Some snow has fallen in the Australian alps and temps are cooling down, so it's a good time to fire up the Pistenbully 400W and head down Chute to level the moguls...
Mt Buller height 1805m Snow Depths 78 cm top (1780 m) 36 cm base (1380 m) Damn looks like it's going to be a short season. I always used to joke they took the reading at the top of the mountain and shoveled some snow up against the depth gauge to make it sound better. I find it interesting how you manage the snow, you push it around to make runs wider more of a consistent depth trying to keep the base intact. You guys are well skilled at your work.
In the northern hemisphere you generally get really spoilt for snow and don’t have to try to hard to open a slope. In the southern hemisphere, mainly Australia and New Zealand, you really have to be strategic with snow management. It’s been a particularly warm winter, it happens every now and then, it just means we have to work smarter and manage the snow better.
It's mapped by GPS every time a cat drives over the snow. The basemap is generated by a GPS rover. The basemap only needs updated if the underlying terrain changes significantly.
As above it can be mapped by GPS rover or aerial drone mapping. I believe our slopes are a mix of drone mapping and rover mapping because of the wooded areas and whatnot. It’s fairly accurate though, very handy for operators doing their first season here (like me)
