Falls Creek/Mt Hotham Ski Report - 1/2 September 2012

Falls Creek Village from Zipper on 1 September 2012

Yet another week in ski season 2012 saw a good, strong Thursday to Friday storm bringing snow to the Australian skifields. What a great season it has been!

And its not over yet. There is heaps of snow for fun, spring skiing throughout September and into the school holidays.

The weekend of 1st/2nd September was clear skies and gloriously sunny after moderate snowfalls on Thursday and Friday. Conditions were fantastic, indeed they were at their peak, with Falls Creek sitting on about 180 centimetres snowdepth and Mt Hotham topping 2 metres.

The Summit at Falls from the Ys on 1 September 2012

We went up to Falls Creek on Saturday and cruised around the entire mountain enjoying the brilliant snow conditions. The jinky Milky Way was finally open; the fully-covered Summit was glorious; and The Maze was a great place to explore.

The runs known as the Ys (because they appear to be a Y-shape on top of a Y-shape) had been groomed - sacrilege some might say as they're usually for keen short-turn skiing! The first time I've ever seen one of them groomed. We went down a couple of the Ys - a groomed one and an ungroomed Y - to get the ungroomed effect also!

Blue Ribbon at Mt Hotham on 2 September

There were even some untouched lines around left over from the snowfalls on Friday out the back of Ruined Castle. Plenty of people were seen hiking for some powder.

On Sunday the drive up to Mt Hotham was fantastic on a crisp, sunny morning. What a view across to Mt Feathertop with snow cover low down and banked up alongside the road!

In the warming, morning sun, the Blue Ribbon area was softening very quickly and we headed there first. The slopes were groomed on both sides of Blue Ribbon lift, and there was as much snow cover down there as I have seen. Boondoo/Roaring Forties was fun. Some years Blue Ribbon doesn't even open all season - this year we've skied it several times.

The Orchard at Mt Hotham on 2 September

Late in the morning we did a few laps of Lower Playground - somewhere at Hotham where we've never skied before. There's not usually enough snow cover, but this year there was enough to groom this black run beautifully. Nice first time for us. Hardly any other people seemed to be aware of the terrain available there.

But in a good snow year you can't go past the fun to be had out at The Orchard on a sunny, warm day.

All the runs were in beautiful condition, with lots of snow to let you ski through the snow gums. In fact, I've never seen the branches of the gums disappear so much under the snow. Well, that's what 2 metres of snow does!