spoke to the drone guy - too windy. He put it up a couple of times and nearly lost it so they had to pull the pin. First year teething issues of where to place cameras, etc - I'll cut them some slack. The edited footage they are getting up on Vimeo is great. Overall I'd say it was a huge success - if they happen to get it up again next year, I'll be watching from below with CM
Yes definitely a hair dryer. We are now on the other side of the peak depth. Still lots and lots of snow, but it is melting.
I went back on my previous call of skipping buller as a result of northside closure, as it was open so here's this: A beautiful day, mostly sunny, odd big cloud and comfortable in a long sleeve shirt. Wanted to warm up on bonza, patrol advised against it due to the freeze overnight and lack of grooming. A good call, the access track to grimus was quite hard. Dropping into a groomed summit, again hard but not as bad. Very icy away from groomed areas. Lapped wombat a bit and stuff softened up. Attempted to lap family but was not worth it with the crowds gathered (relieved if koflers was to open). Lunch at koflers, then headed up summit. Dropped into all runs bar hut run around grimus, was very chopped up due to lack of grooming but provided a challenging riding experience. Went to see the other side. Shakey was Shakey, but fun enough to lap a few times. Dropping into standard was nice, once softened up and surprisingly mogul less. Peaked over into bull bowl, it's a no from me (see attached). Finished finally with some laps of wombat bowl which was nice and soft as the day progressed. Overall a fun day, great snow and amounts considering the dates and only hampered by a closed koflers
Well today was prime. What a day to give the kids their first real taste of Buller, and their first real spring skiing experience. The kids have been to Buller before but mainly for tobogganing and snowplay. My son had skied the magic carpet but that was it. So anyway, a 5:30 am wake-up with a 6 am planned departure was a bit optimistic, we ended up leaving at about 6:40 am so we were running late. By the time we got the kids' gear from Mansfield Buller Sports and took the Northside Express it was 10:30 am before we had first turns down Burnt Hut Spur. My son hit his strides quickly and was enjoying his first full day with poles. My daughter got upset after three turns "I can't do this! I want to go home"...which turned to smiles after the end of the first run. After three runs my son needed to go the toilet. It turned out that Spurs was shut. The nearest toilet was the Tirol Hut. It turns out that attempted to traverse across from Spurs to Shakey Knees for young beginner skiers isn't easy when they don't groom the track. We ended up skiing the top half of Tirol and then cutting across through the trees (because the bottom half of Tirol was grass). This involved some old fashioned bushwacking through the trees, some tears, removal of skis and almost falling into a creek. Luckily we survived and ended up skiing down the lower half of Shakey Knees. By this point I had a full rebellion on my hands from both kids "I want to go home! I hate Mt Buller! etc.". I said that's fine, I'll put you into day care** and I'll ski myself. After we got to Tirol I fed them and that seemed to calm them down. Across to Bourke St which was an absolute disaster in terms of traffic so we took the Abom Express and headed over to Family Run. The kids loved it and we did about three laps before heading into Koflers for their first ever on-mountain lunch. My daughter told one of the (very nice) guys serving in the kitchen "This is a very nice cafeteria" which pleased him so much he got my daughter to repeat it to the owner. Then a run of Summit just to show the kids the top of the mountain and the great views. Another run of Family Run followed and then I thought we'd finish up with Wombat. My daughter was whinging at this point that her legs were sore (too much wide-legged snowplough in the backseat) but she managed to finish it without too much drama. Then a ski back via Bourke St to the shuttle bus back to Horse Hill. Having never skied Buller with beginner skiers before, a couple of things stand out. 1) Burnt Hut Spur is a great beginner space, but access to/from it is appalling. There was no cut/groomed trail to / from Spurs. So the kids just kept sliding down the fall-line across the slush into Tirol. 2) Bourke St, even mid-week at the end of September is a nightmare. It's even less useful than Slalom Gully. 3) The flat aspects of the Buller 'hump' require a lot of towing of little ones. I think that Buller and Hotham are both pretty bad places to learn to ski. Big D at Hotham is better than anything Buller has to offer IMO (i.e. a nice wide open space, relatively sheltered and very accessible for beginners). Buller's advantage over Hotham is much better 'easy blues' (e.g. Family Run, Summit, LBS/Wombat). **I now realise that day care only applies to kids under 3 and it's finished for the season anyway. Nice to go back for the first time since 2010. As the kids get older I think that regular day-trips with them could be on the menu.
Apple Pie was sold out so we made do with the Apricot Mogul. Anyway, I said to the kids today "You are now proper skiers. You came to a new mountain, explored it, did lots of different runs. You can ski in traffic, you can navigate terrain. All that's left for you now is to feel it." I also pointed out why it's good to have lessons in the rain. So when you do get prime days, you have the skills and mileage to make the most of it.
Thanks for the pics and report @Rush Looks like your kids enjoyed themselves. And the weather looks beautiful. Good advice. Also thanks @Kenziepettit for your report too.
Yes when I was instructing getting kids back from the Spurs area was always a nightmare. When they redeveloped Burnt Hut there was talk about a second lift from Spurs to Baldy, it would be fantastic but it will be behind the 2 big lift priorities which is replacing BB1 and relocating Wombat to Grimus and replacing Wombat with a detachable 6 seater. I also reckon Summit/Howqua will be re-thought before the Spurs idea as well.
Is that serious? Every time I am on Wombat, people complain about how long it is. I am glad that BSL is replacing it with a six pack detachable. Grimus also definitely needs a replacement with it's noisy bottom station and Boggy Creek having to be dismantled for the Dam.
Think so. BB1 is getting very expensive to maintain as it was essentially a prototype so there are no parts. It's the word around the campfire.
Only a few runs need doing regularly, summit slide, howqua, summit and shakey for instance and none were groomed, all had a at least a day skiing on them already if not more and i headed straight to the summit when lifts opened. They had done summit a day or so back but only a narrow section along the green side of the lift of which the rest of it to skiers left as you come down it was wind scoured. Previous 2 days earlier in the season were fog so I was down lower but shakey first run had a days skiing on it already and other runs not groomed. Seems they only do it for the weekends and maybe once or twice mid week. In past years I could get those runs clean groomed in the mornings on most mid week days, and any not only had a day skiing on them. Looking at my past vidoes from 2011 2010 I can see lots of grooming on first runs, this year no video off fresh groomed first runs at Buller.
I've heard they want to do it this summer. As mentioned, BB1 was the world's first detachable quad, and it's essentially a prototype. When BB2 was ripped out it was as much for parts to keep BB1 going, but it's getting very costly to maintain. 6 seater means a 50% increase in capacity which is great, I think the snow factory will be incorporated in to the new top station.
Ideally this summer yes. There's only one other chair in the world the same model as BB I believe in Quebec. Not incorporating snow factory at this stage.
What is the day parking situation like during the current school holidays but mid week? I’m thinking of a day trip during the week next week. Is it as crazy as recent weekends?
Trying to snow right now. Skiing is pretty good on this poor man's powder. No queues. I hope Monday will be sunny.
We got into the back of Horse Hill car park at 10 am last Tuesday. Still plenty of room in the upper section.
Some pics from today. Went pretty much to every lift open. First tracks on 5cm of powder down Standard. Powder stashes in certain other spots (Boggy Creek in the trees especially). Icey except for a few groomers in the morning. Soft in the afternoon. Also went for several walks to the Fire Hut to take in the nice view and to make a few turns into Slalom Gully. Fairly good day. Should be better tomorrow.
