Your weekly ski and snowboard round-up.

FIRST TRACKS

Like the All Blacks, Kiwi snow refuses to be beaten – this year anyway. There was snow across the ditch earlier in the week and with more on the way, the Shaky Isles are looking superb for skiers and boarders.

Treble Cone opened on Thursday (The Snow Gauge’s pick this week) and is followed over the weekend by the North Island areas of Whakapapa and Turoa, The Remarkables and club fields Roundhill, Ohau, Broken River and Cheeseman – all on Saturday.

To rub it in to Aussie resorts, the Kiwi dollar is tanking, the $1.13 conversion rate making a nice little earner for travellers after the virtual parity of only two months ago.

If The Snow Gauge had to get a little narky, he’d say The Remarkables has a little ground to make up with consumers after failing to open as scheduled last weekend because of delays getting its new base lodge certified for use. That said, you’d imagine it is going to be quickly forgotten, with every run at the resort rideable for the opening day. Amazing stuff.

Back home, we are doing a snow dance because things are looking a little thin for the upcoming school holidays. Perisher, as is often the case, is holding up best in these lean times with 18 lifts open at last report.

TOP GEAR

From being almost non-existent on the slopes two decades ago, it is now thought that helmets are being worn by up to 65 per cent of skiers and snowboarders.

It’s a booming industry and with good reason – they help mitigate head injuries. While severe head traumas and fatalities have not declined, a US study found that all head injuries were down between 30 and 50 per cent in their resorts from 1995 and 2010.

Steve Fisher, who distributes Giro helmets in Australia, says the big developments in helmets have centred around proper integration for goggles and special mounts for cameras that detach from the helmet. The latter is particularly interesting.

There is a suggestion that former F1 driver Michael Schumacher’s camera may have, at least in part, caused his brain injury because of the way it was mounted when he crashed while skiing.

Giro worked with Go Pro to come up with a mount designed to sheer off in case of accident as opposed to putting the structural integrity of the helmet at risk. (Schumacher’s helmet disintegrated on impact). Expect to pay anywhere between $110 and $300 for a good helmet. Web: www.giro.com

APPY DAYS

Above and beyond the resort applications available on smartphones these days are a bunch of other handy apps for snow lovers. There are two recent ones that stand out and they also have an Aussie bent.

GoSnow is a neat app that connects skiers and snowboarders from around the world. You can punch in where you are based, your level of riding and where your next trip is. You can then hook up with like-minded people for a few runs or make friends for life – or at least the next snow trip.

Founded by Aussie snowboarder Sean Bellerby (who has cleverly based himself in New Zealand for the winter), it is at this stage only available for Apple devices, with an Android version to come later this season.

Snowy Roads is another recently introduced app available through on both Apple and Android devices. It has real-time road updates, a booking option for chains and help fitting tutorials, amongst other things. It’ll be sure to get a work-out when the snow hits in Oz.

CONDITIONS APPLY – WITH WEATHER GURU PETE `THE FROG’ TAYLOR

If you’re a glass half-full type, you can at least take the following from the fronts that keep missing Australia. The precipitation that was initially called for this week probably would’ve come in the shape of rain, damaging what is an already thin early-season snowpack.

Unfortunately, there is very little on the immediate horizon for the NSW and Victorian resorts in terms of natural snow. “These highs are like a force field under the mainland at the moment,” The Frog bemoaned. The next possible low of substance looks to be around July 7.

Across the Tasman, well you know the score. They’re doing really well, with more to come in the El Nino year. The Frog is calling for up to 20 centimetres in the Southern Lakes area over the weekend, with a double bunger system lining up early next month. Updated Forecasts: www.snowatch.com.au

DEALING WITH IT

The well-located Buller Central has some cheeky midweek deals, with bed and breakfast at $138 per person (based on quad share) with a few options in July. See: www.australianalpineresorts.com/hot_deals for more details.

LAST RESORT – A LOOK AT AUSTRALASIA’S FORGOTTEN ALPINE AREAS

Ben Lomond, Tasmania: Mainlanders may be surprised to learn that you can actually ski and snowboard in the Apple Isle, and of the few places to go for a slide, “Big Ben” is the place to do it. It may only have a 125-metre vertical drop and the longest run about twice that, but Ben is reasonably well serviced by four pomas and three T-bars.

Recently introduced snowmaking and grooming certainly helps things out and there’s a hotel, ski hire and a number of private lodges on the hill, about 70 kilometres from Hobart.

Brad Colson, president of the Tasmanian Rover Ski Club, describes it thus: “The drive to Ben Lomond is just half the fun, with Jacobs Ladder featuring six switchbacks up a scree-covered cliff face, and no guide rails and plenty of gravel. Snow chains are a must! Snow can be varied: marginal, awesome or non-existent.

It may last for three weeks of skiable cover, six weeks, or maybe just a weekend, as we rely on all-natural snowfalls. But when it comes and covers the mountain, the riding can be great.” Web: www.skibenlomond.com.au

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