The Season Is Open - And What A Day!

The fine folk at Perisher with just a little help from mother nature have turned it on for the opening weekend.

Mother Nature Has Turned It On

Mother nature has certainly turned the winter tap on with 50cm or so of snow falling since last weekend.

As I perused the slopes last Saturday - I thought - It will be weeks before this gets up and running.

How wrong - Mt Perisher is set to open this Saturday!

The long Snowy Mountains Music festival was a real success bringing lots of people to the Perisher over the long weekend.

The great variety of bands kept everyone entertained and moving round the valley to all the different venues.

If you are into music - think about coming down for it next year.

There are heaps of beds available over the next few weeks - so if you were waiting to see if it would snow - well it has.

Matt and Louie are back - and lets just say - they're at their best - yet again!

Winter Is Here

Walking home from dinner on Tuesday night last week in Perisher, it would have been easy to think the season had started.

Yes, the roads were clear of snow, but the ground in most other places was covered.

As I passed the Village Eight Chairlift - the snowguns were pumping another load of snow all the way up Front Valley.

There was more snow covering Perisher Valley last week than there was in the final weeks of last season, lets hope that is a good sign for the season to come.

What a Whale

The snow guns have been pumping on front valley and looks like they have done a great job of laying down what could be the best skiing start to the season in years.

Forecasted cold temps will hopefully stop the snow that has fallen from melting!

Fingers crossed.

Winter Is On It's Way!

I had seen the cold front coming - but surprisingly I'd forgotten about it.

That was until my phone beeped heralding this pictures arrival in my in box.

5cm of snow has fallen in Perisher, the wind has been howling and the storm is still raging!

Resorts further south like Hotham are reporting falls of up to 20cm.

The Illabunda website is now showing vacancies for winter - so if you haven't got your bookings in yet - now is the time.

If you are thinking of heading down on the opening weekend this year, then you are in for a treat.

The Snowy Mountains of Music festival is on and will keep you entertained with the likes of Tex Perkins and 42 other artists playing music including World, Folk, Roots, Celtic, Acoustic, Traditional, Dance and even Poetry!

Venues are in Perisher, Smiggins and Guthega.

2008 Illabunda Senior Race Training

Hi Folks!

The Senior Race Training week end was held on July 25th to 27th.
The weather was fantastic, the snow was fantastic and the crowds weren’t too bad. Not a bad recipe!

The early arrivals enjoyed a sunny day on Friday with great snow for a day’s skiing as a warm up prior to Race Coaching on Saturday and Sunday.

Perisher Blue coach ‘Stefan’ is building quite a report with our club and he brought the same friendly approach to this group that he possessed at the Junior Training week. He passed on his knowledge to a very enthusiastic team of racers.


The usual warm ups and drills were rehearsed prior to attacking the GS gates on the ‘Mother in law’ course where ones technique decides a successful run or crash and burn.


Some photos have mysteriously been erased from my camera!


However our team threw themselves into the task with their usual level of self preservation. Zero! And that is what Illabunda is all about, taking one for the team!

Post Mortems were held each afternoon at the Sundek where technical application was discussed and finetuned. The level of bravado increased with each schooner of James Squires.

The races are being conducted on Saturday 15th August and I’m sure we will fare very well and hopefully get the Illabunda badge stamped on a few trophies.
Good luck team.

Cheers
Terry Dryburgh
Race Captain.

2008 JUNIOR RACE TRAINING REPORT JULY 6TH – 13TH

Preparations for the 2008 race season began at Illabunda on Sunday the 6th July with the arrival of the Junior Race Team. The rebuilding phase continues this year after losing some of our top end skiers from last year to the senior ranks. Some welcome inclusions to this year’s squad are William and Lara Edmonds who bring with them some grit and determination from their prior sporting achievements. Also young Asher Fitzgerald has the opportunity to continue the fine tradition of racers from the Fitzgerald family and will certainly give his all on race day.

The weather deteriorated and the forecast was for much needed snow. The week started with drizzle and wet snow on Monday and Tuesday, cleared up for a sunny Wednesday but then dumped approximately 30cm of the precious white stuff on Thursday and Friday. The sunny skies returned for Saturday and Sunday.

Starting from Monday, the team was put through a program of GS training for three hours in the mornings by Perisher Blue coaches Stefan and Heidi in tough conditions at Blue Cow and the feedback was very positive from both coaches. They heaped praise on our young charges for their good behaviour and dedication in mostly poor conditions.

A torrid Cross Country coaching session was conducted on Thursday afternoon in heavy snow over at the Nordic tracks and it was very pleasing to witness the effort put in by the usual gut busters and also the new team members.

Snowboard training was a two day exercise on Friday and Saturday at Perisher and some positive achievements here hold us in good stead for the upcoming races.

Thank you to the parents and juniors who attended the training week and I hope the team is excited about the prospect of performing well for the Illabunda Club on race day 3oth August.

Last but certainly not least, thank you to our lodge managers Luanne and Matt who just keep on impressing with their fine food and friendly hospitality. It is always a tough week for the managers but they kept on smiling.

Terry Dryburgh
Race Captain

It's Begining To Look Like Winter - Finally

15cm of much needed snow has fallen over the last 24hrs with more forecast for the remainder of the week and next week - just in time for the school holidays.

The wind is howling which is always a good sign with gusts over 100km/h having been recorded today!

Quite a few extra lifts at Perisher should open as a result of the fall with the Forester Quad expected to open to mid station tomorrow.