ausi ski bum 1 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Well it is here in Australia anyway, season opens in 10 days and the resorts are looking nice and white. Its actually not common to have snow at the opening weekend and after last years disaterous season this is certainly a welcome sight Link to post Share on other sites
spook 0 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 are you actually at falls creek? is the terrain any good? are there interesting and varied off-piste options? i've never been even remotely tempted to ski in australia. flying over from perth, i can pretty much spend the same amount of time in japan for the same price. $90 for a lift ticket?! you have got to be kidding me. but i guess it's what the market will bear. i'm interested to see how the season pans out though, so keep posting some updates. Link to post Share on other sites
ausi ski bum 1 Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 Hi Spook I live about 360 km from Falls Creek in country NSW but I own an apartment up there so I spend most weekends there. Its a nice resort but like all Australian resorts a lot smaller than Japan and the runs are quite short in comparison. There is a variety of runs from groomed ones to tree runs but certainly enough to keep the average skier ammused. I used to fly from Perth to FC each year and have to agree the cost of just getting there makes looking at Japan a very viable option. Perhaps when your over there for some other reason take a trip to one of the resorts, you are sure to have a bit of fun. As for lift tickets well I guess we have a shorter season to pay for the same infrastructure hence the higher price, its that or walk up the hills I guess Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Cost is also for insurance. The liabity issues are much different here. I do think the resorts could charge an extra 5 bucks here and not have it effect them. That 5 bucks could mean making a buck or making a loss. Link to post Share on other sites
ausi ski bum 1 Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 My fear is some of the Japanese resorts are doing it tough due to the lower prices being to low, I would rather pay a few more $ more for a ticket and be sure my favourite resort is still there in a few years time. The other issue is in Japan there are so many resorts where as in Australia only a few so if the tickets were cheaper here they would be very over crowded, I tend to think pricing is also used to set the optimum user numbers as well. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Also wages are higher too. Link to post Share on other sites
Curt 1 Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 I wish it were snowing here. Hope you have a good one. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 The worst thing about skiing in Aus is the car entry fees to the mountains. I think it's now close to $30 a day or something in Vic? I mean hell they have to do a lot more snow clearing on the roads here in Japan and no entry fees at all. And the food expenses on mountain are just ridiculous, about 3x what you'd pay elsewhere? Here in Japan there is hardly any mark-up at all on mountain. Whatever way you look at it, Japan is just so much better value for money skiing and the difference in snow quality?...you just can't compare. I really don't think I could ever ski again at an Australian ski resort. Link to post Share on other sites
Mantas 3 Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 Originally Posted By: Go Native The worst thing about skiing in Aus is the car entry fees to the mountains. I think it's now close to $30 a day or something in Vic? I mean hell they have to do a lot more snow clearing on the roads here in Japan and no entry fees at all. And the food expenses on mountain are just ridiculous, about 3x what you'd pay elsewhere? Here in Japan there is hardly any mark-up at all on mountain. Whatever way you look at it, Japan is just so much better value for money skiing and the difference in snow quality?...you just can't compare. I really don't think I could ever ski again at an Australian ski resort. I agree with all that GN. but I'm still going down his year anyway. There's a lot less hassle involved to get there. No plane, trains, busses, passports, 24 hour journeys ect. Just jump in the car and go. Link to post Share on other sites
kaiser soce 0 Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 I always find it hard to buy into the shorter season argument for Australia's expensive tickets. Even though the seasons OS are alot longer there still IMO only 3 months max where they are making their money. Surely big resorts in japan would be losing money running their lifts and paying their staff after say the middle of march and before the middle of December??? We might have a 3 month season but the resorts always seem to be busy for those 3 months.... correct me if I am wrong though! Link to post Share on other sites
---- 0 Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 Are those charges in the form of a toll road or something? How does that work? Link to post Share on other sites
Mantas 3 Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 In NSW the snow fields are located within the NSW national park, so a fee to enter the park is required. As for the Victoria fields, I think it a straight up charge to bring your up your car on the mountain. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 From News.com. "According to snowfall charts, there's 5cm of coverage at Mt Buller and Falls Creek and 2cm at Mt Hotham and Mt Baw Baw." Enjoy Link to post Share on other sites
pjem 0 Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 Sounds like the season we just had Link to post Share on other sites
Fossil 0 Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 It feels cold enough out here in the desert in the mornings for snow. I agree with SPOOK its far too expensive to ski in Australia if you have to travel more than a few miles. Id like to patronise Aussie resorts but its Japan for me. PS I hope you have a good season Ausi Ski Bum. Link to post Share on other sites
ausi ski bum 1 Posted June 3, 2007 Author Share Posted June 3, 2007 I was up at Falls Creek today putting supplies into the apartment before the roads close (after next weekend cars can not enter the town as we ski on the roads). Was nice to see a cover of snow but unfortunatly it was raining. As for resort entry, the fee covers the cost of parking, ski patrol and services in the town such as sewage etc. It is a lot cheaper to get a season pass if you are a regular visitor. Carparking is also expensive as there is very little flat land, It costs over $40,000 to build a single parking space at Falls Creek. Food on the mountain is way to expensive we never eat at the places on the snow, we always ski back to the apartment and ski out again afterwards. I really enjoyed the variet and quality of food on mountain at Niseko, put Australian resorts to shame. But that all said I bought new boots today and some for my son and we have all the ski's and food in the apartment so bring on the snow. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 ASB I really hope you guys get a good one this year. Although I probably won't ski at an Aussie ski resort again I still love the Aussie backcountry. Feathertop, Bogong and the Main Range still hold some of my greatest skiing memories even when compared to my skiing here in Hokkaido. Link to post Share on other sites
ausi ski bum 1 Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 There is certainly some beutiful country out there but its so sad to see the damage from the 2003 and 2006 bush fires, we lost so much in those. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Hey Go Native, I find that last comment curious - you saying it is better than up there in Niseko? Link to post Share on other sites
I'm Sexy 0 Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 I would love go to Australia in Japanese summer month. But usually I am working for Japanese winter. Please tell us about the snow there. Link to post Share on other sites
ausi ski bum 1 Posted June 8, 2007 Author Share Posted June 8, 2007 Austrailia being the hottest driest continent on Earth is luck to have snow at all however the area it does snow in is only about 0.1% of the total country. There are two areas about 100km apart. One is in the state of Victoria where the three main resorts are Buller, Hotham and Falls Creek, they range in size from 250 hectares to 450 hectares. In New South Wales you have Thredbo, Perisher and the smaller Selwyn. The biggest is Perisher which is over 1200 hectares. Snow in Australia is a lot heavier than Japan. we rarely get powder or the huge dumps of snow you get but in an average year we get around 4 metres of snow that creates a 1 to 2 metre base, last year without snowmakin we would have skied only a few weeks and thats why our resorts have millions of dollars invested in Snowmaking, the resort I know best has over $10 million invested in snowmaking. Our runs are pretty short and we dont have a lot of height in the runs either. many are less than 1km long and drop only 150 to 300 metres. Our temperatures are not very cold so we only get snow on the peaks of our highest hills (mountains) and they are only 1500 to 1850 metres high. My apartments in Falls Creek are above the snow line and the streets are covered in snow in the town so we ski from the door to the lifts and back. Its very unique. Our seasonm is from now until the end of September however June and September are marginal with the main season being just July and August. If you have only ever skied in Japan you would find our resorts very limited, you would however enjoy them if your in the country for a holiday in our winder s you would see a very different side of Australia. But its snow and its our snow so we love it. Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 good to hear it. Rip it up. I'm stuck in muggy-ville. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Originally Posted By: BagOfCrisps Hey Go Native, I find that last comment curious - you saying it is better than up there in Niseko? I wouldn't say backcountry in Aus is better than here it's just very different. Things that are great about backcountry in Aus are temps are not too cold (rarely below -15 on the Main range and rarely below -10 in Vic), whereas here in Niseko those kind of temps are pretty normal. Aus backcountry rarely has major avalanche concerns whereas here you have to be a lot more aware. And the snowgums in Aus (those that haven't been destroyed by fires in recent years) are really beautiful and unique. Also if you camp out backcountry in Niseko you may find your tent getting completely buried overnight, this is not so much a problem in Aus. Aus backcountry is awesome but it's pretty amazing here too. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Snowgums - intriguing name... Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Gum trees (eucalypts) in the snow. Australia's mountains aren't high enough to be above the tree line. Marginal. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts