If I could be anywhere right now it would be Treble Cone, New Zealand. Mother Nature gave NZ the silent treatment for May and June while Australia received the snow they were hoping for. She wasn't even kind enough to give them cold temperatures so they could make their own.
Then bam, with one giant cold shoulder, she dumps more snow in one week-long storm in the western side of the Southern Alps than some Aussie snow fields would see in a season. Treble Cone scored the most from the storm and went from tussock to 180 centimetres of snow in the car park alone in less than a week and had Snow It All scanning the airline websites for flights to make tracks of our own.
(WIN a Contour HD Helmet cam with Smith goggles and helmet, plus a Snow It All exclusive with Richard Branson AND unseen footage from Australia's answer to Warren Miller - check out details below)
Only trouble is, when you load up a tussock covered mountain with that much snow in that short amount of time avalanche danger goes through the roof. The mountain crew have to work overtime to make the mountain safe for the powder mongers salivating at the bottom of the access road for their long awaited fix.
Avalanche control takes time and the mountain has remained closed, until today when Home Basin finally opened, a good month later than the market the NZ snow fields target the most, Australia.
How do I know all this? Facebook.
If you have a smart phone and a Facebook, Twitter or YouTube account then count yourself a snow reporter. Thanks to the internet and social media, the ski fields of the world have had to lift their snow reporting game, stop lying and take accountability for their real snow and mountain conditions.
It is hard to believe a snow report claiming a 40 centimetre base when the resort's web cameras show pockets of white amongst vast amounts of dirt, rock and tussock. It is harder still to believe a mountain is 'open' when Facebook friends are crying on status updates that all but one of the lifts is closed.
Sunshine Village ski resort in Banff in Canada know the power of Facebook better than most, and not in a good way. When their ski patrol had an alleged altercation with the resort owner's son in an out of bounds area and were subsequently sacked, ski patrol went on strike or called in sick (depending whose testimony you believe) and most of the mountain was then closed.
What followed on Facebook was a disaster. Customers were supposedly lied to about the reason the mountain closed and the ski patrollers' supporters took to the page to post what they saw as 'the truth'. Sunshine Village deleted negative comments (never a good idea in social media, better to acknowledge mistakes and be accountable to customers) and an all out Facebook war began with a Support Ski Patrol wronged by Sunshine Village Ski Resort Facebook page enlisting more than 8000 supporters.
Facebook is where ski resorts can interact with their customers and listen to both praise and criticism. It can be a valuable tool to understand your ski resort brand in the snow community.
Mt Hutt in the Canterbury region of NZ have been doing it tough this year. First there was the Christchurch earthquake, then there was the lack of snow, then there was snow, then there was wind and then there were irate customers on school holidays in Methven demanding to know why they were not open.
They have handled the whole situation on social media well. They haven't lied about the conditions, instead they have been honest and have shown empathy for their customers' frustrations.
On Monday during the height of the storm fronts they posted the following on their Facebook page:
"So far we went from not much snow to 40-50cms new snow in the last 48 hours. With this new snow also came the wind (dam it). But the mountain has some huge wind drifts in the basin and the ridge line has been stripped and so has some rollovers. But good news is we have had our grooming team out and about today track packing. Weather for tomorrow is looking pretty much the same as today, sorry."
Now that is what I call an honest snow report.
When a frustrated holiday maker posted "It's so depressing we've been here since Thursday and haven't had a ski" on the Mt Hutt Facebook page, the mountain responded "We feel for you and everyone else in town this weather is crazy".
And that is what I call empathy and understanding. You can't control Mother Nature and if you ski then you know that.
We believe what we see and last week in Australia we saw a lot with those at the snow posting images of pristine powder and blue skies from our own ski resorts. No need to check a snow report when our friends are offering their own and it's human nature to believe our friends over a commercial entity's report.
Thredbo had a shocker day on Sunday with 146km/h winds shutting most of the lifts, even though it was blowing the snow onto the runs it was impossible to get to those same runs without a chairlift.
Typically the Facebook page had some whingers complaining about driving to the snow only to find most of the mountain closed and their day ruined. They suddenly went silent when Paul Woolhouse from Western Australia posted this:
"Even with the raging weather, we only had the day up there so us West Aussie's braved it and memories we have forever with our son Cody on his Starlight Foundation Make a Wish Trip. Back to WA to start more chemotherapy for him, but we cannot wipe the smile off his face.
There is more to life than missing one day of the season....we were lucky we could still get a run in with Cody even though the conditions were bad. $1000 for us to get one run down and it was worth every penny."
Social media, again, puts snow sports into perspective.
Do you think snow reporters still lie? What's the worst snow lie you've seen this season? Do you think social media has forced the truth? What are your favourite Facebook pages? Post a comment on our blog below and join our Facebook Page for daily updates and giveaways
SNOW IT ALL EXCLUSIVE WITH SIR RICHARD BRANSON
Snow It All spent the weekend with Sir Richard Branson at his swanky new private Makepeace Island near Noosa with a handful of 'friends' and our own mixologist. We blame the cocktails for our cameraman's shaky work in this video and for the reason he's been MIA since. But you heard it here first, Sir Richard Branson is in the market for a ski resort and guess what he'll call it?
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE SNOW IT ALL EXCLUSIVES! WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THIS
We've done it again and got our hot Snow It All hands-on unseen footage from what we've been calling 'Australia's contemporary answer to Warren Miller', Mr Timothy Myer's. The hour-long snow special, the Toyota One Hit Wonder, set to broadcast on Channel Nine on July 24 at 2pm. Featuring Australia's best skiers and snowboarders from an impressive team of our country's best cameramen including Rob Norman, Chris Hocking, Dom Sullivan, Marty Bourke, and the man himself Tim Myers. We looking forward to seeing the full hour to measure the 'Miller' call, they're big shoes to fill. Here's some cool footage to get you pumped.
PLUS you can WIN a Contour HD 1080 Helmet Camera, Smith I/O Goggles and Smith Vantage Helmet
Our Snow It All In Your Head competition continues this week. It's the last week to win this magic prize pack, so enter now.
At Snow It All we know it is what's up top that counts which is why we're offering you the ultimate Snow It All In Your Head giveaway.
The Contour HD 1080 VHR 1300 helmet cam (RRP$299) can be mounted on your goggles, helmet, ski poles, wherever you want to record your point of view. It weighs a mere 122 grams, has a wide-angle lens with a one-button control and records over eight hours of HD content on the one 32gb card.
The Smith I/O goggle (RRP$259.95) offers full interchangeable rimless lens technology with a spherical lens and the Smith Vantage Helmet ($279.95) is ventilated hybrid shell helmet with a dual regulator for zoned ventilation. Translated? No eye squinting or hot heads!
How do you win this major prize swag? Simply post a comment on today's blog topic or send us an email misssnowitall@gmail.com telling us why you should win and the whole kit could be yours. Terms and conditions.
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