International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Australia/New Zealand Snow Season 2018

[Jellybeans1000]

We are now in May, which means we are getting close to the beginning of our season in Australia(5 weeks!), as well as the season over the Tasman in NZ. We had some snow fall a couple of days ago, and looking forward to more snow (20-50cm) on Thursday through to Sunday.

(Top: Perisher, Bottom: The Remarkables)

Our resorts!!!
Perisher: https://www.perisher.com.au/
Thredbo: https://www.thredbo.com.au/
Buller: http://www.mtbuller.com.au/Winter/
Falls Creek: http://www.fallscreek.com.au/
Hotham: http://www.mthotham.com.au/
Treble Cone: http://www.treblecone.com/
Cardrona: https://www.cardrona.com/
Coronet Peak: https://www.nzski.com/queenstown/the-mountains/coronet-peak
The Remarkables: https://www.nzski.com/queenstown/the-mountains/the-remarkables/the-remarkables-weather-report
Cragieburn Valley: http://craigieburn.co.nz/
Mt Hutt: https://www.nzski.com/mt-hutt
Whakapapa: http://www.mtruapehu.com/winter/whakapapa/
Turoa: http://www.mtruapehu.com/winter/Turoa/


Some key links.
Leading Aussie Snow Industry site and forums: http://ski.com.au/forum/index.html
NZ Snow Forums: http://snow.co.nz/forum/
Snowcams (including private and club cams): https://www.ski.com.au/snowcams/index.html



AUS & NZ Snow Forecasts on ski.com.au.
And http://www.snowatch.com.au/
And http://www.mountainwatch.com/
And https://longrangesnowcenter.blogspot.com.au/


A couple of snow retailers
http://www.snowskierswarehouse.com.au/
https://alpsport.com.au/
http://bumps.com.au/
https://aussieskier.com/


More information
Ask here or at a local forum!
Wikiski: http://wikiski.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
A developing resource with Australia and NZ having best coverage.

And I recently uploaded my season 2018 outlook, which you can see on the link below:
https://longrangesnowcenter.blogspot.com.au/2018/05/australia-winter-2018-seasonal-outlook.html

Cheers to all, and hopefully we have a great season 2018 on both sides of the Tasman.

 

[Jellybeans1000]

And the leftovers from the system on Thursday/Friday, on the Main Range near Thredbo.

And those rocks in the distance around Early April (Photo:Me)

 

[dbostedo]

Time to watch and live vicariously via the Southern Hemisphere....

 

[Marty McSly]

Time to watch and live vicariously via the Southern Hemisphere....

I'll have a run or 2 for you!

 

[socalgal]

Thanks for the links! We are *tentatively* looking at a trip in 2019 for either NZ or Europe and getting some ideas.

 

[Wasatchman]

Quite a bit of snowfall in New Zealand already. One of the resorts (Cardrona) is taking the rare step of opening nearly three weeks early for a special "teaser" weekend opening for those begging for an early season ski fix.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104271498/cardrona-alpine-resort-opens-as-a-teaser-this-weekend

Most resorts in New Zealand will be opening in late June. Ski shop shelves in Wanaka already stocked with the 2019 ski models.

 

[Jellybeans1000]

Quite a bit of snowfall in New Zealand already. One of the resorts (Cardrona) is taking the rare step of opening nearly three weeks early for a special "teaser" weekend opening for those begging for an early season ski fix.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104271498/cardrona-alpine-resort-opens-as-a-teaser-this-weekend

Most resorts in New Zealand will be opening in late June. Ski shop shelves in Wanaka already stocked with the 2019 ski models.

Whakapapa on the North Island opened today.

 

[Jellybeans1000]

So we had a little snowfall here in Australia. One of our resorts, Hotham, reached 95cm or 37 inches. Some of the highlights....







(First 4 pics at Hotham, 5-6 Perisher and Last at Buller)

All from the past few days.

Best early season start since 2000 at Perisher, 5th Best snow at this point in the season in 40 years at Buller.... the head ski patroller at Hotham can't even remember any years that are as good as this at this point in the season. It's absolutely incredible here.

 

[dave-o]

Holy Moly!
Did you get the place to yourselves?

 

[Jellybeans1000]

Holy Moly!
Did you get the place to yourselves?

Not me, those lucky ducks did. Resorts are empty at the moment. I believe most of it was poaching locals, apart from the Buller last pic.

 

[fmcl]

Nobody here books a trip so early in the season as theres often no snow.

Weekend warriors a bit , otherwise just a few locals out. Great times!

 

[sbooker]

Our Aussie season is a fickle beast. The next front to roll through could produce 3 inches of r**n to wash all that away.
Here's hoping regular top ups consolidate what is a great start though.

 

[sinbad7]

It's a good thing the skiers above are on fat skis otherwise they could be riding the grass and dirt beneath the first of our season's snow. Most resorts reported between 70-85cm of snow, which is a great start. Last Wednesday it was all grass, with the exception of Perisher's Front Valley.

Thredbo has announced it is opening the Supertrail and the Antons T-bar on Friday, followed by the Basin on Saturday. Super early in the season to have all those areas open. It's not unknown for the Supertrail to be sketchy in mid-July. And this is all following near-record warmth in May.

Driving down to Thredbo for the weekend. Wasn't expecting to take skis, but will have to change that plan now.

Perisher cams.



Thredbo cams.

 

[Marty McSly]

By way of contrast, I visited Perisher on the opening long weekend, 9 to 11 June, staying an extra couple of days until the Wednesday. This was before Ullr delivered, and Perisher opened for the season with a single WROD of man-made snow under a single lift, the Village 8 chair.


The crowds were insane on the Saturday and Sunday. I got a few runs in early both days and retreated when the lift queue blew out to over half an hour (which was about 9.30 on the Sunday). It seemed that half of Sydney was on the mountain.



After 1 on the Monday, the crowds subsided and it was possible to get a few runs in relatively quickly.



Come Tuesday, the first of the precipitation arrived. Unfortunately it was clear, rather than white. It kept the crowds away in droves however, and with the help of a complete change of clothes mid-morning and the purchase of some cheap PVC gloves, I was able to ski until almost the last lift. By then the rain had given way to snow and conditions were much more comfortable than the soggy morning.


For most of the time, the snow was generally wet and heavy or slushy. A little overnight cold snap on Sunday night allowed some snowmaking, and there was some firm and smooth corduroy for the first couple of runs on Monday morning. This suited the Head i.Supershape Rally that I took out that morning, until slushy piles started to form and the skis felt to be grabbing random edges. Most of the time I skied a pair of Blizzard Latigo, which I found comfortable, confidence inspiring and forgiving when I wasn't 100% on my game, or had to take evasive action to avoid one of the many hazards, natural or human, that featured prominently in such marginal conditions.

Nonetheless, it was skiing and it beat working, hands down.

 

[Talisman]

For most of the time, the snow was generally wet and heavy or slushy. A little overnight cold snap on Sunday night allowed some snowmaking, and there was some firm and smooth corduroy for the first couple of runs on Monday morning. This suited the Head i.Supershape Rally that I took out that morning, until slushy piles started to form and the skis felt to be grabbing random edges. Most of the time I skied a pair of Blizzard Latigo, which I found comfortable, confidence inspiring and forgiving when I wasn't 100% on my game, or had to take evasive action to avoid one of the many hazards, natural or human, that featured prominently in such marginal conditions.

Nonetheless, it was skiing and it beat working, hands down.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for sharing the pictures and comments with those of us in full on Northern Hemisphere summer. What do you call that really crowded early season run (piste)? In the US it is WROD = white ribbon of death, but it looks the same.

 

[Marty McSly]

What do you call that really crowded early season run (piste)? In the US it is WROD = white ribbon of death, but it looks the same.

I've seen "white ribbon of death" in posts on the Australian ski forum I'm on, but I do recall picking up WROD from lurking on Epicski.

It's certainly an apt description of the conditions over that first weekend though. Surprisingly, there was very little banana boat action, given the wide range of abilities and speeds on display.

There were a couple of places near the edges where the groomers left a couple of little jumps. These were entertaining as about 90% of the people who tried to get air off these (mostly snowboarding teenagers), landed butt first. A couple of times, people went off the edge of the WROD and ended up covered in mud.

 

[sinbad7]

If you think about it this is probably how our cameras should look from the US.


Actually that's making me feel quite ill ...

This tree seems to be taking exception to being in the path of a snow gun.

 

[sinbad7]

It's puking. Game on !!!

 

[Jackski009]

Hey Guys, first post. I am heading to Australia Skiing and am going to Perisher and Thredbo. We will stay in Jindabyne so we can ski whichever resort suits for the day. I have been looking at these: Perisher Forecasts and Thredbo forecast. Anyone got any other useful forecast pages to check out? Or any local tips and recommendations? Ill post lots of pics here when I am down next week.

 

[Beerman]

Hey Guys, first post. I am heading to Australia Skiing and am going to Perisher and Thredbo. We will stay in Jindabyne so we can ski whichever resort suits for the day. I have been looking at these: Perisher Forecasts and Thredbo forecast. Anyone got any other useful forecast pages to check out? Or any local tips and recommendations? Ill post lots of pics here when I am down next week.

Check out https://www.ski.com.au/xf/forums/weather.16/