In a sterling effort a number of STSA volunteers spent today (Friday 27th September) up at the Mt Mawson Ski Field working to replace the damaged rope on the Mt Mawson ski run. It had been planned to leave the replacement to the summer working bees, but the snow on the ski field is so amazing that it was decided it was worth the effort to get the Mawson run in action. We were also motivated by the fact that this means that Mt Mawson Tasmania will be the only skifield open in Australia this weekend!
The recent wild Westerly weather with embedded snow fronts have provided an excellent cover at Mt Mawson, and the new snow fences have done a great job of capturing the blowing snow.
Snow fences capture snow at top of Mawson run 21 September 2024
Hence today the STSA team was on the mountain by 10:00 am to begin the complicated and slow process of changing out the whole Mawson rope for a new one. The first task was laying the new rope out onto the snow, and trying not to get any kinks in it. Then it was into the Mt Mawson public shelter to commence the laborious task of constructing the end- to – end splices needed to join the rope into a continuous loop. This type of splicing is something of a dark art, and there was plenty of discussion and head scratching working out how best to approach it.
Step 1. Get the new rope out of the bag without getting it twisted.
Step 2: Lay out the rope ready for hauling out the slope.
When in doubt – read the instructions! George Brettingham-Moore, Tim Metcalfe and Kim Burges Watson tackle the intricacies of splicing.
Finally it was time to haul the new rope onto the tow, and complete the final splice to make a continuous loop rope. At the time of writing (5:30pm) the splicing team is still hard at work – hopefully they will get it finished before head torches are needed!
STSA volunteers pull the new rope tight ready for the final splice.
Mt Mawson Ski Field will be open for operation this weekend, and the forecast is for beautiful sunny conditions (particularly Saturday). So instead of watching the Grand Final come on up to Mt Mawson Skifield and enjoy one of the last opportunities to ski in Australia this winter season.
Brilliant effort, thank you