Buller brings variety

This late July weekend produced an exciting variety of skiing conditions at Mt Buller. The early evening drive to Mansfield was quick thanks to lively conversation in a full car and the shorter trip time than the other resorts.

Banjo's Mansfield provided the accommodation for our trip and the unit with full kitchen was spacious and perfect for four.

Saturday 23 July was a stunning, blue-sky Alpine day that temptingly invited us on a tour of the whole mountain from lift to lift and run to run.

The panoramas were stunningly clear, the sun warm, the skiing relaxed and the tour went on and on. A rest on a sun lounger was irresistible. A bit of sunburn was inevitable. Cold drinks rather than hot ones were needed.

Almost all of Mt Buller is now open for skiing except for the bottom of Federation.

Sunday 24 July we awoke to light rain in Mansfield and snow chains being fitted halfway up the mountain ... for 8kms of tarmac driving and 100m of snow on the road in the Horse Hill car park. A little frustrating after driving in snow for weeks in Japan.

But who cared when it snowed all day and despite the cloud there was some good skiing in different but fun conditions.

Early morning fresh snow around the Summit was a lot of fun and we scored great runs thanks to our knowledge of the mountain. About 10cms fell through the day and we got to see even more of Mt Buller.

As I said, Mt Buller now has almost full cover with Mt Hotham and Falls Creek having all terrain open at 1m snowdepth.

Forecast is for snow throughout next week, possibly setting up a good weekend at Mt Hotham and 1.5m!