UPDATE: June 9th at 1pm
A quick lunchtime update – these pics just arrived via MMS:
No further word on any extra lifts for the weekend – will update if I hear anything. As predicted Temps have warmed and the preciptation has headed East, looks like this snow event is complete for Buller.
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UPDATE: June 8th at 8am
Some More Pics:
Conditions will be assessed on a daily basis and we are ready to turn the first lifts of the season for skiing and boarding this weekend. Lifts open for Saturday are expected to include Blue Bullet, Holden Express, Wombat and Bourke Street Carpet.
Note the word ‘include’ – they aren’t restricting themselves to just those lifts if the weather cooperates.
Just got a photo MMS’d from the mountain:
The official snow report is stating 13cm overnight, and the comments that accompanied that picture suggested drifts of up to 50cm near snow fences etc.
Overnight temps of -6c has allowed serious snowmaking to occur.
Will keep this updated as I find out more.
Very soon we will have on-the-ground reporters at Hotham and Buller blogging on the latest conditions.
UPDATE: June 7th at 6pm
I’ve been covering the weather forecasts in another post that has been updated over the course of the day, but in case anyone hasn’t noticed, it’s snowing.
The big news (though not at all unexpected) on the Mt Buller front today is that they have confirmed that lifts will indeed run on Opening Weekend. At this stage they have only committed to BB1 but I would be most surprised if there isn’t more, but of course this is all depending on the outcome of the next few days. My prediction is that we will see at the very least Summit, Little Buller and Shakey Knees in addition to BB1/Bourke St/Baldy. If I can get to Koflers on Saturday, I’ll be a happy camper.
As mentioned early it’s a wonderful PR exercise, and no doubt a major source of bragging rights among the resorts, and in this situation they do make a very real effort to open as much as possible.
The webcams are pretty iced up at the moment, so it’s hard to tell exactly how much has fallen, but this post on the forum from a local suggests that 15cm fell in 2 hours today, no doubt when the big front went through after lunch.
The temperatures have plummeted, and the tell-tale speckled cloud that we love so much is visible on the radar, and satellite meaning more snow is definitely on its way.
I will keep this post updated as I hear more from the hill, particularly to do with which lifts/runs we can expect for the weekend.
UPDATE: June 6th at 6pm
Lorraine Lock has posted a fantastic blog update on snow-blind:
Click here for the gallery with over 20 photos taken this afternoon during a brief clearing.
Thanks Lorraine! You can also Like snow-blind on Facebook.
PREVIOUS POST: June 6th at 8am
Just a quick post to get this week underway.
Looks like the resorts received a modest snowfall overnight, doesn’t look like more than 10cm anywhere, accompanied by cold temperatures. Snowmaking should be proceeding at full swing, given the current temps at approx -5c.
Looking at the Mountainwatch Streaming Cam it would seem that there’s snowmaking on lower LBS. It’s too foggy to see the top half of Bourke St, let alone Baldy, Shakey or Summit.
Not a huge amount of new snow is forecast today, but a second front is due to arrive tonight into tomorrow bringing more significant snow through Thursday. Among others, The Frog is particularly excited.
Stay tuned as I will keep updating this post as more information arrives. If you have anything to add please use the comments below:
