Icy snow for most of the day.
Runs up high have reasonable coverage, but very thin down low (Grimus & Wombat are mid loading) & Bull Run, Federation were not running. Dam Run and Tyrol looked very sad.
Went for a slide at yesterday. the weather was terrible. no visibility, howling wind, but still a good time to be had. Missus was learning to board on bourke street and it was packed from BB down. top of bourke street was fairly open. when i went to check on her and her friend there were no lines at Holden. LBS seemed empty but couldnt see more then 10-15metres at any time so wouldnt really know.haha. no waits down at the lift which was nice. family run was good only problem again was that the bottom snuck up very quickly. most on the blue runs had pretty good coverage. down bottom was a little patchy at times but still good fun. all in all not a bad day as the weather keep the crowds on burnt hut and lower half of bourke st. and by midday it felt like the place was half empty. coverage should be spot on if it gets a nice fall as predicted midweek
Baldy/Bourke - good cover. Men's Downhill - OK LBS/Wombat getting a little twiggy at the bottom but mostly OK. Emirates - OK. It rained most of the day on Sat so anything off piste will be frozen solid now. Haven't skied anything else.
Great to dust off the skis finally and head out! Cover is really good on Little Buller and the Summit and with not many people around the skiing was epic.
Word is more of the mountain is opening tomorrow, probably South Side :)
Depth isn't huge yet but the cover is great on plenty of the mountain now.
I've just skied Mon/Tues 22/23rd Sept and had a fab time. Monday was the worst wind hold I have every seen shutting all but 3 lifts. I managed to get stuck at the bottom of Wombat along with +150 other skiers. The tow-out by the groomer was a first for me. Thus my skiing was limited to Chamois from 10:30am onwards. Amamazing you could ski Chamois lift, take the 2 rope tows, down Standard and either walk 40m on the acess trail back to Chamois or avoid the walk by cutting off Standard down Crosscut73. Great Snow.
Tues the overnight freeze delayed the lift opening until 9.30am. Summit was like marble but amazingly Lt Buller Spur, Southside and Bull Run all softed by 10:30am which provided fantastic skiing down the very middle of Bull Run. SunValley was fantastic as well.
So it is definitely worth going up to Buller for $66 and the mountain WILL last until Oct 5th, albeit with a few less lifts than now. Bull Run Valley will last until then for sure.
Let's hope for another August 10th next year where we had 30cm of fresh real powder in Powderkeg & The Boulders, my best skiing at Buller in over 15 years.
What a sensational Winter. I was at Buller for three more superb days of Spring skiing from Wednesday last week. This was my third and final three-day stint for the season, having also been in August, and between July 23 – 25. The snow was fresh and powdery on Wednesday morning after good snowfalls on Monday and Tuesday. Really nice to ski on, however softening by mid-afternoon, particularly Thursday. Great weather, with blue skies & sunshine each day – and almost warm enough to ski in a t-shirt.
By Friday, the snow was already soft in the morning, noticeably thinning in large patches, and becoming predominantly sandy-coloured across the mountain. By lunchtime on Friday, the snow was thick and sticky, even on the Southside.
Still, for later September, it’s fantastic to even have snow, and the groomers are doing a brilliant job under difficult conditions now. I can’t see the snow lasting until October 6, which is when the season has been officially extended to. I think it was a little premature to have called that extension a few weeks ago, but after such a cold Winter I guess they anticipated that to continue rather than the sudden leap into Spring conditions that we’ve had. Even after a great snow-dumping on Monday/Tuesday, it took only a couple of days to melt.
Whilst the season is pretty much over, it’s been terrific. I appreciate all those who contributed their reports on this site – both the regulars and non-regulars. I check this site almost every day throughout Winter, but have always just been a lurker for several years - until this public début now - and the public reports are so useful (and probably just a leeetle bit more accurate than the “official” report!).
I hope the site retains these public reports here again now, rather than in the general forum where they were for the previous year or two, and were harder to locate amidst the general conversations there. I like the format of the site this year, and hope it remains this way for awhile now. Each year they seem to change the site, and just as you get familiar with it all, it gets altered again.
Thanks to all the lifties, groomers and Buller staff for another marvelous year, and looking forward to ‘09
Soft snow and still quite a lot of it. North side is pretty much gone. There is still decent cover on the Southside and Summit. Still plenty of fun to be had. Men's Downhill was good, Fast One, Wombat Valley area were all very good. Still some nice lines to be skied from the top of Summit. Excellent cover on Wombat LBS.
was at buller on sat. wat a pearller of a day. left for buller prayin the weatherman would be wrong and half way there it was obvious there would be no cloud cover wat so eva. in short a perfect spring skiing day was had. minimal crowds all day. only lift line was a wombat chair bout 11am. other then that circuits of summit, family and summit slide was great all day. a bit of park fun to mix it up.plenty of snow still up top and on the south side. plenty of fun to be had. get up there for some late season fun.
couldnt have asked for a better way to finish my season. big thanks to the whole buller team for an awesome season. see u all next year. lets hope it another ripper.
myt see some of u in japan in jan 09
ride hard
Start of day cover icy so it chilled last night.
Softened up as we went (as expected) but not too much by days end.
Cloud clusters moving over top kept direct light off snow for long periods which reduced the melt of the top over the day.
Wind, wasn't any.
By late arvo it was soft but not slop and no slush I saw.
Fed still do-able if you keep eyes peeled for near surface rocks from 2/3rds down.
Thulkes, not too soft early in the day, ok down to second path.
Mens is chopped a bit, late arvo it got messy.
Womens late arvo was good, very few near surface rocks compared to Fed.
Fast one a bit choppy but still good cover all the way.
Cow Camp I avoided (looking from H Hil chair) is grass on the lower runoff with enough on the edges to get to Tyrol T if you're really hangin to go there.
Lower Dam, avoid.
Chalet Crk, avoid
Wombat, Standard, LBS will need a groom.
pick for the day Fall line
Not carved out, firm, grassless rockless.
Overall
Top surface isnt wet.
We are not to slop or slush yet.
It was a Ghost Town.
No-one on the road, mountain is empty.
Think that covers it.