WARNING

 This blog is no longer maintained.

It is still available to access historical information. Do not rely on it for any current information.

The club website aacfallscreek.com has the most up-to date information.

Update on Oversnow and Village Access

It was great to have ski in/ski out for opening weekend but there was not enough snow to last. Between the rain and the snowplough, the village roads are being cleared.
Road conditions permitting, you will be able to drive to the lodge with a 30 minute pass for load and unload. Of course, if there is another big snowfall, things could change

Regardless of road conditions, the village roads will be closed as of 8am on Thur 27 June until mid September.

At the lodge

You will have seen in the last newsletter that over the summer there have been many small but important improvements to refresh the lodge.

As part of moving the laundry to a more suitable space, some lockers have been relocated. If your locker is not where it was, the games room is where to find it.

News from the lift co

Lift tickets

• Maximum walk-up day ticket price is $149. You can save by buying online, ahead of time.
• July Vic school holidays and Fri-Sun in July and August look to have the highest prices
• The lowest online ticket price is $97
• Midweek deal - ski Tue, Wed, Thur for the price of 2 days. Matching deal on resort entry. This will not be available in Vic July school holidays.

Ski School

• Kids ski school restructure
• Junior workshop 6-14
• Adults 15+
• Ride Tribe 13-17 but must be at least competent intermediate (not early or late season)
• Adult lessons return to 10am
• All day adult learn to ski deal (optional) 

Maintenance and improvements

• Gully has had a makeover and is now capable of 2.3m/sec. It can be slowed and sped up as required
• Eagle has had changes to improve reliability
• Bushfire control works have had a side benefit of summer grooming in the maze

Other news for season 2019

• The road and village shuttles and maybe some other vehicles, should have live tracking that you can follow in an app to better understand when to expect one
• Encouraging people to buy ATS (oversnow) tickets online. Will trial having an express line for people with online tickets
• ATS hours are nominally till 10 Sat-Thur, after midnight Fri but often they stay later. If you are going to be late, ring them when you know your ETA and they may be able to wait for you

and a plan for 2020

• Next summer – new car park below Bay 8 – expect 200 spaces

Queen's Birthday Weekend - What's happening?

This is the most snow for opening weekend since 2000.

The village will be in ski in/ski out mode from Friday morning, with no cars in the village. After the weekend they will assess whether there is enough snow to maintain ski in/ski out.

The lift co have said that they will run Gully, Eagle, Halleys, Towers, Drovers, Mousetrap (and maybe the little ski school carpet). They expect all runs off these lifts to be open, plus Broadway and the Ys.

The Falls Creek Alpine Association Mountain Muster function which we hosted last year will be on at Bogong Ski Club in the bowl and you are welcome to attend.

Have a great time if you heading up.

Epic Australia Pass

The Hotham lease issues have been finalised and Hotham is now part of Vail Resorts too. If you have a Hero Pass then you need to decide whether to convert to an Epic Australia Pass. It may be free, or a small fee or even a tiny refund depending on the date that you bought your Hero Pass.

If you convert, you get all the benefits of the Epic Australia Pass but you lose benefits of the Hero Pass. Epic Australia Pass lets you ski at Perisher as well as Falls and Hotham, and at some overseas resorts with some restrictions. Read the fine print and decide which is right for you. Some points to watch out for

• Hero Passes entitle you to 1 free day ticket and 1 free Learn to Ski ticket for friends. This does not apply under an Epic Pass
• Epic Australia Pass entitles you to 6 Bring a Mate discount tickets that only apply at Perisher. Discounts vary
• Seniors over 70 are treated differently by Vail Resorts. For this year, free passes are available under Merlin's conditions (Falls and Hotham only)

You can also choose to upgrade to an Epic Australia Plus pass which has less restrictions on overseas resorts. The Epic Pass is a US dollar pass that will apply to the Northern hemisphere 2019/20 season and our 2020 season. It has the most resorts and least restrictions.

I understand that the deadline to convert is 2 July.

For details see https://www.epicaustraliapass.com.au/passes/epic-australia-pass-faq-2019

Pre season snow - what's happenning?

The early snow falls are fantastic, but make for some logistical challenges

This weekend Fri 31 May - Sun 2 June

Private traffic in the village will cease from midnight 31 May.

From 8am Saturday 1st June, carparking and village shuttle services will begin operation.  Shuttles will collect from QT, ATS (aka Oversnow) and Gully as well as all internal village bus stops.

If you require transport to the lodge, contact ATS to arrange.

The annual Ice Plunge is on Saurday at 9:30am

The visitor information centre will be open from 10am - 3pm Sat & Sun

Next week

If the snow forecast for Sun/Mon eventuates, the village will go to full oversnow operation. The aim would be ski in/ski out for QBW.

Season 2018 is off and running

Opening weekend was snowless but a week later lifts started to turn. By the end of June we had all lifts except Lakeside and International. The runs off Summit and Inter are open, but ungroomed. It's a fabulous start to the season with great skiing on the groomers and off-piste.

We've got a new Eagle Express chair, a big change in places to eat,and our beautifully renovated spa is open.

Members are using the new booking system to check out vacancies and grab the opportunity to enjoy this early snow. July and August are very heavily booked but there are still a few spare beds. If you haven't tried the booking system yet, the feedback is that it's much easier than the old system.

Have a great season!

Eagle Express is go

The much heralded Eagle Express is operating.

It's a detachable quad, like Halley's Comet/Falls Express. It can whisk us up to the top in just a few minutes (2 minutes & 20 seconds at top speed but it may not run quite that fast). Initially the capacity (skiers per hour) will be the same as with the old lift, but there is an option for the lift co to provide more chairs in future.

A word of warning - the lift has an automatically locking safety bar. It doesn't release until you get to right to the unload.

Getting beginners to Cloud 9

The lift co have acquired a sherpa trailer. Together with it's snowmobile it can carry 9 passengers. It will be used to shuttle beginners from Eagle to Cloud 9. In busy times priority will go to ski school, but otherwise any beginners should be able to use it. I heard that there was a delay in getting it operational. Hopefully will be running soon.

Access

New regulations about chairlifts mean that the base station is positioned a little differently. Sadly this means we cannot walk or ski between the lift and Altitude Apartments (previously Cummings building)

Hopefully we will be able to ski through between the lift and Frying Pan

.

Our wonderful new spa

Technically it may not be new, but it is unrecognisable from it's previous guise. It really is spectacular now.

Andrew & Justin worked incredibly hard to make it a success so it's only fitting that they got to celebrate.

The shower and toilet cubicles have also been replaced and the sauna woodwork has been restored.

If you haven't used the spa or sauna for a while, now's the time to give them a go.

Games Room TV upgrade

The new 65" TV has been installed in the games room. The old TV has moved next door to the TV room

Rooms 1 and 4 are now doubles

After the successful, and popular, conversion of Room 2 to just a queen, rooms 1 and 4 have been given the same treatment. All 3 rooms have also been given new bed bases with storage.

Justin & Tony finishing the remaining cabinet in Room 4

Harry & Hugh cheesing it up in Room 1

Room 1, complete with new bed

Coffee reminder

We have a Nespresso pod coffee machine for those who prefer espresso style to drip coffee.

Members and guests need to supply their own pods. They need to be Nespresso brand or a compatible style. Piazza D'Oro is a compatible brand stocked by Foodworks at Falls Creek, although choosy coffee-aholics (like me) will probably find thatNespresso pods work better.

What else is new around Falls Creek in 2018

Trial of evening shuttles

There will be a trial of evening shuttles, from 6pm to 9pm from 2nd - 14th July. It will  use the same stops as the daytime village shuttles. This is intended to help people, especially families, get to restaurants around the village. Depending on how this goes, stage 2 of the trial will be another 2 weeks in early August. It would be great to see this as a regular feature, so please consider using it during the trial if it fits in with your plans.

Eateries

The lift company eateries are under new management, the people that run Husky and Astra. Frying Pan Inn and Cloud Nine have been refurbished, with plans for bigger redevelopment after the season. (Had a very nice lunch at Fryers.) Dicky Knees and Maggie's Snacks have been sublet to the Snonuts people. Maggie's has been renamed Blue Brumby and will add Asian fusion dishes to its offerings. Dicky Knees will add Mexican food and drinks.

Snonuts also have a stall at ATS (aka Oversnow)

Gateway Cafe has been taken over by the Easy Eats people who have the stall in the bowl. Menu is burgers, souvlakis, focaccias etc. They also have a stall above Slalom Plaza

Lilli Pilli is a new tea room (and spa) at Pretty Valley

Ski School Changes

Junior Workshop and teenage Ride Tribe are now only available as a full day program. Snowclub is still available as full day or half-day.

On the website there is no price for Junior Workshop or Ride Tribe that does not include a lift ticket. Maybe this just an omission, or....

Beginner transport from Eagle to Cloud 9

As mentioned in the Eagle article, there will be a 9 passenger snowmobile/trailer combination to shuttle beginners between Eagle and Cloud 9. Not sure when it will start

Lift Co Stores/Hires

The lift company shops have been re-branded and in some cases relocated

• Board Lounge is now in the Snowlands building (under Last Hoot)
• Apres Vous has been renamed ālp and movedto the front of QT where Board Lounge was
• Home Base is the main shop at QT
• Base 1 is the village bowl shop
• Base 2 is the shop at Silver Ski
• Peak is the shop at Cloud 9 (in a different location)
• Snowzone is ski valet and school group hire, now where Apres Vous was

New boot fitter

A new business will operate out of the old Gebi's building. Too soon to know much about it.

Personnel

Scott Sanderson is the new head of ski school. Lackie Keavers is the new media manager for the lift co

Working Bee Report

Another productive, and very sociable, working bee was held at the start of May.

Stacking firewood under the lodge has always been a huge task. It's still a big undertaking but we keep finding better ways of doing it with fewer people

John  gets the wood ready

Alan loads the chute

Hope the logs stop in time

and hand over hand

and still at least 4 more pairs of hands from here until it is stacked

The kitchen and all its contents were cleaned

Probably Nikki & Hayley, but hard workers in the kitchen anyway

Final touches were made to the spa area

John B working on partitions for the new toilet

The lockers outside the spa area were given a light facelift

Nigel & Mel transforming the once dingy lockers

Other jobs included

• converting Room 1 and Room 4 to queen beds only (see more)
• 1980s vintage posters in the foyer
• moved the TV in the games room to the TV room in preparation for a new 65" TV and soundbar for the games room (see more)
• storing dry goods (cereal, toilet paper etc)
• neatening shelf in Room 2 and adding more coat hooks
• repaired grout in the hearth tiles
• cleaned bathroom ceilings as needed
• prepare the spa for the season
• update software for lodge internet

If you haven't been to a working bee, or not for a while, we'd love to see you next year. Help keep our lodge in great shape.

Mountain Muster 2018

The Falls Creek Alpine Association (FCAA) is a body that represents ski clubs and other small lease holders at Falls Creek. Every opening weekend they have a get together, known as the Mountain Muster. This year AAC Falls Creek hosted the function.

Over 100 people attended, with catering provided by FCAA. It was a great  chance to showcase our lodge to a broad cross section of Falls Creek regulars and we received many compliments.

AGM and Committee Positions 2018

The AGM went smoothly. All past committee members were re-elected.

The June committee meeting elects the office bearers. There have been a few changes since last year.

During 2017, Garry Hayes and Tony Ryder swapped roles, with Tony picking up Membership and Garry Summer Marketing.

As of the June meeting, Jenny Hughes is the new secretary but will retain responsibilities for IT.

Bronwyn Sigmund is the new Communications Officer.

Lynn Cameron will take up a new Events coordination role and also assist the Treasurer with overdue fees.


President: Nigel Cowie
Secretary: Jenny Hughes
Treasurer: Michal Szkilnik

Lodge Supervisor: Justin Checcucci
Booking Officer: Alan Long
Membership: Tony Ryder
Marketing: Garry Hayes
Communications: Bronwyn Sigmund
Events: Lynn Cameron

This means I am writing my last articles for the blog/newsletter. Please help Bron by providing her with photos, stories and information to share.

Life Member Policy

The committee has formalised the Life Member policy, based on long standing practice. The policy is published on the club website at aacfallscreek.com/rules/32-membership-rules.html.

Life Membership of AAC Falls Creek recognises exceptional service to the club and/or AAC National, usually over many years. The committee relies on members to nominate people who deserve this honour. If you know of someone who you think should be considered for Life Membership, please read the policy and write a submission.

New - Secure Payments Gateway for Bookings

The new booking system makes it easy for the club to offer a more secure way of paying for bookings. The eWay payment gateway conforms to financial industry security standards to protect the privacy of your card details.
We have delayed turning on this facility until the end of the priority booking period for members, AAC members and family.
On or about 15 March this facility will be turned on to allow you to pay easily and securely from within the booking system.

When you receive an invoice for your booking, log on to the booking system, and use menu Members/View My Bookings.

Find the booking you want to pay for and, click on Pay or Cancel Booking at the end of its row.

The booking details will be displayed. Scroll down to the bottom and see a group of buttons. Click Pay for this booking. This will take you to the eWay payment gateway. Enter your credit or debit card details and click Process transaction then wait until you are returned to the booking system page.

Do not attempt to pay before you receive an invoice. Premature payment will not confirm your booking. Similarly, it is safest to avoid paying the outstanding balance because you may inadvertently pay for bookings which have not yet been approved. If a paid-for booking cannot be approved there may be delay in organising a credit or refund.

The User Guide has been updated to include these instructions.