The myth about snow depths

I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. When snow depths break all barriers.

There I was enjoying the best coffee on the mountain at Hotham (Zirky’s Cafe) and my first for the morning when Operations Manger, Len Dobell, rocked up to discuss what is on everyone’s lips at the moment. The incoming storm.

Everyone has a theory from it will turn to a fizzle to there are three cold fronts coming straight after so stock up on water and Netflix we’re in for one hell of a storm ride. Personally I’m just going to make a Nurofen and a good lie down and see what powder is out there when I wake up.

Len knows a lot about snow, weather, storm fronts and snow depths and had not hesitation in sharing some interesting excel spreadsheet data with me as a distraction from guessing the centimetres expected from this storm. Two words. Snow depth.

A few years back Hotham started reporting on man made snow depth and natural snow depth. To get the man made snow depth they do four separate probes down a run and four across and then average them to get the snow depth.

We were both blown away to discover that the Basin run off the Village Chair (now known as the Audi quattro chair) had a depth of 118cms. Yes, that’s right, over a metre. The advanced run of Snake Gully that opened on the weekend averaged over 75cms.

Now they are the centimetres that currently count, the ones that are already on the ground.

Is this the storm that will save the season?