plough. I was very surprised that she had come up to the top of the mountain in such bad conditions when she clearly couldn’t ski…. but this sort of thing seemed to be part of a developing theme and may in fact help explain the large number of plastered limbs I had seen the night before (see post).

By mid-afternoon I had had enough of the appalling conditions and decided to get the lift back down. The lift (Bilia Bullet – trail map) broke down and I was left swinging in a howling blizzard for 15 minutes.

Having spoken to a couple of people at the base it appears that Falls Creek has a problem with lifts being struck by lightening (the one I was on that stopped had been struck a couple of weeks ago and was now experiencing regular breakdowns) and a few lifts (e.g. Summit – trail map) have been broken for most of the season.

No photos taken as the weather was too bad… (see later posts, for example this post, for some pictures).

Falls Creek, Australia – map it

-36.86314,147.28203