Snow Report Thredbo 2019 Trip Report, Conditions & Pics

They're lights. Certainly.

The southerly change just hit Sydney.

 

Dawesy. At Snowmaking Control.

"Fire and Rescue NSW, Station 451 (a real team of legends) are driving around town looking for and putting out any embers that float in from some new fires started by dry lightning south of the border in Victoria and they may float our way for a while yet. We will continue to put water up the mountain to help protect our assets like lifts and restaurants for another couple of hours. Been running the snowmaking system to do this for six hours so far. Feeling happy about dodging this bullet this time unlike so many unlucky other towns in South Eastern Australia over the past few days. Hopefully we will succeed in minimising the risk of losing our awesome home so everyone can enjoy it for years to come."



See. Told you he was a legend

 

still smoky yet less orange on the cams looks better on the Bom. Hoping the forecast is accurate

 

Zillion likes!

 

Little bit of rain fell in Thredbo overnight, which is very welcome. It poured with rain in Cooma for a bit. Might be more accurate to say it poured with mud as the heavy rain dragged a lot of ash out of the air.

Speaking of which, one of Cooma's twin 4.5 million litre water reservoirs failed yesterday sending a wave of water through the town, washing cars down streets and generally creating mayhem.

https://www.news.com.au/national/ns...n/news-story/27bf58d4a97743123359719167e601da

Seems one of the tanks had previously been emptied to fix a small leak. They filled it back up in case they needed water reserves to fight the fires. Looking at the images on TV a third of the reservoir wall is just gone.

 

Pouring rain in Batemans Bay.

 

13° in Thredbo. Zero wind. Humidity is at 97% (they're up in the smoky clouds right now) and it's been drizzling. What a difference a day makes.

 

I work outside in Sydney.
Last month when the smoke was at its worst here, I used the same filter mask - I normally use it for protection from chemicals used to remove graffiti - perfect for smoke as well

 

P3 masks are the go. Anything less and you are only stopping the ash. P1 dust masks you see every one using are useless against smoke particulates that get into the depths of your lungs and don't come out.

 

Assuming the fires don't flare up again in the coming months (expert predictions say the fires could last another two months), it seems Thredbo has survived.
Unfortunately, Selwyn is not so lucky. It is unknown what level of damage has occurred, other than it is "extensive". It is a sad day for Australian skiing.
In lighter news, I have heard talk that Thredbo may re-open in the next couple of weeks

 

Just got an email from Thredbo.

Permanent Residents can return home. But the resort remains closed to visitors until further notice.

 

We are on the way!

 

That's the snomax mask.

 

This is the first image I've seen from Selwyn.

 

Very glad to say it is pouring in Thredbo. Lots of black bark to remind me how grateful I am to the firies.

 

Also see https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/selwyn-extensively-damaged.86654/

 

I bet this this the only time you will be happy to type this and certainly the only time I will like a post stating it’s raining in Thredbo!

 

We evacuated Thredbo last Thursday, and it’s not hard to see why everyone was so edgy. With fuel loads so heavy for lack of proper management by Parks, it may be of interest, a video I’ve complied from some great Channel 7 content, from my perspective of a retired Fire Control Officer for the southern NSW region

 

I wonder what the chances are that the Blues Festival will still go ahead. It’s sad to think that it could be more money lost to them from this

 

There's a solid chance it won't go ahead. We'll have to hope they decide to open sooner rather than later.
Edit: apparently a decision will be made by January 10th as to whether the Blues Festival goes ahead or not

 

January 10th?

 

Yes, sorry. I'll fix that

 

Yes, this Friday

 

So the Pilot fire has burned south of Alpine Way but this extent has been extinguished. Some containment also on the Eastern edge north of the road. Further work to be done today

 

Any idea how many units are on site, or the level of continued threat to Thredbo (if any)?

 

Yes but no. A group of the fires is being managed together and resources will be shared as appropriate. The immediate threat with benign conditions is reduced, but will depend on upcoming weather and how much work is done before then. So how long's a piece of string?

 

So can we ride today?

 

Thredbo is still closed.

 

i’m hoping they would have insurance in place to cover cancelled events

 

going to be interesting reading on the insurance policies, what can we claim for lost revenue given there is no damage to property. But area closed.

that said we are so much luckier than others so not to stressed.

 

Might be important to consider also whether the state of emergency declaration has any impact

 

businesses are very likely to have business interruption insurance in place (assuming they can afford it).

There will also be lots of FM claims being exercised in contracts

 

true, I was thinking of landlord insurance, and how that grey area may play out

 

Maybe Thredbo could go Parks for not maintaining a safe fuel load...

 

The distinction would be based on reasonable actions - if Parks demonstrated that there were no suitable options for them to undertake hazard reduction, then there's no issue. I'd also suspect that Parks' responsibility for that would stop at the boundary of Thredbo's lease - anything inbounds should be the responsibility of Thredbo, again within reason.

 

I cannot possibly see Thredbo wanting or able to undertake fuel reduction, especially when I heard the Riverside Units fined $2m allegedly for removing a couple of trees hanging over a unit. They got out of it by new plantings...
Hazard reduction is always about priority of assets. Surely Thredbo is one of those and Park fees should fund that protection. I think the real reason is to play Russian Roulette from both Thredbo and Parks as a fuel reduction will always make the area less attractive, in the short term, rather than the lack of resource or weather windows.

 

Just noticed it 2020, should kickoff the Thredbo 2020 thread or wait until she's open again?

Also can a mod remove the Alpine Way Indefinitely Closed thread from the sticky - although to be fair it is closed arm.

 

Thredbo people are all living in the past anyway.

 

If it is closed we'll leave the sticky.

 

Actually we'll close this thread given we have a 2020 thread in 2020.