McKay on this day in 2017 (and Fainters on the right) Cover was also good in 2018; I was able to telemark from the summit to Road 24.
Love the southside of Mc Kay but never had it like that, the tracks look nice , usually spring skiing.
Looks to be closed up again. https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/mount-buffalo-national-park
Bugger them. They have no clue about infection risks. And don't exercise, don't recreate - but we'll let you go out for professional health care because we've blocked prevention avenues.
It says a lot about the VIC. 2020 ski season when the resorts are packing up their toys in mid August :-( .
Still a shocker , no decent snow until next week. Useless dickheads, there is zero infection risk there or the BHP. Part of the problem is the stupid blame game going on in Melbourne , now every govt dept is risk averse, running scared of the Murdoch media and some of the armchair experts including the LNP affiliated NSW people on here.
I cannot believe the difference between the Lower Ruined castle/ Sun Valley snow cover this week compared with when I went and XC skied the Sun Valley loop on August 20th 2019. You might wonder if Vail resorts are thinking about selling their two VIC. resorts onto Grollo or something... :-0 August 14th 2020 above. August 20th 2019 below. I know which one I would choose. It was very cold and super windy that day in August 2019 and the snow was quite fresh. I was on my newish Fischer fast skinny metal edged BC skis and remember I had to re wax them coming back towards Panorama corner because the snow was bunching up on the fish scale pattern bases. It was a nice problem to have really....
I suspect that it has SFA to did with the risk of infection in the park and everything to do with removing a motivation for people to travel some distance from home. I don't agree that it's justified, but it makes some sort of sense
Indeed great shots. The cover has to be very good to cover most of the rocks and Gnarly stuff on the south side of McKay, The second shot from the a Eastern approach almost like it belongs overseas - the snowgum top gives it away.
Yeah its hard to pick a decent powder day on McKay ,well done. Rare like the Main range to get nice soft even cover in exposed places. Has to be cold ,fresh , good vis with NO wind.
Seems obvious not to visit shops and cafes on the way but take a picnic. Did that today went mtbiking 20 km away.
I don't think 20km would be the issue. It's 200km travellers that I think they are worried about (or some grey line in between)
My booking was to begin today. Looking at the forecasts, I fear I might be missing the best week of the year (except for that one in May). Oh, well, c'est la vie (ou la guerre).
Reading on FB one of the cafes will decide their future in October. Probably the first of many small operators to perhaps close up Talk of vaccines from local officials point to being in a good position by Christmas 2021, this meaning the 2021 season may be an issue
Maybe I think that 2021 will operate with restrictions but again for me and the family we would have to give it a miss. It's still 10 months away so worry about it in April. I'm not too worried about the TAG venues as they have enough cash to survive but the other operators I really feel for
government assistance is not well designed. probably mean well but dumb rules about eligibility, eg If a business did the right thing and gave refunds when the writing was on the wall, they get nada. If they refused refunds until the lockdown, then they get a per night grant for the cancelled accomm Not clear if clubs will qualify if they don't accept purely commercial bookings Bushfire relief was not available to clubs who lost most of their summer income. IIRC only cancelled bookings attracted any relief. No compensation for bookings not made because people knew or suspected that the resort would be closed The site rental has been waived but no relief on service fees ( bed tax). At some resorts rental is >50%, at others it's closer to 20%
If we are actually allowed out of our homes and there is a decent snow base then BC trips onto the Bogong High Plains could be the way to go in 2021's white season. That would make mega trips to Roper's hut via Timm's Spur worthwhile in August 2021 and same would apply to the Fainters , Kelly's Hut via Shannonvale , Trapyard Gap and so on.
Beyond the middle of August, its mad nothing like it. I wonder if it affects the little creatures that normally hibernate/live under the snow?
Sounds about right... Far too many limitations on legitimate clubs and small business which stop money going where it should Meanwhile, Sarah who used to work at a pub 5 hours a week has been receiving $1500 a fortnight......
If a lot of lodges go bust, commercial or club, it would hurt the ski industry and local economies. Those lodges wouldn't all be quickly bought so that would be empty beds, less visitors, less money being spent, less employment, less money into valley towns, regional centres and ski industry suppliers. Not to mention the effect on mountain real estate prices.
The ski industry would have been hurt from such a shit season too but Vail and the govt didnt help. Most charges should be cancelled , everyone including the RMB need to share the pain . They are only bloodsuckers IMO.
Mountain Pygmy possums wouldn't worry it. It's still cold up there despite the lack of snow. They normally store fruit from Mountain Plum Pines to feed on over the winter months. More snow will come, it always does and then they can have another snooze.
I just don't understand how you can call them bloodsuckers. They have things gov tell them they have to do, things we want from them, and a requirement to be self-funding. How does this make them bloodsuckers? If gov funded them in a way that reflected ski resort contribution to the economy, then they could charge less
Would these be voyeuristic trips, actual trips or examples of trips others can do? At some stage you are going to have to put a pack on and learn to ski with it if you intend to do any of these. Not being able to do it is only a matter of never having done it. I suck at it but improve each time. Give it a go.
I believe if you looked into their financial reports you would see that they are sucking blood out of everyone esp visitor fees to overcome their inefficiencies and small economies of scale. How is it that Australia has the only ski resorts with visitor fees? Small NZ , Japan, Canada or USA resorts dont need to .
The resorts aren’t part of a local council area, and must pay for infrastructure and services, like any municipal area. It needs a revenue base to do that. Also, it needs to pay for snow-clearing of the resort. Unless it charges users it can’t operate... Many OS resorts have their infrastructure and services wrapped into existing local communities or they are effectively owned by lift companies who recoup those charges via lift tickets and building in cost recovery into accomodation etcetera. If Oz resorts were part of LGAs that would distort the expenditure and revenues and governance of those LGAs, which is why state governments have set up the RMBs in the first place. The Falls picture is further complicated by its SEC background. Bogong Village is still owned by AGL, for example - it’s looking for a buyer....
I don’t remember ever seeing so little snow mid August - Falls or Hotham - in 35 years of visiting the alps. (admittedly I was in the UK for the shocker in 93‘). It will take a very large dump of snow and sustained overnight freezes to get any sort of base happening in time for a possible escaped from Melbourne mid September? My heart goes to all the operators and smaller clubs on and in the valleys/city trying to survive summer fires and winter Covid and lock down. The only small positive is if covid cases remain small into next winter then potentially we’ve bundled two potential shockers into one. On a side note: it would great if the Vic Govt offered some incentives for city folk to visit the hills this summer and next winter -assuming low Covid - but I think they’re too busy dealing with city problems (hotels, testing and aged care) to worry about alpine /valley regional Economies?
