I am going to start off with a flashback from last season:
August 29, 2013
Today l was sitting in the lift hut on top of the small beginners run, looking at some showers over a distant valley, thinking about the forecast for the coming week when the following poem came to me:
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“Wishful Thinking”
Grey clouds gathering above,
surrounding us with warmth and love.
Sending down some precious rain,
while I am wishing here in vain
for the cold air to return real soon,
to cover our hills once more in a fluffy white cocoon.
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This was the last day of that run being open for the season that ended in a fizzle for most Australian resorts with some closing a week prior to the end of the official season, which is normally the last weekend of September, due to lack of snow.
I had been enjoying working on this beginners run for 6 years now and knew what was coming, but tried to stay positive. Over the years I had dropped a few hints here and there on how snow making would make the run much more reliable for a large group of customers, that preferred the family atmosphere there, to the much larger and more crowded main resort. These hints were generally met with comments similar to the well known flying pigs one… In other words, the resort had a lot of other priorities to spend money on, before this was even a consideration.
Why is there a hole in the ground?
Easter this year, while up there to make preparations for Winter, like getting fire wood and cleaning the house, I went past the run to have a look if anything had changed. I noticed that someone had dug a big whopping hole, below the lower lift hut, right next to the fire hydrant connection! I could not help but wonder and hope. Was this a sign of preparations for snow guns to be installed?
Shortly after writing the above poem and thinking about how snow guns would have made my job easier and more reliable over the last few months, I had a conversation with a local council member about the possibility and talked about the positive impact I expected from having snow guns on the continuity of customers and revenue. This conversation was suddenly met with a little more hope raising response than any of my previous ones on this topic.
Newly arrived
A few weeks back my attention was drawn to a post on Face Book, in which the announcement was made that confirmed my suspicions. The snow guns had arrived! I felt extremely exited! I am eager to find out what the coming snow season has in store and am so glad we now have snow making for everyone to enjoy!
Testing commences
It is difficult to prove what had changed, that all of a sudden people in charge decided that snow guns are an important asset for the revenue of the small slope, but I can’t help but wonder if my thoughts and poem had something to do with it. Was it just wishful thinking? Or can thoughts, like the ones mentioned in this story, actually become a reality? Through my own multiple experiences with this phenomenon, I have become convinced this is the case. Please share yours in the comments below. I am glad I never gave up on my dream to create better conditions for everyone on “my beloved ski run” and am looking forward to the coming season.
Happy Pollyesther 
Australia…I didn’t even think it snowed there lol
It sure does in Winter anywhere above 1000 meters in New South Wales and Victoria. There are quite a few ski resorts in these two states, which have mountains of up to 1900 meters.
Ooh okays. That’s nice. I never saw snow lol…I emailed you back 🙂
Hi Pollyesther,
I loved your poem and could relate to it from our trip to Perisher in September 2013. WE were there for a week around the 9th. It was great at the start of the week but we knew as we enjoyed azure blue skis and were removing layers that the snow was endangered. By the end of the week, I was photographing grassy holes opening up on the slopes and it was getting slushy. It was terrible watching the snow withering away…so sad. End of the season.
Good to see you got your snow machine and I gather you’re at Hotham? xx Rowena
Good guess! Have you been there yet? Big plans on the charts for coming season with more snow guns and a tube park! So nice to connect with a blogger who knows what I am talking about! Thank you for following too 🙂
I don’t know whether we are going skiing this year. I broke my foot over Christmas but I think that will be fine. We have been skiing 3 years in a row and we are also wanting to get to Tassie, where my husband comes from but I think we’ve caught the bug. What does a tube park involve? That sounds interesting.
Sliding on tire tubes through a special course, kind of like the ones you might have seen for boarder/skier cross. Wishing you a speedy recovery and I think it will be fine too, if you can find the right ski boots or get your own fitted by a professional boot fitter. I get mine done with custom made, molded inner soles and it is so worth it! I have never skied in Tassie, but the trout fishing is amazing there.
We would be going to Tassie in Summer. My father-in-law used to go trout fishing and my son is very keen to go fishing even though he’s only caught one fish that was undersized and thrown back but that didn’t matter. He’d caught a fish!