Cross Country Ski Hire Marysville

Well, after a frustrating August a late season dump has hit Lake Mtn which promises to give snow starved Victorians one last fix for 2011. After some gear? No problem. Shop’s open with all you’ll need including chains. Check us out and we’ll let you know if you need to carry them. If it stays quiet I might be able slip up myself for a cheeky one.

Enjoy the last of season 2011 and go the mighty Hawks!

Cheers. Grego

What happened to snow in August?

So after another week of rain and warm weather, Lake Mtn has decided to pull the pin on snow making for the season. Furthermore, with warm weather forecast for the next week it would seem that there won’t be too many more natural snow falls to come either. So what now?

For those still intending to visit Lake Mtn for snow, definitely check out the snow cams and report links from our homepage prior to travelling for a more informed decision.

Lake Mtn still intends to continue with it’s planned family fun day on the 3rd September. However, it will now incorporate non-snow activities instead of the planned toboggan races. As for the team at Cross Country Ski Hire, the pack up has begun…..

Thanks this week to the Oakley Cannons Junior Football Club who hit the shop on the 6th for a family fun day at Lake Mtn. Congrats for such a well organized group led by John Kostopoulos. To any prospective members, get on board. After seeing how they operate, I’d say they’d be a top club to be a part of. We look forward to helping you guys out next year with decent snow (hopefully)!

Cheers. Grego

What a difference a couple of weeks can make to an Australian snow season. The second week of the school hols saw large numbers enjoying excellent snow conditions with car chains needing to be used. Fast forward a couple of weeks and after record August temps we are now down to a small patch of man made snow on the village toboggan run only. The good news is that it is still early August and that there is several weak fronts on the way with a larger system due around the 20th. Fingers crossed on this one. This weekend promises to be a quiet one with temps still around the low teens and a high probability of heavy rain. Ouch. Maybe a good book and a bottle of red might be a better option!

Having designed our shop on paper it was nice to see all our processes in action. During heavy periods over the school hols we were still able to get people through the shop in 10 minutes and all with quality gear. Happy with that. Meanwhile in the shop, the skis are finally off the floor, we are still talking cafe with the cabinet makers and the builders aim to start on the house next week…whoohoo.

Thanks to sporting personalities and others who continue to support the town and region. In the shop recently was AFL legends Brett Ratten, Nathan Bourke and socceroo hero Aloisi. All commented on the ease of a snow trip with family to Lake Mtn.

Thanks also to Amelia Wijayanti and friends who prooved that even first time adults to the snow can have a memorable day with a bunch of mates and a couple of toboggans. Amelia also informed me that she followed my tweets. And I thought I just wrote them to myself. Thanks guys. Pleased you had a great day.

So it’s a case of watch and wait over the next couple of weeks to see what happens with snow season 2011.

Cheers. Grego

Talk about all or nothing. After a mild build-up to the school hols we now have blizzards! As a result, this weekend promises to be epic with between 30-60cm fresh snow forecast for Lake Mtn. Skiing, tobogganing, making snow angels will all be going off. So get in early to get a good car park and don’t forget to pack a heap of food and drink as there’s sure to be queues for everything. Maybe check out the prepaid park entry via ticketmaster to get priority at the park entry. A good initiative of LM introduced for 2011. Meanwhile, another week, another new cabinet has appeared in the shop. The design continues to perform well under pressure with all customers including skiers and tobogganers catered for in the large open-planned layout. ski and pole racks go up this week.

All the local suits were in town last Friday for the ribbon cutting at ‘CountryTouch’. They were joined prior at our shop by the deputy premier, Peter Ryan and the VBBRA team. All enjoyed a few kodak moments but Peter declined my offer of a ziptylracer as a suitable prop preferring instead the skates in the same colours as his beloved D’s. Thanks to all for the support and kind words.

Cheers. Grego

Further dumps during the week have contributed to the impressive start to the season. 30cm on the toboggan runs in June…Giddy-up.

The shop is now up and running with cabinetry and fittings now going in. Thanks to all for the compliments. How good is it to drive your car to the returns door at the end of the day? Certainly beats hacking through the queues up at the mountain. Shots this week of the team in action in the clean-up room. Living the dream? Probably not!

Looking like a top weekend. Good snow, sunny skies and chain-free. Enjoy

Cheers. Grego

What a huge weekend at Lake Mountain to kick off the 2011 snow season. 35 cm of fresh snowfall in the preceeding week with plenty of media attention was always going to result in big crowds…and it did. Sunday saw record numbers hit the mountain and how about the new day shelter they’ve been building? Pretty impressive.

With the season kicking off in a weeks time the shop is really starting to transform. Check out the latest snaps. Signage is up. Car parking is sorted. Painters and tilers finishing off. Plumbers and elecricians doing internals. Can’t wait for the season to start for a rest!

New season stock continues to arrive daily as we continue to keep prices affordable but still offer quality gear. New snow boots again this year with heaps of new clothes, skis, toboggans etc etc. We’ve also got our helmets back this year for the nippers on the toboggans. In addition we’ve picked up some pretty funky helmet covers which are sure to be an attention grabber.

This week I nipped up to Mansfield to visit the ski guru. Chris Pullin looks after the gear for the Australian snowboard team so who better to get our new skis tuned up. Can’t wait to see how much better these will perform.

For the opening weekend check out our famous sidewalk sale. Your chance to grab some ex-rental gear that has been turned over quickly and being sold for under half the original retail price. All-in-one suits for $50 and insulated overpants for $70 are just an example.

Anyone wanting a bit of casual work this winter give us a yell. Got have a fun personality to fit in to the team.

Stay tuned for more updates as the season gets underway.

Cheers. Grego

The shops are starting to look pretty schmick and we certainly have the locals talking. It’s funny how they didn’t look that big on paper! Signage went up last week and the car parking area was also recently poured. Check out some recent shots.

In another case of onwards and upwards for the team, Cross Country Cafe – our mobile coffee van, has been put to stud on a cosy Sydney beach. For 2 years following the fires, the van has pottered around town attending farmers markets, Lake Mountain sprint series, outdoor opera performances, private functions as well as providing coffee and hot food to our customers outside our shop over the winter months. Indeed, over this last summer it has been in attendance at some memorable community events including preseason football games at Gallipoli Park, the Marysville challenge bike ride event and more recently at the Marysville to Melbourne multisport challenge.  Easily recognizable around the town, the van has continued to show our presence and committment to the local community whilst we rebuild. Our two expert baristas, Christine and Kartia Wilson, well done and see you back onsite soon. 

Well, the early season dump arrived at Lake Mountain on 11th May. A Mega low hit the Victorian alps with the early signs and chatter being for another quality snow season at Lake Mountain. Meanwhile in Marysville it was pretty friggin cold with a dusting of snow and temps around 1.5 degrees celcius(windchill of -5!) Bring it on…

All the new stock has started arriving. Floors going down this Tuesday. Still a fair bit to do…

After recently returning from O/S it is worth considering how good we have got it in Australia with “the option of snow.” Pre-christmas Europe was at a gridlock due to the white stuff and in January thousands of east coast US flights were cancelled or delayed as near record dumps created havoc. Still, having the opportunity to Nordic ski around central park in New York if you’re a local is pretty impressive. Thanks to all our friends and family in the UK and around Philadelphia for some great times. Wasn’t all pork pies and cheese steaks though. Managed to check out a few local hills and some of the latest gear.

The rebuild is now full-on with the countdown to the 2011 season. With the shops almost at lockup stage we have enlisted the support of enter energy shop consultants in Reservoir and Advantage Kitchens in Coburg to help with installations. Our pizza guru Harry, from Papa Gino’s in Lygon street Carlton has also offered his support. Check out the latest snaps.

On the local front. Cross Country Ski Hire has become a major sponsor of the Marysville District Football & Netball Club Inc. as they re-enter teams in the YVMDFL after a long absence. Well done to John and the committee for all your efforts and we look forward to getting in amongst it. Go Villians!!

Our thoughts also go out to those affected by the January floods and having been on the receiving end of national and community support we urge all our followers to give where they can.

Cheers Grego