First Time visit to Falls Creek

[SnowTragic]

Good Morning all!
With the Perisher season pass now including lift access at Hotham and Falls Creek, I am very excited to be planning my first ever visit to Falls Creek!

Just needing some help though from the people in the know!

Thinking of going mid-late season (possibly late August, more likely early September) so I can build my skills up on home turf before heading down so I don't waste my time, and wondering about mid-late season snow reliability and crowds.

Also hoping someone can recommend accomodation at the lower end of the price range, as long as it has 2 beds and a bathroom I'm happy!

Any tips for a first time Falls Creek visitor would also be very much appreciated! I am an intermediate skier and my brother is an intermediate boarder.

If there is someone who has visited both Perisher and Falls Creek and could compare some of the runs as well that would be great!

Thanks

 

[Hunter]

Terrain at Falls and PB are very similar, both overstate their difficulty ( due to a lack of strong terrain ) if you can ski all blues at PB comfortably then Falls will be a breeze, it is much smaller with a great village and much better atmosphere than PB.

 

[currawong]

affordable accommodation
try Alpha, Halleys, Schuss, Cosella, Viking (the latter has been bought by the lift co, but I have heard that this season it will still be commercial accommodation). Or stay in Mt Beauty and drive up each morning (<45 mins in most conditions).

Snow should be reliable from late July to early September, especially the intermediate terrain.

I don't know Perisher so I can't tell you much about comparisons. You will find less drag lifts at Falls. Nearly everything is chairs. There are many less people at FC which means that you can always find somewhere uncrowded to ski (unless conditions are really bad). The whole vibe is pretty friendly and relaxed.

For intermediates, start on Drovers Dream and then move right (skiers right) onto progressively harder runs. If you are into parks, there is a beginner park on Drovers Dream and more advanced stuff on Ruined Castle.

Once you can ski all the blue runs "over the back", move on to Village run, accessed by the Summit chair. If they are groomed, try the runs on summit, and the main runs on International. The maze (off summit & international) is great: mostly graded black but very doable in good conditions, nasty in marginal or ungroomed icy conditions.

As well as the main groomers there are interesting ungroomed bits all over the place.

Once you know where you are staying, you might want advice on the best way of skiing home. If you are worried about snow reliability and easy lodge access, try staying close to the base FC Express or Eagle. That way you can download if necessary and have a stroll to your lodge. (The main access chairs are on north facing slopes. The bulk of the intermediate terrain is on south facing slopes. This means there can be great skiing over the back but marginal, or no, skiing on the home trails)

Hot tip: try eating at Gateway, FC Hotel, Huski rather the places closest to the lifts.

Have a great time at Falls

(I wonder if we get reciprocal rights at Perisher? I assume this arises out of Packer taking a big stake in Hotham & Falls.)

 

[Apresski]

What Currawong said, but if you want to spend a bit mor take a look at Silverski. Hope you have a great time.

 

[ausi ski bum]

Take a wonder around my web site for heaps of info on Falls Creek http://asb-alpine.com. one of the reasons I bought a studio apartment is there is very few places for two people at a reasonable price, there is mine of course, link on web site and ignor the pics for a few weeks I am refurbishing it ATM.
There are two person rooms at Koki and Diana Lodge as well so you have three options there all slightly different. Mine has its own kitchen, Koki a communal kitchen (and an excellent one at that) and Diana all meals included.

 

[captain]

If there is someone who has visited both Perisher and Falls Creek and could compare some of the runs as well that would be great!

Perisher is flat, Falls is flatter, go to Thredbo or Hotham

 

[Fangin'Wolvy]

A few less people on the steeps of Hotham..
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh only kiddin.

 

[ausi ski bum]

I like Perisher, if it had a town like Falls and Thredbo, it would be doing a lot better than it does.

 

[tbnext]

Falls is a really cute village with a few cool bars. It is a HEAPS better village than PV. Oversnow is like India in 1956.

It has ancient slow lifts and is generally green to blueish with short runs. If you are an intermediate and have never been here you will have an awesome time. Even a pretty good week. I am sincere in this.

I am a thredbo wnkr and hate PV with a passion. It is however so much more ridiculously challenging than FC that I dare you to challenge anyone to compare runs such as the towers, rock garden, olympic, international with the 150m run that I believe is called wishing well and maybe also The summit.

I forget with accom, have stayed at Mt beauty, the place that has Harvey hour and a house for 10 opposite the cedarwood. All ski in and out, all decent.

 

[Bogong]

Are you entirely sober TB?

There are quite a few statements that you claim as fact (rather than as opinion), that are just outrageously wrong.

I won't point them all out, but perhaps I will just say that Falls has very few old drag lifts and no chairlifts older than 20 or so years. An interesting comparison with Perisher which is 80% ancient drag lifts and which boasts a chairlift that is turning 50 years old (Mt P double), or Thredbo which has 40 year old chairlifts and an awful lot of drag lifts.

Wishing Well run is not 150 metres long, it's over 2 km long with a vertical descent of 330 metres.

 

[tbnext]

Sorry Bogong., Im completely sober.

PV has some relics but 50 lifts and many newer ones than FC -as an off my head example 100% of Blue cow.

Next Thredbo-I rode Ramshead twice last year cause Kosi broke, thats the first time in around 5 years cause it hardly ever opens. And T Bars, I think I agreed with the "wind" factor, I'd love to see some chairs around Thredbo central and the basin but they would be on wind hold-a lot. But they are heaps higher and possibly a lot more exposed than Falls.

2Kms, are you sure? Hey Ill believe you, but how long's the "black" bit.

 

[Bogong]

Well TB, even if wishing well was a vertical cliff, it would be over twice as long as the 150 metres you claim.
In fact its about 3km long, which means you understated it's length by ... ... 20 times.
It's marked in Blue (not black) on the extreme right of this map.

Actually, I've only skied at Falls Creek for one day this century, and that was in 2006, when there was very little snow anywhere in the country.
So I'm not a Falls Creek advocate, It's just that I hate people misrepresenting things with false stories.

Just as I point out HiLo's deliberate errors of fact when he attacks the Christians without justification
or Sidetrack when he attacks Yowie snowshoes. I have NO vested interest in any of these things,
I just dislike people lying to advance any negative agenda and the only way to stop people doing this is to shoot them down with undeniable facts.

 

[tbnext]

Ok was probably jigsaw/roller coaster that I speak of, but I really dont remember that many "turns" much pointing skis ahead through narrow tree track. That can be fun too.

I told the person who asked he would like FC, hell I went thereabout 5 times and honestly some of the best and v worst of Aus. I'm just not going back, but you enjoy now.

 

[Hunter]

In fact its about 3km long,

The line on the map might be but the run is nowhere near that length, a good portion of it is just a glide to the real fall line part, as is the case in all the runs in this area of the mountain.

 

[Ian D]

Which is how all resorts determine their "longest runs".

Falls has nothing to compare to Rock Garden or Yarrandoo or Olympic or in length and consistent pitch with Mt P.

It does however have plenty to compare with Pretty Valley, Interceptor, Centre Valley, The Summit at BC.

In terms of lifting there are 2 high speed pomas and apart from some beginner stuff the rest are all quad chairs (and one triple).

Runs aren't long on the south side but then most lifts are so close to ski on that a lift queue of 1 minute is long most of the time.

Summit at Falls is similar to Summit at BC or lower half of Towers on Mt P. Cabbage Patch (skiers left of Summit) is probably the most challenging skiing on the mountain and is rarely groomed - closest to Rock Garden, a bit shorter and not quite as steep but a similar style run depending on which line you take. The Y's also a fairly solid pitch on it and is narrow but requires access via the slow Eagle triple and is probably as close to something like Yarrandoo as you will get.

The Maze area is similar to Centre Valley, lots of it cruisy with short sometimes narrow steeps. It is serviced by a high speed poma which also rarely has a queue.

There are 2 main parks for freestyle, beginners park on Drovers with a series of small rollers and boxes etc and the main one on Ruined Castle which is much more full on.

Also be aware that for some reason there are a group of people on here that pretty much hate Falls and feel compelled to put it down at every opportunity they can. Falls doesn't suit everyone (no resort does) but it does have a range of attributes, look for the positives and have a great week.

 

[andyR]

I'm a Hotham skier. We have better steeps and natural terrain.

Falls has better jibbing, park and pipe

We don't even have a pipe now, the pipe making machine just sits there next to the workshop

Falls is a better beginner and intermediate mountain

At Hotham you have to learn to inmprove quickly otherwise you wont have that much fun esp on carp weather days when all the beginner runs are in the clouds and windy as hell

Hope this helkp some

 

[SnowTragic]

Thanks for all your help and inside tips. You guys (and girls) have been bl00dy fantastic!

Just waiting now on confirmation that Falls Creek is included in the Perisher pass as their season pass website has disappeared along with any reference to FC and Hotham being included on the season pass *grrrr*

I am really hoping that when the website comes back online, it will still include FC and Hotham as that would be awesome. After all this talk I was getting quite excited about actually going and trying them out! And am now quite disappointed that it may not be the case...

*crossing fingers and waiting*

 

[Ian D]

Thanks for all your help and inside tips. You guys (and girls) have been bl00dy fantastic!

Then stick around - you may be able to return the favour

 

[Hunter]

Also be aware that for some reason there are a group of people on here that pretty much hate Falls and feel compelled to put it down at every opportunity they can.

Also be aware that for some reason there are a group of people on here that constantly over state, exaggerate and generally look at their particular pet resort with nothing but starry eyes ( these are distinct from those paid to do so ) and one has to be careful to recognise this. Falls for some reason seems to attract the biggest following of same.

 

[Hunter]

Which is how all resorts determine their "longest runs".

Some do it better than others. Bad enough Buller probably adds Whiskey Creek track as part of LBS distance, but in this instance and in comparison to the 3km of Wishing well it would be similar to Buller measuring LBS starting at the top of BB2 !

That aside zipper and chainsaw are quality runs as they do follow the fall line well.

 

[Charles]

Actually, I've only skied at Falls Creek for one day this century, and that was in 2006, when there was very little snow anywhere in the country.
So I'm not a Falls Creek advocate, It's just that I hate people misrepresenting things with false stories.

lol.. That is when I started and yes, Falls Creeks was utterly barren late July. I am back again this season for the fourth time and even though I board Japan, I still miss Falls Creek just for the overall package that it presents.

P.S. Koki is a good place and has a fantastic kitchen, just bring the food or shop locally and help local business.. That is what I do

 

[Bogong]

Actually I'm a bit embarrassed about that. In my teens and 20's, I used to ski at Falls for several weeks each year.
But then I sold my club membership and lost contact with the people I used to ski with.
But I do still love the place.

Since 2006 I've skied at every resort in Victoria and Tasmania... except Falls Creek.

But I still do a bit of cross country skiing and hiking from there. But that hasn't put much money into their economy,
except when I've run a few 5 day summer hiking tours where I've hired Falls Creek lodges on Boxing Day and at Easter.

 

[SnowTragic]

Thanks for all your help and inside tips. You guys (and girls) have been bl00dy fantastic!

Then stick around - you may be able to return the favour

Will do. Waiting with anticipation that the Falls/Hotham thing will return. Perisher have said 2 weeks until their website is back up again but they've been saying 2 weeks since mid-Feb... Going to go nuts if I have to wait another 2 weeks!

 

[SnowTragic]

Thanks for all your help and inside tips. You guys (and girls) have been bl00dy fantastic!

Then stick around - you may be able to return the favour

Will do. Waiting with anticipation that the Falls/Hotham thing will return. Perisher have said 2 weeks until their website is back up again but they've been saying 2 weeks since mid-Feb... Going to go nuts if I have to wait another 2 weeks!

Hmmm so officially 2 weeks later and....................................... nothing.
Might have to give Perisher a call tomorrow and see wtf is going on

 

[pansnow]

I skied falls creek for the first time last year.
I have done most of my Aus sking at perisher blue and some at Thredbo.
OS skied whislter,NZ and helisking.
If you are a exprienced skier who likes a challenge you will very quickly get board at Falls creek.
The summit and the International are my pick.If you prefer it steep.
If you want to do high speed turns head over the back to ruined castle and the lift next to it the name escapes me thats were the intenational ski teams do there training.
But if the weather is windy and low visbilty don,t bother going over the back.
If you have a young family falls is the place to go.
Last year my wife and I shared a day ticket swapped jackates, at falls this was very easy since one of us could stay at
the lodge with the kids while the other one skied and getting back to lodge and away again was quick and easy ski and ski out.
Not really an option at thredbo and you have to be on the right spot to do it at Perisher.

 

[K@os]

If you want bulk-cheap accomodation with no frills whasoever - just a warm, dry place to sleep with a kitchen - then Southern Cross Flats is about as cheap as it gets at Falls. Stayed there in 2007 and it suited our needs (4 guys). Dunno if it's still there though, last I heard the Falls board was not going to renew his lease...probably in order to bulldoze it and put up another monstrosity that will cost a fortune.

 

[Apresski]

Southern Cross flats are for sale, so until they are sold I imagine they are still for rent, probably through Phantom, http://www.mountainmultiservice.com.au