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That time of the year in Australia
What a blast. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Donuts and coffee are clearly great motivators to explore the mountain. Is that your actual ski model in your avatar?
Well done!
Well done!
Thanks
Yeah the avatar is my LP90's, bout 6 year old now but still good.
Did a bit of a tours de coffee around the resort to locate the best, had a few ordinary ones and as it turned out the best coffee was right next to the Donut shop
Jam or cinnamon donuts, hot and made fresh on the spot.
Fresh donut shops are a fairly new thing at Aus ski resorts, wish they had them when I was younger skiing..
We're all over 55yo so we have a few breaks during the day so next time we can just head to the right place every break.
Falls Creek is not my home hill, I usually ski Mt Buller which I did the week before and last week with a trip to Falls in between.
Sorry about the rough video too, the old GoPro is seen better days, its the first model HD and the chest mount straps have stretched a bit and at limit of adjustment so its getting a bit too bouncy, need to update sometime..
All of a sudden, I'm kind of hungry...
No problem with the bumpy video. It matched the wobble of my head while I ski so it looked very real to me.
No problem with the bumpy video. It matched the wobble of my head while I ski so it looked very real to me.
Refreeze, hadn't snowed for a few days.
That's a beautiful view and looks like a fun ski area. Nice navigating the rock slalom course there in the middle of the video.
So that's spring skiing right? How much longer do you expect the season to last? Also, given a choice of ski area (not considering the drive), which do you prefer between Mt. Buller and Falls Creek?
So that's spring skiing right? How much longer do you expect the season to last? Also, given a choice of ski area (not considering the drive), which do you prefer between Mt. Buller and Falls Creek?
Season has been extended to Oct 8 this year, normally its winding up by this weekend.
A lot more snow still left for this time of year, unfortunately they are shutting some lifts mid week days and I don't do weekends so Ive wrapped it up for the year and school holidays are on now too.
Difference between Falls and Buller is basically that Falls has less steep runs but Falls gets the most snow and a bit drier since Buller is closer to the sea at the end of the mountain range all the resorts are on.
So low years Falls is good, high years like this Buller is best, it has the most variable and more challenging terrain, a lot of runs at Buller are below the tree line which is lucky because it gets a lot of fog so those days we stick to lower tree runs.
Falls has 2 main aspects to the days sun that covers most runs so its predictable as the sun swings overhead during the day, Buller has more runs with different aspects so warm days you can move around the place to find the best cover as the day progresses depending on the aspect of runs to the sun.
Falls has much wider open runs but shorter so its great for fast wide carving which is fun for a day or so but you don't build of much of a sweat,
Buller on the other hand will have you peeling off layers after a good workout on steep moguls for quite some distance.
Buller runs tend to all start out wide and not so steep then get steeper so you cant see the bottom from the tops of most runs like you can at Falls, they get steeper and narrower and with moguls for some distance for that last leg burn before the lift.
So we get a lot of less than experienced skiers getting sucked into the top sections that are wide and easy and you see them giving it their best effort in the steeper moguls farther down that if they knew here there they might not have skied the run.
So there are a few reasons why some can have a bad day at Buller and not come back.
Another one is lots of runs at Buller are fairly hidden away where other resorts like Hotham, Falls, Perisher you can find most runs just touring around.
So people who lack a sense of adventure stick to the main visible runs without slowing down and looking for trail heads more hidden.
Missing so many good runs leaves some thinking it's boring so they don't go back again.
Recently they updated the resort map and listed a few runs that in the past were only known to regulars, that didn't go down too well with a few of us.
I prefer Buller since I know it but skiing there for 51 years, a bit too well, and Falls is a nice change and easier to ski there with a group.
DbSki, enjoyed seeing your areas. Are these two areas in the Victoria Alps? I have ski raced at Perisher and it was very crowded even midweek. Falls and Bueller looked great crowd wise for midweek. Thanks for the video and saying Hi from northern Idaho.
Hi Pete
Yes they are in Victoria.
Main three in Vic is Buller, then nth of that is Hotham and the comes Falls Creek a short distance from Hotham,
They are all on the same mountain range that runs all the way to NSW where Perisher and Thredbo are and traverses the states Nth to Sth on the eastern seaboard of Aus.
Keeping in mind Nth are warmer states than Sth here
Vic resorts in the Sth are located at the convergence of valleys that run perpendicular to that long mountain range so you cant travel directly between them which is real shame.
To get from Buller to Hotham you have to back track out west to the main highway and head up that a while then turn back east toward Hotham and the next Valley, likewise Falls Creek but there is roads that go over the saddle between valleys to get to Falls from Hotham so they are closer and they also share a common lift ticket so you can choose either depending on the day.
For me Buller is a bit family tradition, skiing at an early age in a ski family wasn't optional.
It has more challenging terrain in short, with the exception of Thredbo I feel less challenged skiing at other resorts and can get bored, Hotham is good but not much variety for downhill, runs are very similar to each other, AT and XC folks like it because it has expansive back and side country being between the other 2 resorts.
Falls being well up the range has great quality snow and lots of it but less changeling terrain, a bit like Perisher in that respect, lots of traversing too.
Buller can also be the cruelest place to ski, a week of pea soup fog is not uncommon, rain events too and boiler plate ice that is lubricated concrete nothing will get an edge on..
Regulars at Buller need to own a set or rock hoppers when the cover gets low.
Of all the resorts Buller is the one mot likely to polarise visitors to it and get some who swear never to return.
Either you have a great day out or you wish you didn't go that day.
Falls by comparison is same same most days and reliable cover and in a low years its the place to go.
One other main factor with visitation is proximity to capital ciites.
Buller is the closest to Melbourne at 3hrs drive where Hotham and Falls its about 5 hr or more so Buller gets far more day trippers and weekenders.
Falls and Hotham more stay overnight, anyone there midweek is often there.the whole week where Buller mid week is full of day trippers, like me.
Its close to home and I can avoid bad weather days
Perisher and Thredbo are a long way from Sydney so day trips are not easy, far more people are staying a few days to a week at those places so you dont get the variation from weekend to mid week like we do at Buller where weekends are solid and mid week empty outside of school holidays.
Yes they are in Victoria.
Main three in Vic is Buller, then nth of that is Hotham and the comes Falls Creek a short distance from Hotham,
They are all on the same mountain range that runs all the way to NSW where Perisher and Thredbo are and traverses the states Nth to Sth on the eastern seaboard of Aus.
Keeping in mind Nth are warmer states than Sth here
Vic resorts in the Sth are located at the convergence of valleys that run perpendicular to that long mountain range so you cant travel directly between them which is real shame.
To get from Buller to Hotham you have to back track out west to the main highway and head up that a while then turn back east toward Hotham and the next Valley, likewise Falls Creek but there is roads that go over the saddle between valleys to get to Falls from Hotham so they are closer and they also share a common lift ticket so you can choose either depending on the day.
For me Buller is a bit family tradition, skiing at an early age in a ski family wasn't optional.
It has more challenging terrain in short, with the exception of Thredbo I feel less challenged skiing at other resorts and can get bored, Hotham is good but not much variety for downhill, runs are very similar to each other, AT and XC folks like it because it has expansive back and side country being between the other 2 resorts.
Falls being well up the range has great quality snow and lots of it but less changeling terrain, a bit like Perisher in that respect, lots of traversing too.
Buller can also be the cruelest place to ski, a week of pea soup fog is not uncommon, rain events too and boiler plate ice that is lubricated concrete nothing will get an edge on..
Regulars at Buller need to own a set or rock hoppers when the cover gets low.
Of all the resorts Buller is the one mot likely to polarise visitors to it and get some who swear never to return.
Either you have a great day out or you wish you didn't go that day.
Falls by comparison is same same most days and reliable cover and in a low years its the place to go.
One other main factor with visitation is proximity to capital ciites.
Buller is the closest to Melbourne at 3hrs drive where Hotham and Falls its about 5 hr or more so Buller gets far more day trippers and weekenders.
Falls and Hotham more stay overnight, anyone there midweek is often there.the whole week where Buller mid week is full of day trippers, like me.
Its close to home and I can avoid bad weather days
Perisher and Thredbo are a long way from Sydney so day trips are not easy, far more people are staying a few days to a week at those places so you dont get the variation from weekend to mid week like we do at Buller where weekends are solid and mid week empty outside of school holidays.
Ive got some video at Hotham in a playlist.
This one shows one part of the resort, the runs lead down the gullys and the resort central is to my right.
Start of this video in the far distance to the left are the runs I skied in the video above.
This is the orchard area looking back to the resort.
This one shows one part of the resort, the runs lead down the gullys and the resort central is to my right.
Start of this video in the far distance to the left are the runs I skied in the video above.
This is the orchard area looking back to the resort.
Haha Db just saw your latest Buller vid. Should have gone down Fanny's with that ice 
Pretty good info up there for non Australian skiers.
Just wish we got this amount of snow every year!
Pretty good info up there for non Australian skiers.
Just wish we got this amount of snow every year!
Yes its been a bumper year.
Buller weather tended to favor weekends this year, I'm glad I got to Falls too.
Day trip time is pretty much over though now, too warm by mid day, but for anyone staying there it be ok for mornings with so much still there.
Buller weather tended to favor weekends this year, I'm glad I got to Falls too.
Day trip time is pretty much over though now, too warm by mid day, but for anyone staying there it be ok for mornings with so much still there.
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