Border ski fields are experiencing one of the best back-to-back seasons in a generation.
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Both Falls Creek and Mt Hotham have officially surpassed two metres of natural snow for the second year in a row, the first time snow bases have reached 200cm in successive seasons since 2003 and 2004.
Falls Creek Resort Management’s marketing director Jo Prothero said they decided to extend the season back in March.
“We have a huge amount of confidence in our resort’s snow making and maintenance techniques to keep the slopes primed for visitors well into spring,” she said.
“There was no problem backing ourselves in and making the call for a longer season before the snow had even started to fall.
“Our season close date has been October 7 all along so it’s great to see other resorts find the confidence to extend their seasons and match the bar set by Falls Creek.
“It’s a big win for snow visitors across the country.”
Ms Prothero said conditions were fantastic at the moment.
“It’s wonderful to see such a great season unfold,” she said.
“We’ve hit two metres plus of natural snow for the second year running so we’ve recorded the best back to back seasons since 2003-04.”
Mt Hotham have also extended their season until October 7, with Mt Hotham Skiing Company’s Belinda Trembath saying the spring conditions were likely to be the best in years, with a deep snowpack established and more snowfall on the horizon.
Ms Trembath said great conditions were expected right up to October.
“We reached the two metres mark in September last year, this year in August it’s two metres already – with some fantastic skiing conditions right through,” she said.
”We’re experiencing back to back snows this winter, we certainly had a spell in July where we were reliant on our snow making but right through the back half of July and August it’s really just kept snowing.”
Ms Trembath said the current skiing and snowboarding conditions on the mountain were comparable to anywhere else in the world.
“We expect conditions right through spring are going to be fantastic – probably the best in a generation,” she said.
Freezing temperatures are forecast to continue throughout this week at Mount Hotham, with a low of -9 predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday.
Similar conditions are predicted for Falls Creek, with a low of -8 forecast for Thursday.
Snow is expected across both Falls Creek and Mount Hotham on Tuesday and Wednesday.
There is a 60 per cent chance of rain on Tuesday in Albury-Wodonga, with a high of 12 degrees.
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