Mt Buller and Mt Stirling resorts to reopen to snowlovers from midnight

Operators of the Mt Buller and Mt Stirling resorts have advised that they will reopen to visitors as of 11.59pm tonight following the easing of lockdown restrictions in Victoria.

The resorts will operate mindful of the latest Victorian Government directions require all guests coming to alpine resorts to have a negative COVID test in the 72 hours prior to arrival.

There will also be some capacity limits for venues with guests urged to pre-book all Ski & Snowboard School products and lift passes online in advance to secure preferred dates.

With Mt Buller currently blanketed in a wintry cover of deep snow, with 124cms having fallen since the lockdown began, nine of its lifts will start running again on Wednesday.

Due to the heavy snowfalls during the lockdown Mt Buller’s Mountain Operations crew are working around the clock to prepare the ski area for re-opening with tonnes of snow to be shovelled and lifts to be cleared before they can roll into action.

Buller Ski Lifts’ General Manager, Laurie Blampied explained “it’s a colossal task ahead of us to clear snow from the lift load areas and resort buildings, but in a ski resort having a lot of snow is a good problem to have.

“The resort has been buried with deep snow during the past fortnight when we had to stand-down all but a very small team to maintain the bare safety essentials. The wild weather poses real challenges as we dig out, de-ice frozen lifts, groom the runs and prepare the ski area to make it safe for skiers and boarders to get up here and make some turns.

“We are eager to open up as much terrain and as many lifts as we can, and we thank everyone for their patience as we scale up staffing and operations towards that goal in the coming days.”

Beyond the nine lifts that it expects to open as of 28th July, Mt Buller expects to open additional lifts for the weekend.

Extensive grooming has been done on key runs and popular lifts Wombat and Howqua are scheduled to join the line up. Mt Buller has 300 hectares of skiable terrain and close to 80 kilometres of runs to groom and make safe for guests. Cross country trails are currently offering a deep ungroomed cover.

Accommodation bookings in resort are already strongly subscribed for the remainder of the season with the best opportunity for securing packages during mid-week.

Mt Stirling will also re-open to visitors tomorrow with its café, back open from Thursday.

Snowplay, tobogganing, snow shoe adventures and skiing are all back on the agenda with a superb fresh snow cover on the trails, snowplay slopes and practice slopes. The Mt Stirling Patrol have been busy clearing tree branches and grooming out the trails in recent days ready to welcome visitors to a winter wonderland.

Visitors planning to make the most of the superb conditions at Mt Buller and Mt Stirling are reminded to plan well ahead, book everything in advance online including resort entry and parking which may reach capacity this weekend.

Image: An aerial shot of Mt Buller taken during a brief clearing in the snow storms that pounded the resort throughout lockdown. Credit: Tony Harrington|HarroArt.