Cross Country Ski Hire Marysville

School hols, fresh snow and no crowds. After a busy opening looks like things are picking up. Not quite there yet for the skiers but happy days for the tobogganers. Be sure to hit the runs early for the best of the snow before the crowds pick up. More snow on the way. Gotta love that.

For those of you who haven’t seen our coffee van yet, here she is in all her glory.

You bewdy!

Just when we all started packing up for the 2009 winter, 15cm of fresh snow has been dumped at Lake Mountain early this week. The ski trails are now in good shape and all toboggan runs are open and it looks like it should stick around for the weekend.

The other big news of the week is that Cross Country Ski Hire retained the title of having the fastest toboggans after a clean sweep in the open category at the annual toboggan race series last Saturday on Lake Mountain. The Wilkie family from Bacchus Marsh did us proud on our super carve toboggans. Dad and the young fella picked up the silverware. Well done guys. Minor places were also filled by a couple of dudes on our super carves. Photos coming soon.

My advice is to get up here early for one last crack, grab a supercarve toboggan and enjoy the best of the snow conditions before it gets too chopped up with the crowds.   

Grego

After a pretty frustrating season with above average temps and heavy rain, Lake Mountain appears set to pull the pin on the 2009 snow season this weekend. However, the toboggan race series planned for Saturday 22nd August will still go ahead. The mountain has been stock piling snow for the week and will lay it out on the village toboggan run for the event.

After supplying the winning toboggans for all races in 2008, we’re ready to give it another crack in 2009 with our fleet of super carves. Easily the fastest toboggan on the hill. Swing by the shop early as these bad boys will be in hot demand. I’ve got mine all waxed up!!!!!

Grego

Last Sunday Marysville played host to a couple of true sporting legends in Greg and Chris Evert Norman.

They were flown to the golf club via Lindsay Fox’s helicopter and spent an hour being chauffered around the town in a bus. They mingled with locals and showed genuine interest in the redevelopment of the township. With my love of golf and Lianne’s of tennis, we both managed to get a photo or two with our childhood idols.

Lianne and Chris Evert

Greg and Greg Norman

Lianne and Chris Evert

Lianne made the nightly news giving Greg a kiss and now she says there’s another Greg in her life!  Such a wonderful couple and to give up their first anniversary together in order to be with the people of Marysville says it all really.

The afternoon was spent at the Heritage Golf and country club where the Marysville and Triangle community were invited guests at a luncheon in a large marquee. Who should come out on stage for 3 songs but Simon and Garfunkel. Unbelievable! We had some fun with Hamish and Andy and enjoyed listening to Kate Ceberano and James Morrison. Also in attendance were Megan Gale, Wayne Arthurs, ‘Dipper’, John Brumby and others.

Lianne and Andy Lee

A huge thank you for their ongoing support for the Marysville and Triangle region must also go to Andrew Forest, Mick Best and the Fox family including Andrew and Fi. All were just so genuine and nice and a simple thank you doesn’t seem adequate.

What an amazing day and one that truly lifted the spirits of the people from Marysville and the triangle.

Grego

On Wednesday 1st July, a fire within the day centre of Lake Mountain caused significant damage to their hire shop. As a result, Lake Mountain management has issued a notice via their website that they are not able to hire any clothing or ski equipment until further notice, and that people travelling to Lake Mountain are advised to hire and/or purchase their snow gear from the Marysville shops.

That’s us. We have got heaps of new gear at great prices (and we’re cheaper than the mountain anyway) and will be hard pushed to run out of clothing and toboggans, so you won’t need to pre-book.

On a positive note…

It’s been snowing heavily for the last 24 hours and there’s a heap more forecast so should be a great weekend. Furthermore, it’s free entry up the mountain until services are returned to normal. Gotta love that!

Grego

The first few weeks of the ski season has been good fun with a mix of some old staff returning and being joined by some new faces. All of our staff are locals and all are trying to rebuild their lives after the devastation of the February bushfires. They are a wonderful group with some amazing evacuation and recovery stories.

Lianne and the staff outside the shop

Over the course of the winter I will be introducing them in our new blog and putting them on the spot to tell their story. (You should have seen their faces when I told them that!)

Lianne and myself are privileged to have such superbly qualified people with us this year and we know that by offering them work with us we are helping to keep them in the community for when they can return to their usual professions and businesses.

Watch out for their stories in future posts,

Greg.

This weekend is shaping up to be a big one. Lake Mountain had 40cm on Tuesday night and a 5cm top-up yesterday and the resort rating is excellent. Even Marysville got some snow, and people were having to fit chains in town! What a great start to the season. We’ve taken a bunch of photos so will try to post them here later today.

At the resort all toboggan areas are open and most of the cross country trails have a good, deep cover and are being groomed. Check the ski.com.au trail report for all the details.

This weekend is shaping up to be superb with further snowfalls expected, so we are rushing to get our new skis waxed up in time. My advice is to get here early and get your gear from us to avoid the queues. Might even be able to sneak in a couple of runs myself…

Today’s snowcam image is a sight for sore eyes!

The toboggan slope, 10.30am 9 June. Image: ski.com.au

Looking good! You can even see the flakes falling in that pic.

Be sure to rug up if you’re on your way to the mountain today or tomorrow. The wind’s got a real bite to it.

It’s on! Last week seven portables were dropped onto our cleared site, the plumbing and electrics are all hooked up and the new gear is arriving daily. Here are some photos of the portables being delivered.

The new gear is arriving daily – I’m getting a bit sick of unpacking it all! The graphics on the 2009 Madshus skis look pretty cool and with the NIS bindings attached should be a lot quicker with greater contol. I’m looking forward to getting a few early runs in with these bad boys. Check out the rap sheet on the Nordsetter and Exercise models as well as all the latest Madshus news at www.madshus.com.

It should be a good opening weekend. Maybe a light dusting of snow on the Monday as well. Not enough to ski yet but certainly getting the ground temperatures down. The mountain crew are keen to show off their new snowmaking toy that guarantees snow to 25 degrees celsius. No pressure boys!

Down at the shop we’re getting the brews cranked up and have even laid a bit of turf to spruce the place up. Check us out tonight on ABC’s Stateline at 7.30pm.