Sean Radich has been nice enough to shoot us through an update from Falls Creek after the massive weather event that’s been occurring over the last week. Check below for an update and a few photos. Thanks for sending em through Radman!
From Sean Radich:
It’s fair to say that the North East of Victoria has been on the receiving end of some apocalyptic weather over the last week or so, but amazingly, Falls Creek has weathered the storm pretty well and is in great shape for the rest of the season. In fact, despite over 200mm of rain falling in a couple of days, not as much snow was lost as expected and there is more snow around now than at the start of August! And as temperatures dropped with the tail of the storm, there was even 10cm of powder to be shredded on a sunny Tuesday this week.
The roads and countryside of the North East suffered greatly with all the storms, but the road from Mt Beauty to Falls is no longer closed at night for maintenance and it is clear of the numerous trees and landslides that trapped everyone up there for the weekend. There is a clear route to Falls from Melbourne taking the Great Alpine Rd turnoff from the Hume and then going via a scenic detour through Beechworth and Yackandandah that only adds a few minutes to the normal trip to Mt Beauty. (The regular route via Myrtleford might now be open too, but check with Vicroads to be sure). And despite the best efforts of the Herald-Sun to make Wangaratta look like Aquaman’s kingdom, the route in and out is high and dry, and so it makes a good KFC or La Porchetta dinner-stop if you want to avoid the weekend traffic jams at the Glenrowan Maccas.
With all the wild weather the Falls Creek terrain parks have taken a bit of a battering, but both Drovers and Castle were rebuilt Tuesday night. Drovers has two 15-20 foot jumps, plus an assortment of the usual rails and boxes, as well as a C-box. Currently, Ruined Castle has a pro-double line of a 50 footer into a 60 footer, folllowed by the big wall-ride raised on a pedestal. And there is a huge pile of snow ready to shape a massive spine to finish the pro-line, as well some mounds to the skier’s right of the park ready for some intermediate size jumps. With the crowds staying away, the local boys and girls hit up the jumps on Wednesday, alongside visiting Canadian Endeavor Pro-Team rider, Kevin Griffen.
The village is still ski-in, ski-out, which is pretty impressive for a week into September. There’s snow all around allowing heaps of features to be jibbed at the moment. So anyone wanting to test out their urban riding skills, or wanting to practise their photo and video skills should head to Falls now while there’s Spring-time cheap(er) accommodation prices and lack of crowds for the next three and a bit weeks.
