This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (June 10)
Skiing Under The Southern Cross, Major Snow, Summer Snow, And Rebalancing Your Body.
Before and After satellite images of Portillo region in Chile captures the magnitude of the storm
While the snow sports season has finally wrapped up in North America, flakes are falling below the equator. We have two reports from Oz and Chile. Our new Melbourne-based correspondent Meg Malkin has written a snapshot introduction to what skiing is like Down Under. And, we have learned of a mega-monster storm in Portillo, Chile. We have pictures that show what nine feet of snow looks like. That’s nine feet in one storm. We should be so lucky here in New England next season.
Co-publisher Jon Weisberg has discovered a company that makes snow, real cold, water-based snow that you can ski on…in the summer. Find out what he’s found out. It’s another incredible innovation in an industry that seeks full-year ’round activity.
Finally, Tommy Kirchhoff, long-time ski and Tai-Chi instructor, gives you some tips on how to rebalance your body. Unconsciously, we all tend to favor one hand, foot, hip, over the other. That creates an out of balance condition, and the other side tries to compensate. Result: Chronic pain, aches, and pills. Check out Tommy’s video to see how to get back in line.
Incidentally, we have compiled the results to our Spring Subscriber Survey 2016 and have identified more than 50 SeniorsSkiing.com readers who have “skied their age” last season. Skiing your age means you spend one day on slopes or trails for every year you’ve been around. That is an impressive list and the numbers of days are impressive. Watch for that in the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, we are heading into late Spring. Enjoy your hiking and cycling (the two most popular non-snow season sports, based on survey results) and tell us about your adventures.
And, remember, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.
View from Mount Hotham summit.
Credit: Kham Tran
Ski Portillo Gets 9 Feet!!!!!
Road to Resort Blocked.
Before and After satellite images of Portillo region in Chile captures the magnitude of the storm
Winter shifted hemispheres quickly this week and delivered a 9-foot monster dump of snow on Ski Portillio. Resort operators there are ecstatic with the early season delivery.
Dramatic satellite images show the day-before/day-after difference in coverage.
If any readers are on their way or have plans to go this season, take some pictures and send a report.
This is the mountain road to Portillo. Switchbacks are completely inundated.
Skiing In Oz: The Season Is Just Beginning
Here’s A Snapshot Of Skiing Down Under.
Popular Mount Hotham’s summit is at 6,100 feet (1,862 metres)
Credit: Kman Tran
[Editor Note: This was written by Melbourne, Australia-based Marg Malkin, a retired ski industry veteran who spends February and March at SilverStar, BC. She is SeniorsSkiing.com’s first Australian contributor. We hope to see more news from her.]
Australian seniors only have a very small window to enjoy skiing in Australia given the ski season is a short 14 weeks from the first weekend in June through to the end of September. Historically, the season is a bit “scratchy” when it begins and then the snow comes with a blustery vengeance, often covering the slopes with almost a metre of snow. Given the elevations of ski resorts vary between 1300 and 2000 metres in altitude, a two metre snow-depth season is a good one.
Ozzie ski resorts are clustered in the southeastern states: Victoria and New South Wales
Credit: Wikipedia Commons
The major ski resorts—Thredbo, Perisher, Mount Hotham, Falls Creek and Mount Buller—are all located in the high country of New South Wales and Victoria, the South Eastern states of Australia. The resorts also serve as summer hiking, mountain bike riding, and bush walking destinations. Only one resort, Mount Buller is an easy day-tripper resort, two-plus hours access from Melbourne.
The other Victorian resorts are three and a half hours away, so therefore overnight destinations. New South Wales ski resorts are a five-hour drive from Sydney, however they are easily accessible from the Australian capital city of Canberra.
Unlike the New Zealand resorts, all these Aussie resorts are accessed by car or bus right into the main resort areas within easy distance from the accommodations.
View from Mount Hotham summit.
Credit: Kham Tran
The resorts began with small private lodges (or cabins) built by a few die hard skiers walking in with skins. More private lodges developed in the 50’s and 60’s, and, in the 70’s, commercial investors began developing private condo complexes and licensed taverns, most of which thrive today. Generally most of our “baby boomer” sector began as members of private lodges, these lodges becoming open to the public in the 80’s to cover infrastructural costs.
Majority of the ski fields are surrounded by National Parks, and there is a fair amount of government infrastructural control throughout the ski fields. The Australian ski lift companies make skiing very attractive to our generation, providing over 65-year-olds with 50% discount of lift passes. And if you are inclined to keep skiing after 70, then your ski lift pass is free! However there is a government entry fee per car for the ski season to access the Victorian resorts.
For current ski conditions in Australia, click here. Looks like the “scratchy” start of the season is here.
For more information about skiing in Australia, click here.
Sunrise on Mount Jagungal in Kosciuszko National Park, NSW.
Credit: Jerry Nockles
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