Jim Harker's Cross Country Skiing Page
Victoria, Australia

Australia has the reputation of a country with beaches and desert, but it actually has skiiable snow as well. Admittedly the snow can be marginal at times but you can usually have agood ski season in the mountains of New South Wales and Victoria, and sometimes Tasmania. I use Morotto Dolomiti step telemark skis.

Alpine Weather

Official Victorian snow reportIncludes reports on each resort. The Forums section includes discussion boards on weather and unofficial snow reports from members of the public. Log on and enter your own comments!

Ski cameras

Sunrise/Sunset Moonrise/Moonset

• 22 - 23 July 2000 Bogong High Plains Camped in a gully half km east of Watchbed Creek. Met some people who had been up for a week and they reported getting 1 metre of snow on 20 and 21 July. Due to the gale force winds we skiied in protected areas. The snow had formed cornices over the Langford West aquaduct and Wallace's Hut was half buried. I haven't seen snow like this since the early 90's. Parts of the Langford East and West aquaducts were frozen over and almost buried by snow. We had about half a metre of snow on the weekend.
• 29 - 30 July Snowy Plains/Mt Reynard

  Skiied on weekend of 29/30 July. Drove to the car park near the gate at The Gorge (the gate was closed). There was a Ford Falcon having problems getting clearance over the snow on the road past Lost Plain on Saturday morning but by Sunday afternoon enough had melted that there would have been no problems getting a Falcon out. The cover was a disappointment, a base of 15 - 25 cm. Obviously this area has missed out on most of the snow. We skiied Mt Reynard and along the road past the Snowy Plains airstrip. Not only was there not much cover but it was a mixture of ice and breakable crust.

• Went up Mt Wills on Saturday 5 August. We were able to drive to Tallangatta ski club hut, where there was a gate across the road. From there the track was a mix of snow and dirt for about 1 km until we were able to leave the skis on. The top was lovely skiing. It was after several days of 16 - 18 degree temperatures and the snow was like spring snow in the sun, (but icy in the shade). We had beautiful 360 degree views from the top, Bogong, high plains and Main Range. The last entry in the log book was 18 June. Went up Mt Wills on Saturday 5 August. We were able to drive to Tallangatta ski club hut, where there was a gate across the road. From there the track was a mix of snow and dirt for about 1 km until we were able to leave the skis on. The top was lovely skiing. It was after several days of 16 - 18 degree temperatures and the snow was like spring snow in the sun, (but icy in the shade). We had beautiful 360 degree views from the top, Bogong, high plains and Main Range. The last entry in the log book was 18 June.
• The Bluff 12 - 13 August 2000
  Skiied The Bluff over the weekend, using the direct ascent from Refrigerator Gap. Road in was icy but it had melted by Sunday afternoon.There was snow and slush on the track on the way up. The track is really heavily eroded now. The base on top was about 70 cm. Skiied out to Mt Lovick and only had to take skis off around Bluff Hut which had plenty of wheeltracks around. Very icy Sunday morning but softened nicely by the afternoon. Looking out we could see good cover on Mt Clear, Magdala, Howitt and Speculation. Also on Snowy Plains, Mt Reynard and Mt McDonald. The low saddles between them didn't show any snow, nor did Mt Tamboritha.

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