Skiing in Victoria

Off to Falls next week, hoping to get four to five days on the hill (depending on how the children cope). It’s been puking down the last few days and the forecast is for more snow all week. I am itching to get up there.

Anyone been up yet?

I envy your lifestyle.

Off to Falls next week, hoping to get four to five days on the hill (depending on how the children cope). It's been puking down the last few days and the forecast is for more snow all week. I am itching to get up there.

Anyone been up yet?


Monday’s going to be wet.
But after that it looks epic.

Monday is travel day, so Tuesday is the first day on the hill. Boo-yah!

Post some GoPro footage so I can actually see what I’m missing out on.

Would love to, but still haven’t got one… :confused:

You’ll need one for the P51 flight I reckon

So, had a week at Falls planned last week, but unfortunateley my wife’s grandmother passed away shortly before we left, so we came back for two days to attend the funeral.

It absolutely bucketed down on the Monday as we drove up to Mt Beauty and didn’t stop until sometime early Tuesday morning. We headed up the hill on Tuesday for the first day on the slopes to find high winds and the minimal fresh snow from the night before blown straight into the trees and off the mountain. The ski school was very disorganised which left my 8 year old son standing around for the first 45 minutes of his 1/2 day group whilst they sorted out which instructors were taking which kids. As I had already signed him in and sorted out which instructor he would have, I had nicked off to get some runs in and then returned 30 minutes later to find him still standing there, waiting, and complaining that he was cold and didn’t want to do this anymore (after having talked about how excited he was to be going to the snow for the previous few week). After giving the guy in charge a serve about wasting my money and my kid’s patience, they finally set off. Happily he was all good after that and was pretty happy by the time I picked him up in the afternoon. The co-ord guy actually told me “we’re not a day-care centre”, to which I replied “no, you’re a ski-instructing group that I pay a lot of money to drop my kid at for 3.5 hours so you’ll give him ski instruction and allow me to use my season pass that I pay money for as well. At the moment he’s standing around for the first hour of his session doing nothing and at this stage probably won’t want to come back.”

Anywho, enough whinging. The snow-base was good, however the high winds had blown away the fresh stuff, so it was pretty icy and hard-packed. Still, some good areas to ride and the crowds were minimal as it was early week. Wednesday was much the same although the ski-school was much better organised. Another side effect of the heavy rain they had over the previous week was that there were several wash-ouits on the road up to the Falls from Mt Beauty, which had brought dirt and rocks down onto the road in several places which were in the process of being cleaned up. Drive carefully!

After heading back to Melbourne on thursday (taking the slow route back via the Bright Brewery and several wineries) we did the funeral/family thing Friday before dashing back up Friday night. Saturday and Sunday on the hill (with a few friends and their families that met us up there) were absolutely glorious. The winds had died off, there was a nice layer of fresh snow plus a top-up of man-made stuff, the sun was out. Unfortunately so were the crowds, but we got up there nice and early, my wife looked after getting the kids into the respective ski-schools, and I took off for first tracks. Had nearly an hour on both mornings over around Ruined Castle and Scott’s chairs before the crowds moved in, getting first tracks on both occasions. I managed to borrow a friend’s GoPro on Sunday morning, so once I get the footage off him I’ll post some links if anyone is interested. He had it mounted on a wrist strap that you wear like a watch, but I don’t think this is the position of choice for snow activities (still, I haven’t seen the footage yet so I can’t say how it turned out). I think the helmet mount looks the best way to go for snowboarding, and maybe the chest mount for skiing. My son had a great time and it was fantastic to do some runs with him at the end of each day, particularly when to my surprise on Wombats Ramble he zipped off the side of the run and went through the trees, emerging with a little kicker jump. What a champ!

Hoping to get back up there in about two weeks time for a couple of days mid-week to close off the season, but that will be at the mercy of my wife’s good will.

You sometimes get the impression from co-ord people that their job would be sooooooo much easier if they didn’t have to deal with paying customers. What a jerkhole.

So a year on from the last post and I’m heading back up to Falls in a week. The snow forecast is for blizzard conditions the next few days and then snow for the rest of the week. Hopefully I’ll be up there at exactly the right time. This year I finally have my own Gopro along with a variety of mounts to try out so looking forward to finally getting some footage. My son is chomping at the bit to get up there and hasn’t stopped talking about it the whole week.

For those of you with all together too much money there is a new business operating out of Queenscliff called Savage Panda that produce custom snowboards from scratch. I popped into their workshop when I was down that way recently and the owner showed me around and explained their set-up. They can make a board any size, shape and style you want, and will do any sort of graphics on the deck for you as well. It was a very cool set-up, but a board will set you back a lazy $2200 a pop. I might have to wait until I finally win lotto…

Snow boarders are a menace.

Yes. Yes I am.

We’re going to Tomamu in Hokkaido in Jan 2018. Hokkaido snow. It’s hard to beat.

And if you get the chance, I can’t recommend Sunshine Village at Banff more highly. Excellent infrastructure, varied terrain, plenty of groomed and off-piste action. Not too heavily populated during the week in January and wasn’t too bad even on the weekend. Staff are brilliant and the facilities are good. The scenery is unbelievable. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to.

Planning a lads-only Japan trip with my brother and a handful of mates for Christmas next year. Haven’t been to Canada for a few years now, but agree with comments about Sunshine Village. I had a solo day there on my honeymoon that was fantastic. Clear skies, fresh snow and no crowds. Hoping to head back there in the next couple of years when the kids are a bit older and can get more out of it.

Funny how my overseas snow trips seem to dry up as soon as the kids came along…

I know. Mine have been harshing my buzz since 2006.

I’m envious of the good people of Banff for being lucky enough to live there. Mrs diggers and I even discussed to possibility of relocating to Calgary to take advantage of the near by Rockies. We’ll have to be content with visiting once in a while.

Where are you planning to visit in Japan?

It’s all downhill for you lot!

I feel bad that I have never been to the Vic ski fields despite driving past there heaps. Have been to the NSW fields dozens of times, how do they compare?
Japan sounds awesome and is might have to check it out one day

Avoid buller at all costs, its ■■■■ and a tourist grab.

Hothams pretty good, falls is better.

Must check it out one day. Sad to think I’ve done the European snowfields probably a dozen times yet havnt done ones so close to home