Ski trip 2006

overhand
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Well, another year's ski trip has come and gone :)
This year the snow was a bit light on, but we had enough mostly for our purposes. The summit area was closed the entire time, in fact I don't believe they've had it open at all this year, they'd also sent a lot of their staff home, as there wasn't enough work for all the towies and instructors. At one stage in the week we'd heard that Hotham had just closed down, as they're run out of their water allotment and couldn't make any more snow to keep the runs open. There was a big dump of snow the next night so they were probably pretty thankful. One of the advantages of Falls Creek (where we were) is that most of its ski area is on the edge of a lake, meaning that water can be drawn from that lake for making snow and any melt or runoff will flow straight back into that lake. I suspect this means that water used on those slopes for snowmaking doesn't count towards their water allotment to as great an extent and is the difference between a resort almost closing and only having one run open, and a resort doing well and having half the mountain open.
So the snow was pretty good, where it was, and we were able to ski every day. Except I only skied half days, and didn't ski at all on the day it was pelting down snow and rain, because, frankly, i'm over that ;)
Skiing was a lot of fun, as it usually is, you can tell because we often end up the run and meet at the lift queue and everyone has a huge smile on their face, and nobody has to say anything.
Apart form the skiing the time was spent in the usual ways, drinking a bit, talking a bit of crap, playing dice and card games, watching a few dvds, eating a lot (we eat very well, and there's no shortage of good food), and of course 'entertaining' the kids (read: torturing)
A very restful week overall, lots of good skiing, loads of relaxation, not as much alcohol as normal, heaps of home cooked meals. awesome :)