From: harsant@headplant.trl.OZ.AU (Dave Harsant)
Subject: Re: Skiing in Australia/New Zealand
Organization: Telecom Research Labs. Melbourne, Vic, Australia
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 01:15:25 GMT

In article <1992Dec22.231611.700@sinus.stgt.sub.org> stefan@sinus.stgt.sub.org (Stefan Bechtold) writes:
>Hi !
>
>How about skiing in Australia or New Zealand ?

Better to ski Vail, Eugene has the info!

>How are the skiing areas there ? Are they of a similar quality to
>those American and European areas ? 

Oh, well, if you insist :-)

Re Australia:

The answer is basically no, our mountains are a lot smaller. Conditions
may be a bit like Eastern US skiing (but I haven't skiid there, so it's
just an impression).  We get to ski ice a fair bit, particularly on the
southern slopes.  Temperatures normally don't go below about -7 Celsius,
typically they are in the -2 - +2 Celsius range. (ie, around freezing).


>How is the snow there ? How high are they ?

Summits around 6000ft and snow line down to about 4500 (if we are lucky).
There is still a little snow around some of the ranges, but it's now summer
here.

>
>What are the most common/interesting... skiing areas ?

Thredbo, Perisher/Smiggins, Blue Cow, Guthega in NSW (about 6 hrs from
Sydney).  Thredbo is probably the best of these when there is snow from
top to bottom, it can provide almost 2000ft of vertical.  However, I
don't like its layout much, has some funny lift orientations, fall line
skiing is a bit difficult to find, and it's probably the Vail of
Australia.  I haven't been to the others.

Mt. Buller (3hrs from Melbourne), Falls Creek (4-5)hrs, Mt. Hotham
(4-5hrs), Mt. Baw Baw (2hrs), Mt. Buffalo (4hrs) in Victoria.  There is
a little in Tasmania, and a lot of X-c terrain.

A lot of people think Buller has the best variety of terrain,
particularly for advanced skiers, but being 3hrs from Melbourne, it
gets very crowded on weekends, lots of day trippers and people coming
from off mountain.  Maximum snow depth in a season might reach about 2
metresa(80 inches), but it has very high traffic, so the quality drops
quickly.  Buller has a total lifting capacity of around 36000 skiers
per hr, from about 23 lifts, due to increase next season. Largest
vertical drop is around 1000ft. The largest crwod last season was about
10000 people, down from the peak a few years ago of over 15000. Mt
Hotham probably has the best snow, but a relatively poor lift system.
Has some good advanced terrain, is fairly underdeveloped, and
resistance to any further changes from greenies.  It usually gets the
driest snow in Aus.  Falls is a bit boring, but has a reputation for
being more of a party mountain.  Provides mainly intermediate skiing,
is on the edge of a huge dam so has plenty of water for snowmaking.  It
does get huge bumps on the summit run, which is very short and quite
steep.  Baw Baw is very small, has a few lifts, and Buffalo is tiny,
really only a tourist mountain with 1 lift.

Unfortunately, our mountains tend to have their heads in the clouds, so
it is usually foggy when the snow comes.  It can also rain a bit, and
we don't get large overnight dumps (getting a foot in a 24 hr period is
usually about the best we will do).  The largest dump I can remember is
about 2 1/2 ft overnight 6 years ago.  Fresh snow ranges from rare dry
incompressible stuff (temp below -5 C) to wet cement, sago, sleet.
Temperatures on sunny days in September can rise to 9 C or more, giving
slush on the North slopes and ice on the South.

The season officially begins on Queen's Birthday weekend (2nd Monday in
June), but usually there is no snow then. It goes through to around 7th
October, depending on snop conditions.

Re EnZed:

I haven't skiid there, but my Brown Bear Skiers Guide says there are 3
ski fields on the North Island, and 21 on the South Island.  All
accomodation is off mountain, skiing is above the tree line, summits
around 6000 ft.  Mt Hutt is prob the most well known, but its nickname
is Mt Shut.  The weather is highly changeable, and strong winds cause
the roads to be closed.  Reportedly gets great powder, if it doesn't
all get blown away, and the season can last from early May to end
October.  Many advanced skiers say Treble Cone is the best.  I'll leave
more detail to the Kiwis.

--
Dave Harsant,
Telecom Australia Research Laboratories  |  d.harsant@trl.oz.au
Newsgroups: rec.skiing