Snow Report Falls Creek 2021 - Trip Reports, Pics & Conditions
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I'm booked in for late August. Several places seem to have moved their Spring pricing back a week. So the last week of August is far cheaper.
Let's see if we get a season...
Falls Creek has been busy this summer - been up there twice recently - cyclists galore and runners and walkers and campers too.
Looking lovely looking out towards Falls from Nelse.
You can see Hotham & Mt Loch in the background behind Falls above.
Always enjoyed that, as well as the sections between Wombats Ramble and the dam.
Expensive to build a tunnel for the road (a la Hotham) which was there first?
Have booked for last week of August but will take any opportunity to get there before that. Doesn't look like a Japan trip is on the cards any time soon.
So the snow starts, well until it melts in a day or two
Ground cooler I'll take that
61 days until Queens Bday
Longest time between skiing for me since I started, when I was 5....
Maybe Vail CO will let us know what's happening soon
Mirou replying : it's still a pleasure having news from Falls Creek although nowadays nothing is near similar to what it was in my days there ...... and just want to add that I also was put on skis at age 5, it was in Chamonix/France in year 1936 ! ..............
We here in Belgium have had snowfalls these last few days & my garden is white with snow for the great pleasure of my dog, a Boston Terrier ............. Spring offcial day in March 21st ........... - MdeM - April 10th, 2021.
What does Falls typically have open by say 25 June? Let’s assume modest natural falls by then? Haven’t been there for about 25 years.
Wombats, Drovers and Towers generally (at least 3 lifts) is the usual fare with snowmaking, cold weather and a bit of help from above.
I'm due to arrive around that time but always prepared for more runs being open. Very rare to get Summit or Ruined Castle open at that time unless there are a couple of big snow events and time for it to settle/compact.
they bust a gut to get ruined and scotts open for school holidays. doesn't always happen but never for want of trying. it's rare not to have them by at least 2nd week of the holidays
they would try to have eagle open for access even if scotts/ruied not open. take the pressure off halleys and the village shuttle
Thank you nice of you to realize it's a "big year" in one's life !Happy Ninetieth
Our group has booked our accom and lift passes, skiing 27th - 30th July Now can COVID sod-off and the snow start to fall please!?
2 FC bookings, Late July and August, then Thredbo early Sept.
Covid, covid ,go away,
Return to China whence you came.
Nice to see the snowmakers taking advantage of the cold weather
Nice to see the snowmakers taking advantage of the cold weather
I've heard of a 'white out' but this is ridiculous.
Heads-up
Falls Creek cams (on this site) are getting a major cleanup. Expect some broken links for the next hour or so.
Very damp outside. We got wet very quickly, persevered with the old cold wet gloves for a while and are now in for lunch. Only problem with on snow accommodation is how tempting and convenient it is to be inside and dry. Snow was sloppy and thick most places not wombats ramble. Ramble was good. Hopeful of heading over to Eagle soon.
Wet wet wet. But so very nice to be back.
We had fun and probably did way more runs than what the conditions called for.
Don't take it for granted....that's our Moto this season.
@soza - Great to see you're back.
Just checked with one lodge operator - still sitting closed due to melbournians being restricted on travelling.
Hopefully travel restrictions will be totally removed before school holidays.
Interesting. Checking the Falls Creek app and the Falls Creek Snow report (in the Activities section) indicates that Cross Country Skiing is "Closed" Now I know this is not the case but it could cause confusion when there is conflicting information often on the same page of a report.
My old friend in Myrtleford
just rang me on the way home from Falls Creek. She said they XC skied up to Mt. McKay from Windy Corner via the Mt. McKay road.
They said the cover was slushy and thin down lower but up higher near Mt. Mckay it was not too bad . My Friend took a fall on her rump and said that the thin cover did not make her rusty descent via the buttockial brakes very comfortable.
Much better day than yesterday. Still very overcast and little vision but was dry and not windy. Yesterday afternoon tried to ski down to Eagle express from Halley's but the slopes are patchy and not doable. Guessing that lift is open just to get people on the hill from that side. Went straight to Towers today and did laps most the day. Think I broke my thumb stacking it with my kids attempting the patchy tracks through Fox trail area. But who needs a thumb? And my family says I'm just being soft and it's not so bad, so I'm glad my medical team have given me the all clear. After lunch had fun avoiding the slush and patches on Rapunzel and then spent the rest of the afternoon pretending I could ski properly working on fast turns down Towers. Snow was much better than yesterday: firmer and pretty fun. The clouds cleared for about 20 minutes and I got to see some of the beauty of this place. No queues anywhere today, seemed to be a much better option than the NSW resorts.
Falls has a more low key atmosphere than Perisher and Thredbo. Really good. Nice walking around the village. I also think Wombat's is the best beginner run of any of the resorts I've been to. Really long and pleasant, wife really liked it. My impression of the place is that it felt a bit limited today (obviously going to be the case with only three runs going) but I think there looked like lots of promise for all the off piste areas. Looking at the map the area around International looks the most exciting, so hoping by some miracle that opens up for the school holidays. But really glad we came.
Here's two rubbish photos going up Towers, but it was a good day to not be good at photography because there was nothing to see. Couldn't take any pictures after lunch because of my non broken thumb making it too difficult.
We held off until lunchtime today, keeping one eye on the cams hoping that the cloud might clear.
Bit of a struggle to park by the time we did arrive and ended up grabbing one of the last spots at windy. Surprisingly it wasn't that busy on the slopes...not on towers anyways, looks like a lot of local visiting families made the trip up for snow play.
Delayed on my Monday report: was a beautiful morning. So sad leaving. While Melbournites missed out on opening weekend, the snow wasn't that special and the resort hasn't taken off yet, it felt pretty empty. Obviously it was great being there, and staying on snow was brilliant but, to those who missed out, Saturday was one of those horrible non-stop wet days with no vis and Sunday, though dry, only had a late fleeting glimpse of the sun.
But on to the positive: Monday morning was beautiful, one of those bright Australian skiing days. I had no idea our flat had a view of the mountains and seeing the dam from the top of the mountain was terrific. So much of the enjoyment of skiing comes from the vistas. We got first tracks on Main street and stayed on that until our departure at around 11. By then the snow was a little sloppy and going down wombat's it was starting to develop a number of brown patches that probably would have been pretty bad by the end of the day. Unfortunately there was noticeable snow loss over our time up there with no snowmaking possible. Main Street still retained good cover, but Rapunzels was badly beaten up by the time we left, an example of the way non groomed areas deteriorated over our time there.
Sunday evening my children had a play down on the bottom of the slope and was such a pleasant thing to be there. Drive back was great until Mittagong, almost no one on the road between Wodonga and the hook up with the canberra highway.
My jubilation at being right about a fracture in my thumb (went to hospital late on Monday night after getting back to Sydney) turned to misery when nurse told me I suffered 'Skier's thumb' from holding the ski poles while falling and it was likely to be six weeks in a brace, which puts our return to Falls in doubt. My first skiing injury and my initial pride at earning a skier's thumb has turned to a bit of misery now. Oh well. low grade photos once again, think the thumb shot is best for compositional merit.
Bad luck about the thumb. Ouch.Delayed on my Monday report: was a beautiful morning. So sad leaving. While Melbournites missed out on opening weekend, the snow wasn't that special and the resort hasn't taken off yet, it felt pretty empty. Obviously it was great being there, and staying on snow was brilliant but, to those who missed out, Saturday was one of those horrible non-stop wet days with no vis and Sunday, though dry, only had a late fleeting glimpse of the sun.
But on to the positive: Monday morning was beautiful, one of those bright Australian skiing days. I had no idea our flat had a view of the mountains and seeing the dam from the top of the mountain was terrific. So much of the enjoyment of skiing comes from the vistas. We got first tracks on Main street and stayed on that until our departure at around 11. By then the snow was a little sloppy and going down wombat's it was starting to develop a number of brown patches that probably would have been pretty bad by the end of the day. Unfortunately there was noticeable snow loss over our time up there with no snowmaking possible. Main Street still retained good cover thoguh Rapunzels was badly beaten up by the time we left.
Sunday evening my children had a play down on the bottom of the slope and was such a pleasant thing to be there. Drive back was great until Mittagong, almost no one on the road between Wodonga and the hook up with the canberra highway.
My jubilation at being right about a fracture in my thumb (went to hospital late on Monday night after getting back to Sydney) turned to misery when nurse told me I suffered 'Skier's thumb' from holding the ski poles while falling and it was likely to be six weeks in a brace, which puts our return to Falls in doubt. My first skiing injury and my initial pride at earning a skier's thumb has turned to a bit of misery now. Oh well. low grade photos once again, think the thumb shot is best for compositional merit.
I never missed a day when I had skiers' thumb. one pole should be plenty to have fun. doesn't look cool, but who cares. I guess you still need to drive or coerce another driver
Yeah, it was obviously painful and didn't have much movement and was quite swollen but as a former rubbish indoor soccer goalie I thought it was not going to be such a bad diagnosis as I felt like I'd jarred my finger that badly in the past. I also skied 1 and half days with it (taking ski boots off was fun) and lugged all our stuff and drove 8 hours back up to Sydney, so I was a little surprised to get such rubbish news and I desperately want to just ignore the health advice and get back on the slopes in three weeks, but I get final verdict from hand specialists on Thursday. And will begrudgingly listen to them.
That's beautiful advice, forget what I said in the last post about listening to medical advice.
Had to work Monday so missed the best day so far by the look of things.
Seemed like a lot of return traffic coming the opposite direction as I came home from Albury.
Today was more low vis and bits of rain although we had a short break in the clouds at one point just after lunch.
Only 3 runs to go at but we basically had them to ourselves so can't complain.
I can inform you that under medical advice from a hand occupational therapist I was approved to go to the snow with a skier's thumb injury in 2019.
Mind you, I'm a snowboarder, so you may need to switch up your method of sliding!
the doctors at Falls Creek understand that getting back on snow is a very high priority. guess who is my regular GP?
Surely you should know better than to go (ski) pole dancing at Falls
Apparently skiing is a dangerous sport.
Double post but some people will read this and not the news & chat thread
To summarise my understanding of FC covid conditions until further notice
- If you are coming from interstate, get a Vic entry permit (very easy unless you've been in a hotspot). Put the Service Victoria app on your phone for easy QR check-in around the resort
- If you live in Melbourne, get a covid test (everyone over 12 years of age) within 72 hrs of departure from Melbourne. You will need to show evidence of a negative test to be allowed to enter the resort. The test is free and if it's only for ski resort travel the you don't need to isolate.
- Purchase your resort entry online at least 48 hrs ahead. Print out and have visible on dash. You cannot buy or get printouts at the resort
- If you have a season pass for resort entry, register at least 48 hrs in advance. No need to print out, but number plates will be checked
- If you need oversnow, buy tickets online and print them out. You cannot buy or get printouts at the resort
- Pack masks and any printed permits and tickets. You will have to wear masks indoors and in resort vehicles
- When you are leaving Mt Beauty there will probably be a checkpoint on the road. Otherwise checkpoints closer to the village. If you are from Melbourne and cannot show evidence of a negative test, you will not be allowed into the resort
- Be patient. The people enforcing this didn't make the rules. They want you to have a great time
- Enjoy the mountain
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Well they must have read my post.
Numberplate recognition cameras installed.
No longer need to print off parking registration.
Must register 48 hours before arrival.
Skiers thumb should not stop you skiing. See a hand specialist for a moulded functional brace that will fit under you ski gloves. I was working as a ski patroller when I did mine and did not miss a shift.Delayed on my Monday report: was a beautiful morning. So sad leaving. While Melbournites missed out on opening weekend, the snow wasn't that special and the resort hasn't taken off yet, it felt pretty empty. Obviously it was great being there, and staying on snow was brilliant but, to those who missed out, Saturday was one of those horrible non-stop wet days with no vis and Sunday, though dry, only had a late fleeting glimpse of the sun.
But on to the positive: Monday morning was beautiful, one of those bright Australian skiing days. I had no idea our flat had a view of the mountains and seeing the dam from the top of the mountain was terrific. So much of the enjoyment of skiing comes from the vistas. We got first tracks on Main street and stayed on that until our departure at around 11. By then the snow was a little sloppy and going down wombat's it was starting to develop a number of brown patches that probably would have been pretty bad by the end of the day. Unfortunately there was noticeable snow loss over our time up there with no snowmaking possible. Main Street still retained good cover, but Rapunzels was badly beaten up by the time we left, an example of the way non groomed areas deteriorated over our time there.
Sunday evening my children had a play down on the bottom of the slope and was such a pleasant thing to be there. Drive back was great until Mittagong, almost no one on the road between Wodonga and the hook up with the canberra highway.
My jubilation at being right about a fracture in my thumb (went to hospital late on Monday night after getting back to Sydney) turned to misery when nurse told me I suffered 'Skier's thumb' from holding the ski poles while falling and it was likely to be six weeks in a brace, which puts our return to Falls in doubt. My first skiing injury and my initial pride at earning a skier's thumb has turned to a bit of misery now. Oh well. low grade photos once again, think the thumb shot is best for compositional merit.
I also (perhaps ill-advisedly) BC skied out the Razor Back to Feather Top with an elbow to palm splint on after thumb/wrist surgery to correct a De Quervain's tenosynovitis. he plastic surgeon would have been horrified but three days ski touring was too good to pass up.
But but but, I have already printed mine and laminated it for durability for my three week trip. How very un green of them to make we waste paper and plastic and electrikery as I was an early registrant......- Status
