Mt Buller has created a buzz in the Australian ski industry promising snow for the first day of the snow season in 2017 at Victoria’s premier alpine resort.
Buller Ski Lifts General Manager Laurie Blampied shared the bold promise today as the resort closes for 2016, “We are getting rid of that age-old question ‘will there be snow for the Queen’s Birthday opening weekend?’ The answer at Mt Buller in 2017 is YES, we will be skiing on Bourke Street.”
No other resort in Australia can promise skiing and boarding for the opening weekend celebrations so many are curious to know how Mt Buller is able to give such an audacious snow guarantee.
Buller Ski Lifts, with support from Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management, is adding an innovative Techno Alpin SF 220 “Snow Factory” to its already hefty snowmaking arsenal for the 2017 snow season. The new Snow Factory will continuously produce snow 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can do so at temperatures well above freezing. It is capable of generating 220 cubic metres of snow daily at 15 degrees Celsius.
“This investment is a real ‘game changer’ for Mt Buller and a very exciting development for anyone who wants to enjoy early season skiing and snowboarding and wants to plan their winter holiday with confidence,” explains Blampied.
The Snow Factory is part of a $1.6+ million investment at Mt Buller in additional snowmaking for the resort that will see more conventional snowguns also added to the Skyline racecourse.
Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management is an important partner in this core resort investment and works closely with Buller Ski Lifts to improve and expand snowmaking for the benefit of all resort stakeholders and guests. “Snow is the centre-piece in the winter puzzle for an alpine resort so this investment is great news for skiers, snowboarders and all our resort operators who can now look forward to the opening of 2017 snow season with confidence,” said John Huber, Chief Executive Officer at Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management.
Laurie Blampied explains, “We will commission the Snow Factory in April 2017 and start making snow in early May. We often have conditions to enable conventional snowmaking ahead of the snow season and will fire up our existing network of 244 snowmaking guns as soon as we have the temperatures to do so.
What is exciting is the “Snow Factory” will provide a whole additional level of snowmaking that will go ahead regardless of the temperature. We can now guarantee to have snow on our main Bourke Street run for the first day of the season.”
