Liz Koolhof and Craig Larsson lay out a new rope for installation on Uni tow
Whilst NSW battles floods it was a perfect Autumn day up at Mt Mawson Ski Field today (Saturday 20th March, 2021). A small band of willing helpers turned out for the first day of STSA’s March working bee, and they were still hard at work as the sun set over the Rodway range.
Rod Stolorz worked on snow fence repairs high on the Uni tow, Julian Oakes tackled a much needed clean out of electrical equipment from the Mawson Tow hut, and Liz Koolhof prepared the remaining protruding rocks on the lower section of the Mawson ski slope for cracking. Craig Larsson, Tim Metcalfe, Ambrose Canning and others focussed on test running the tows and identifying any problems. Unfortunately they found a big one – the Uni tow rope has degraded in the UV sunshine, and it was deemed it would not make it through an operating winter.
Replacing the Uni rope was not in this year’s plan (or budget) and so an audit was conducted of spare ropes stored in the STSA workshop, including a mystery roll that had been under the Belt Issue Hut for a number of years. The conclusion is that we have enough rope to replace the Uni Tow rope, but of course this requires a number of longitudinal splices. So the plan for tomorrow’s working bee has shifted away from Rodway, to the more urgent task of splicing in a new rope so that the Uni Tow can be operated this winter. We are of course still looking for strong volunteers to help carry timber up to the top of the Uni run, and to assist in the construction and repair of snow fences at that location.
So if you would like to help tomorrow up at the Mt Mawson Ski Field all helpers will be most welcome. Liz Koolhof will meet volunteers at the Lake Dobson gate at 10:00 am.
