Falls Creek Appendix

As an aside, while enjoying a quick coffee at the base of one of Falls Creeks runs on Sunday morning, we shared a table with some of the resorts staff members, and I couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. The three stereotypical, grizzled AUSSIE ski dudes started discussing the weather (well actually they started off bitching about safety regulations and what a pain it was to have to wear helmets on snow mobiles, but I'll skip that), the increasing brevity of Australia's snow season, and commented that it was "obvious" that the weather was changing. One summed it up as follows, "In 30 years people won't be skiing here". Now one would like to think that these gentlemen were savvy consumers of climate change information and had thoroughly studied CSIRO's assessment work which basically arrived at the same conclusion, but it's more likely that these gents had just been around long enough to see the changes with their own eyes.

The topic of climate change came up again as we were checking out - one of the staff asked if we were coming back later in the season if there was another good snowfall. We inquired as to whether another snowfall was likely, to which she responded, "probably not - things are already starting to bloom." Huh, well, OK. Guess I'll just unpack the boardies and hit the beach then. . .