JULY ISSUE, 2020
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DINNER PLAIN JOY P3 Enjoy Australia’s longest tobogganing run on Cobungra Flat Slope
A WELCOMED WINTER: Scarlett Gavin, 7, Camilla Perry, 4, and Leo Gavin, 3, enjoy a day in the snow at Falls Creek on an unusually quiet Queen’s Birthday weekend. PHOTO: Chris Hocking
OLYMPIC DREAMS P4 Brianna doing the hard yards pursuing cross country skiing
SEASON SAVIOUR P11 Falls Creek lodge comes to rescue for stranded Zimbabwean cricketer
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Fitness tips
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Shuttle service
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We’ve got our season THE ski season that almost never was is ďŹ nally here but those revelling in our local winter wonderlands will have to do things a little differently in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. For Mount Hotham and Falls Creek, the 2019 season marked the start of a new era with an exciting $179 million deal that saw the mountains taken under the wing of Vail Resorts. But the 2020 season is sure to write its own chapter in the history book for being the one where it only just survived a global pandemic.
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It’s different, but still mountains of fun to enjoy BY ASHLEIGH PILES apiles@ nemedia.com.au
Ski mountains are special places and usually, at this time of year there would be thousands of visitors making themselves at home, but a shortened season and heightened social distancing restrictions will limit numbers and activities - but not the fun. The start of the
coronavirus pandemic had almost everyone in the Alpine Shire sweating the start of the pending ski season and as months went by, it looked more and more unlikely to happen. The mercury plummeted at the start of May and as a wintry blast surged through the Alps, locals and those watching from afar felt a new sense of worry. Mount Hotham received a once-in-a-decade autumn
dump of more than 80cm of fresh snow, with some of the snowdrifts over a metre deep by May 1. The mercury dropped to a low of -4.2C on the mountain on the Sunday morning, almost 4C below average. More than 30cm of snow fell on Dinner Plain while Mount Buffalo turned into a white sea with 16cm of fresh snow falling on the empty mountain. But with the Mount
Buffalo and Alpine National parks still closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, people could only enjoy views of the snow-capped peaks from afar. Closer to Bright, with snowfall as low as 900 metres, locals took the opportunity to admire a snow-capped Mount Porepunkah up close unsure of when the chance to get up to Falls and Hotham would arrive.
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