Skiing Uni Run, 30 July 2016
The ski season in Southern Tasmania kicked off in style at the Mount Mawson Ski Field today. A keen crowd turned up to enjoy superb conditions – sunny, calm and clear. It was a very social day, as lots of STSA volunteers came up to lend a hand to help get the ski field operational. Uni tow was first to get away, and an enthusiastic crowd of snowboarders and skiers were soon carving the first turns of the season. Mawson tow challenged us with a couple of dodgy electrical connections on the safety circuit – and a big thanks to Julian Oakes who was the first to locate the culprit loose wire. Ian Stewart also spent time at the top of the Mawson tow to put a new circuit board into the webcam system, to allow us all to see those great views out to Rodway range. With the recent strong winds moisture had managed to get into a supposedly fully sealed electronics enclosure!
As always it was a great team effort to get the skiing underway. The shovelling started on Friday evening as we started to prepare the tow path for the visitors, and continued with a big effort at the top of the Mawson tow this morning where the wind had sculpted a 2 metre high snow drift over the top of the rope. A big thanks to everyone who helped out, and to the volunteers from the Hobart Walking Club (many of whom are not skiers) and the Alpine Club of Tasmania who are on duty for this weekend.
Everyone had a great day today, and with a little more snow forecast overnight it augurs well for another good day tomorrow.
Karen Davis gets into the swing of digging out the Mawson Tow on Friday night.
Matthew Davis and Ambrose Canning take a breather digging the “tunnel” at the top of the Mawson Tow.
A team effort to get the rope clear for the day’s skiing
Getting the tow rope ready for the start of skiing
