5 June 2008

Ski Season - good or bad this year?

| canberracafe.com
Join the conversation
30

What’s with the heatwave we are having? Will we hold out yet again in desperate hope of a ski season? Has the outrageous consumption of fossilised ameoba killed my snow forever?

Join the conversation

30
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

CT today has an article about this. BOM definitely aren’t predicting a bumper year!

“Bureau of Meteorology climate technical officer Mike De Salis said the bureau didn’t predict snow seasons because it was ”too difficult”.

”In the shorter term, there is quite a cold change coming about Thursday and will probably bring the first snow of the season.”

Mr De Salis said global warming was having an impact on ski seasons, with snow arriving later and finishing earlier.

”But I doubt this will be a bumper year. It’ll probably be an average year or below average, due to the mild temperatures and lack of rain.” “

Late post I know, but here’s some info:
Snow depth charts show a slow decline since 1968. There were some short peaks in 1990 and 2000 but otherwise shorter (and mostly smaller) seasons since the fabled falls of 1981. http://www.thredbo.com.au/uploads/pdf/SEPSnowdepthChart.pdf
This is from thredbo’s website and they don’t show the 1950’s figures which were even bigger.

The CSIRO says it’s particularly noticable in the spring falls with snow depth declining 40% in the last 40 years: http://www.csiro.au/resources/psrs.html

Also the good folk at the bureau say “there is no particular relationship with El Niño or La Niña” although El Nino means less rain so less snow: http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/c20thc/temp5.htm

The short of it is if you ski in July/August there will still be snow but if you’re into those nice spring weekends with your tele skis and tent you might have to pack your walking boots too.

Sadly, the classic cold fronts haven’t been delivering. Our classic weather systems come up from the SW, clip Adelaide and then sweep over us. We get cold, snow and rain. Autumn should have seen a few of these bringing the classic autumn rains, but they didn’t. The few we got brought drizzle, not rain. It’s not a good look.

We seldom get cold fronts coming up from the south. these things roll around the antarctic. Getting significant weather from the east used to be rare, but it’s been increasing and that’s not a good look either, as it rarely penetrates inland enough to be of use to all but the coastal areas (and us, when we’re lucky). We need those SW coldies.

canberracafe.com9:49 am 06 Jun 08

Back when we had ski seasons, what were opening weekends like? Now the reports and conversation seems to revolve around optimistic hope each year.

Well I take comfort in petrol zooming to $3 a litre world wide, perhaps it will at least slow the destruction of our ski fields a little.

la mente torbida9:46 am 06 Jun 08

also agree, there was probably 2 weeks of great snow last year (lucky I was there for 1 of them). The rest of the season was disappointing.

la mente torbida9:45 am 06 Jun 08

I remember following the snowplough into Guthega in the late seventies….150cm of snow overnight….took us 45 minutes to commando crawl from the carpark to the lodge.

canberracafe.com8:46 am 06 Jun 08

It was okay I suppose but being above zero during the day it still got a bit mushy and icy. I hope they fix this global warming thing.

Last years season was a good one. The snow in July was some of the best I’ve ever seen – even as good as NZ snow. It got a bit slushy towards the end of the season but I think it lasted longer than normal.

Felix the Cat9:01 pm 05 Jun 08

canberracafe.com said :

I blame China, and Americans and their SUV’s.

I blame John Stanhope…

Yeah, there’s a piccy up at Charlotte’s of their Ridge chairlift top station down in a giant canyon of snow. Rather hard to imagine nowadays! That was 1981. But remember, the following year, winter forgot to come and we got a thimblfull of snow (literally).

Actually, some la ninas can be utter crep: 1998! What a shocker. It was a great la nina, but up at the snow every snowfall started with rain and ended with rain. The season ended one Saturday night, we’d skiied on the glop on Saturday, then it rained all night. The ropes and cones and bollards were still standing at the t-bars, but all the snow was gone, vanished.

Some el ninos can be OK too, it depends on the severity and some other things.

Thing is, even if we get some “normal” weather systems rolling in from the west (there’s one hovering for next week, maybe), it’s a drought and so far inland precip has been rubbish. There’s no base up there yet, there’s nothing. So we’ll need quite a bit to crush down teh bushes. So it’ll be a while before there’s a season happening.

canberracafe.com7:52 pm 05 Jun 08

I envy those who got to enjoy ski seasons 🙁

canberracafe.com said :

If there was any evidence of global warming, this would be it.

An unfortunate choice of words given that there is MOUNTAINS of evidence for it, tens of thousands of peer reviewed studies from a range of scientific disciplines.

As for snow fall, IIRC, isn’t snowfall highly correlated with the ENSO? Aren’t the great snow years like 1981 generally also La Ninas? I’m too busy to research this right now, maybe someone else can chime in.

BTW, 1981 was AWESOME – we had to dig our way out of the lodge! There was 3m of snow in Perisher!

What heatwave ?
There usually isn’t anything but man made to ski on on opening weekend. The “official opening” and the reality of the seasons are two entirely different things. If it gets to the end of the month without real snow, then maybe start to worry.

Folks, it’s time you all realised that we live on one of the driest and hottest contents, so snow is not really our forte. The ski resorts in Australia are only just starting to twig that they can make far more money running mountain biking, and it has virtually no reliance on mother nature (other than minimal snowfalls – which is what we see these days). Thredbo has been OK for mountain biking for a few years, but Mt Buller are gearing up to go big this year. So sell off your skis and snowboards while you still can, and buy a mountain bike 😀

Yep, that’s right anything with 2+ links goes into the mod queue. It stops the spammers, especially those that like to go into the old stories and astroturf themselves…

canberracafe.com12:22 pm 05 Jun 08

I blame China, and Americans and their SUV’s. The price of oil will save our ski fields. I hope petrol goes up to $5 a litre world wide. Then we will find something else to use like jatropha for fuel.

So… Australia for hiking in the patchy snow, forget skiing, and New Zealand for actually doing anything decent from now on.

What are costs like to go to New Zealand and travelling times required? Okay for a long weekend or really need a week?

Yes, it was. It’s been going downhill steadily. Sometimes we’ll get a good season, but they’re fewer and more isolated. Last really decent season I remember was 2000. In the 50s they got some amazing massive snowfalls. Ditto 60s and 70s. In the 80s it began to get more variable, there were some massive years but also some shockers. 90s were a lottery, and this decade has been un-spectacular.

Some reckon building all those dams up there created heat sinks which have affected the snow, and it does fit.

The snow used to go for longer, there was more of it, and it used to come down a lot further. Our ski club used to have a ski field on Mt franklin, and it was pretty reliable too.

canberracafe.com11:24 am 05 Jun 08

Was it better 10 – 20 years ago? 30 years ago?

Never believe the reports. Use the snowcams (all of them) and read any “punter” reports you can find on forums. I guess we’ve all had those days driving down the mountain, hearing some chicky-babe on the radio resort report breathlessly recounting a day that was plainly at a different resort from that which you were skiing at.

canberracafe.com11:05 am 05 Jun 08

New Zealand it is then.. Looks like a permanent state of affairs 🙁 If there was any evidence of global warming, this would be it.

stereo henry10:53 am 05 Jun 08

just had a look at some snow cams… looks bleak to me

Yes, moderation is annoying.

But:
Anything with one of the common swearwords gets moderated.
Anything with more than one external hyperlink in it gets moderated.

OK, it got through. So I’ll bung up the second bit:

This cold SE wind today might help bring temperatures down, in fact it’s cold enough today for it to be snowing up there, if there’s any moisture. Let’s check it out…
http://www.snowcams.com.au/

Looks like Perisher made snow on front valley (quite a lot of it) and it’s turned to frozen chunks of rubble. Thredbo evidently made snow on friday flat, and most of it has gone with the rain. Rest of the pictures tell the story pretty well.

Things could change, but it hasn’t been a good run-up to the winter. The best winters have a long, slow descent into cold right through autumn. We had one brief cold snap, and then it was back into quite a pronounced Indian Summer, right up until this week. And there’s every chance it might return when this coastal system leaves. It’s way too warm and WAY too dry.

I wouldn’t be paying any money up front for June or July.
(ends)

[i]Your comment is awaiting moderation. [/i]

You don’t say.

OK, I give up. By the time my comment gets un-moderated, the discussion will be over. So I’ll do it in chunks. I think having two urls is what’s triggered it.
So, first bit:

2007 was not “the best season ever”, in fact, it was a fairly ordinary one. The ski resorts hype each season and the media helps them. BOM certainly haven’t forecasted a great season either, however the resorts’ paid shill Ken Ring has. As usual. As he does every snow season.

This photo of Twynam (3rd highest peak, on the main range) was taken on Sunday. Ski season opens this weekend.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/EmuBobOz/1-2Jun08006smll.jpg

Smiggins had made a tiny strip of snow, next to their magic carpet.

(let’s see if this gets through).

It’s rather annoying. I’ve stuck in some links to photos and the current snowcams which will answer all questions. Maybe that’s why it’s “awaiting moderation”. Maybe I should just switch to abusing people and using asci swear words, that seems to get through with no problems!

canberracafe.com10:07 am 05 Jun 08

Well if the ski fields keep going this way, hopefully Tiger Airways will start up jatropha fuelled flights direct from Canberra to Christchurch for better and cheaper snow fun!

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,26058,23813585-5014090,00.html

OK. Why is the post I made above (that no one can see yet) “awaiting moderation”?

[Ed. (Jazz) we automoderate any post that has hyperlinks in it, just to make sure they’re a) correct, and b) not linking to something we dont want them to]

2007 was not “the best season ever”, in fact, it was a fairly ordinary one. The ski resorts hype each season and the media helps them. BOM certainly haven’t forecasted a great season either, however the resorts’ paid shill Ken Ring has. As usual. As he does every snow season.

This photo of Twynam (3rd highest peak, on the main range) was taken on Sunday. Ski season opens this weekend.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v105/EmuBobOz/1-2Jun08006smll.jpg

Smiggins had made a tiny strip of snow, next to their magic carpet.

This cold SE wind today might help bring temperatures down, in fact it’s cold enough today for it to be snowing up there, if there’s any moisture. Let’s check it out…
http://www.snowcams.com.au/
Looks like Perisher made snow on front valley (quite a lot of it) and it’s turned to frozen chunks of rubble. Thredbo evidently made snow on friday flat, and most of it has gone with the rain. Rest of the pictures tell the story pretty well.

Things could change, but it hasn’t been a good run-up to the winter. The best winters have a long, slow descent into cold right through autumn. We had one brief cold snap, and then it was back into quite a pronounced Indian Summer, right up until this week. And there’s every chance it might return when this coastal system leaves. It’s way too warm and WAY too dry.

I wouldn’t be paying any money up front for June or July.

not everyone is on RiotACT as often as you thumper 🙂

Wasn’t 2007 one of the best ski seasons on record?
And I thought I saw a report on ABC a few weeks ago saying that they (BOM) are predicting another bumper season this year….
Still, it’s hardly been a cold start to Winter this year, so fair question.
But, given it costs a squillion dollars to go skiing these days, I’ll just be happy if I get to see a bit of snow on the distant mountains to the south of Canberra….

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.