Ben Lomond Bliss 2010

[Ben Lomond Brad]

<span style='font-size: 20pt'>It's baaaaaaack!! </span>

Ben Lomond Bliss is for all the general Ben Lomond chatter, stories and usual banter that goes on in this place.

Enjoy the fun.................oh, and bring on the snow!!

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

I will get thinks rolling BLB. Didn,t get out of the car today when i was up top to see how our slope grooming had effected snow retention as the weather was far to inclement. But i expect to carve a track down the path i made through the dreaded kerosene bush when we get enough pow!

 

[Powder_skier]

but its too early to snow.

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

It is never too early to snow..............it just needs to hang around

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

What was that white stuff falling on the ben yesterday and again tonight then ???? I think you meant its to early to ski which is true! Only a cople of times in recent decades have the tows opened in June!

 

[julz7250]

They haven't quite opened yet!

Still a lot of June to come though...

Skiing in June would really get the Bliss going!!!

 

[Maxcimus]

Looks like a follow up next week, if temps stay cold as they are forecast and we get more snow next week things would be looking good for late June surely? I think this light flurry has been much better timing than falls we have had in previous years. Last year if I recall correctly there was a couple good snow falls in April & May which were wasted.

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

Snow falls in April and May just get peoples hopes up, much better to get them in June and July when they will hand around.

 

[Giblin Goblin]

Looks good next week, how cold is the ground temp. any ice etc. tats what we need.

 

[benny b boy]

i just felt i needed to post something on the 2010 bliss! well that's that

 

[benny b boy]

anyone been up through the lakes? i'll be headding there tomorrow for the night, should be some snow

 

[Maxcimus]

I reckon the ground would be pretty frozen with these cool temps we have had lately, i'm heading up tomorrow morning to get the rail out for some pre season jibbing. I'll take some photo's and post them up if its worth it tomorrow sometime!

 

[Legges Tor]

Hi Benny b Boy, it has been snowing lightly most of the afternoon at Miena, although the temp is about zero, the snow has not settled due I guess to a warm ground. At the top end of the lake there is snow on the side of the road.
3.30pm It is just starting to settle now.

 

[Maxcimus]

Here are some photo's from a visit to the mountain today. Enjoy.

Jonwah and I hitting the benchs after a couple cool mountain ales:

The slopes:

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

Nice shots Max

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

thats a cool pick that last one Maximus. !

 

[julz7250]

You guys got some great weather! Thanks for the pics!

 

[Maxcimus]

Thanks guys. Heres a panorama of the other side of the hill that I made this morning:

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

Would have been a nice arvo for have a beer on the deck taking in some Rays !

 

[Jonwah]

was beautiful

can't wait for a bit more snow!

 

[Powder_skier]

great pictures maxcim. would have been a cracka off a day if there was more snow !!

 

[CaptainPowder]

think it would be snowing today?

 

[julz7250]

Was just thinking the same. Temps are down and rain is about.

 

[Bulldozer]

Been wet mist most of today. Occasional snow but not much to speak of, just wet enough to be a pain

 

[Snow_Lover91]

Oh God please bless us with more snow! Those photos look amazing! Ahhhh!

 

[Maxcimus]

Heres a recent article on the mountain from the mercury if anyones interested:

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/06/20/153461_tasmania-news.html

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

A fairly positive article i thought, Good to see.! Now bring on the snow huey

 

[Maxcimus]

Pity about the negative comments left by some people. Still we can dream!

 

[Tezwah]

Dont really know where the worrying about water came from... water turns to ice/snow then melts and still makes its way into our river system anyway!

 

[Jonwah]

what tezza? you need water to make snow you dill.. gotta put storage tanks in at the bottom of the slopes so that melted snow makes its way into them to be re-converted into snow..

 

[Tezwah]

Yes i know that Jono! people on that link were worried it would be a waste of water to make snow..

 

[Jonwah]

really? i didnt get that impression, just that some commenters thought it would be a waste of energy to make snow on the ben when the mainland and nz are so close.. obviously they have never enjoyed a good night of drunken carousing followed by a days hungover riding on the home hill!

 

[Tezwah]

Haha they are just 'Ben haters'

power consumption is a bit of an issue however.. Since the conversion to heat pummps around the state, we are now buying a lot of power from Vic which is produced using Coal fired power stations. We cant even say were using 'Green' power to make the snow if the Ben gets grid access..

 

[Tezwah]

Hurry up an invent 'Cold Fusion' Jonwah!

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

actually, the issue is, if we use all the water int he dam to make snow, there isn't anymore to supply the village, as one of the "Ben Haters" stated, there isn't a constant water supply/creek running on the mountain. The crrek which feeds the dam stops running in both winter and summer, depending on rainfall and icing up.
Another issue is the slight temperature difference between storing the water below the village and having to pump it back up hill to use to make snow, plus the power cost of pumping water back up hill. A possible, but expensive and involving lots of red tape, alternative is to build a second dam, higher up the 'creek' than the village dam to use for snowmaking, meaing it would only need to be pumped 'uphill' to do the back slopes, and gravity would help out for he front slopes.

Please forward big buckets of cash to me, and I will make it happen

 

[Tezwah]

I assumed a new damn would have to be put in place in order for this to be feasible..

I'm working on becoming rich to help out but its taking nearly as long as the ski slope plan took to get written up

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

Hey Tez, tis all done, and being posted to key stakeholders today

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

so are you rich yet?

 

[Tezwah]

Haha i only started this mission a couple of years ago so I have a little while yet

 

[Tezwah]

Thats great news BTW

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

The current SSP was also only started a couple of years ago............................so hurry up!!!!

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

It should be up on the net as soon as it has been converted to a suitable format and PWS have an opportunity to link it to their site

 

[Tezwah]

Bit of light reading

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

F*ck off Ra*n !!!.

 

[Ironstone]

I note as usual people are not considering a groundwater option for running a snow making effort on Ben. Bear with me a moment, I have worked as a groundwater adviser though it was a long time ago and in Queensland. But the point is that so long as the volume of all the loose stuff sitting on the dolerite bedrock is thick enough, say 10 or 15 metres it is at least possible there is enough water there to run something useful, such as the terrain park that featured in the threads last year. My guess is that there would be no problem getting enough water out of Meadow Vale; my hope is that the flattish area of Big Ben Creek valley would also work while being better situated in terms of access and energy costs. A hint that the depth of deposit may be adequate is provided by the behaviour of the creek as it goes past the NTAC place, since the going dry in summer looks to me like there is considerable underflow in the boulder rubble below the creek bed. But you just don't know enough until a test hole goes down.

You may well find that in attempting to find a bedrock floor to fix a dam to, engineers will find a water supply that would make a dam superfluous. I know to my cost that surface water options are preferred by the pollies.

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

I did look with Andrew Napier about 10 years ago at the feasability of diesel pumping the water from the fish river in flows suitable for snowmaking to above the village dam.. The distance was 700m over about 35m height running though a 6" pipe.. This would be a cost effective way of getting enough water for snowmaking! .. Obvously the pipe would need to be drained when not using the system.. Just another idea since we are talking about snowmaking.

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

I take it that the Fish River is in the valley between Giblin and Little Hell? Or am I heading in the wrong direction.

Could be an interesting thought, especially if it was used to supliment a second dam above the village dam.

Ironstone, I don't like the chances of getting the equipment that would be needed to drill a hole deep enough into the Nat Park, and also the type of drill woiuld need to be incredible. Telstra experimented some years ago with diggin a tench up the ladder to run a phone cable. They got about 3m before desroying theor diamond tipped drill at acost of $200k+.

 

[Ironstone]

Drilling in loose materials is tough on drilling equipment: drillers hate it. However the way I would have approached it would be to skip a test drillhole and go in with an excavator, one big enough to scoop out the boulders. These days there is no one around who does traditional well sinking so other more brutal methods are all there is. Once the rock shifting part of slope grooming gets under way at ben a suitable rig may get on site to do with the rock work and it would be a pity not to put in a test pit. What I like about the Big Ben Creek option is that the supply is on site where the water is wanted, if it works.

Nevertheless plan B, going for the flats down by the Ford River in Meadow Vale is likely a better option because the quantity of water likely to be obtainable there from underground is much greater, if at the expense of a greater energy cost in getting it to the slopes. If you are tapping a good underground storage there will still be water coming in despite the surface creek stopping, It should be used in preference to putting in a big intrusive dam. The kind of excavator dugout well I have in mind could be dressed up as a smallish but deep lake down on the flats.

 

[BenLomond Iceman]

I meant ford river not the fish river that in the walls of jeruseleum duh

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

Pics from BLIM, taken today