The Mawson Tow before being excavated August 2015
It was a very successful opening weekend at Mt Mawson Ski Field, with still sunny conditions and plenty of fresh deep snow after the winter storms of the previous week. The Lake Dobson road was pretty challenging, with snow and ice meaning that the road was only open to 4WDs fitted with chains. Nonetheless a good crowd of skiers and boarders made it to the ski-field on both days, and there were also a large number of people out enjoying perfect backcountry conditions. A number of skiers put in a few runs on Rodway, and others were seen skiing the Golden Stairs.
A big thanks go to the volunteers from the Oldina Ski Club and the Southern Tasmanian Ski Association who put in a huge effort to get the tows operational for visitors. The rope, poles and pulleys of both tows had been partially buried – in some cases under 2 metres of snow, and it took a team of more than 20 people almost 5 hours to excavate the tows and get them operational.
Starting to dig out Uni tow
Deb Terry and Andrew Briggs tackle Uni tow
Stephen Webber, Katherine Davis and Andrew Koch search for a pulley on Mawson Tow
The effort was rewarded with some excellent bluebird skiing and boarding in the stunning scenery of the Mt Field National Park. It was great to see ABC reporter Lauren Day and her cameraman David make the effort to come up and record activities on the Sunday. The news story ran on the ABC news on Sunday evening, and provided valuable publicity for the case for decent public visitor facilities on the mountain. There was also some great footage of Tasmanian skiers and boarders demonstrating their skills!
Let’s hope DIER provide a grader to clear the Dobson road this week to make it easier for visitors to access our great winter landscape.
Awesome work everybody!!! What a fantastic effort, in such beautiful sunshine!
It looks amazing. I hope to get up there very soon too. Will
the tows run again this week?
See you there I hope!
Thanks for that Laura, yes we expect to run the tows again this weekend. Keep an eye on the website for the official announcement though, just to be sure.
Thanks everyone for making it happen. BTW, for those less experiencied drivers is there any shuttle bus service running in Hobart to get there this weekend? I am keen to have a look up there this weekend (15-16/08) but not confident enough to drive. If someone is going there with room in the car and would like to offer a ride, I would be happy to contribute with the trip costs. Text me or give me a call if interested (0402075541). Cheers, Ralph