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THE ALPINE
BRIGHT - POREPUNKAH - MT BEAUTY BEAUT TY - TAWONGA TAWONGA - TAWONGA SOUTH Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Phone: (03) 5752 1058
ww www.alpineobserver.com.au
Page 3
$1.50 (inc.GST)
MORE SNOW ON THE WAY
Park sold, $1M facelift planned
BLAKE and sister Rosie Cook from Glen Waverly were delighted to wake up to six centimetres of fresh snow in the Dinner Plain Village on Monday morning this week. They are among a record number of visitors that have been making the most of the excellent snow conditions at Dinner Plain, Mt Hotham and Falls Creek this winter. All resorts received just under 10cms of fresh snow overnight on Monday, consolidating snow depths of more than a metre. And with heavier falls forecast this week into the weekend, our winter wonderlands are only getting better. ■ Snow rescue - page 5 ■ Snow driving, other resort visitation tips - page 16 PHOTO: Nathan Fenton
Sport
A loss, but Bright gain confidence
Hotham’s chain pain Resort turning g back motorists,, but safetyy message g starting g to gget through g MT HOTHAM Alpine Resort staff have been turning back almost 450 motorists a week at Harrietville since the start of the snow season because drivers aren’t carrying snow chains. As of Monday this week - around eight weeks into the snow season - resort management staff had turned around 3530 cars at the Hotham Resort Management traffic booth in Harrietville. Anita Coia, media and stakeholder communications manager at Mt Hotham Resort Management, said
BY BRODIE EVERIST beverist@ nemedia.com.au
more people were visiting the resort than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Latest resort visitation figures up until Sunday, July 25 indicate there have been 94,120 visitors, which is almost 140 per cent up on the 10 year average. Despite the high numbers of turnbacks, Ms Coia said people are getting the
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message, pointing to the low numbers of motorists without chains over the past few days. According to Ms Coia, 2151 vehicles were at Mt Hotham on Saturday and only 80 were turned back, while on Monday only one car was turned back with around 1400 vehicles at the resort. Ms Coia urged motorists to drive to conditions and check the resort website before heading up the mountain. “Make sure you’ve got chains, make sure they fit
their vehicle, make sure you know how to fit them,” she said. “Ideally, practice beforehand - you don’t want to be doing it for the first time in a blizzard.” Senior Sergeant Doug Incoll of Bright police said Great Alpine Road is one of the most dangerous roads in Australia during winter. “It is really imperative that all drivers have appropriate chains in their vehicles that can be fitted when required,” he said. “Drivers that don’t carry
mt hotham fallsnews creek Incorporating Dinner Plain & The Great Alpine Road
PUBLICATION ENQUIRIES Jenny Zamperoni | P: 0427 495 309 E: jking@nemedia.com.au | www.nemedia.com.au
chains, or don’t fit them when required, cause the most angst on the road and this inaction can have dire ramifications.” Snr Sgt Incoll said many motorists without chains were new visitors to the mountain or from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. He also said the traffic booth in Harrietville had been useful in preventing motorists without chains from driving to the snowfields. “I can only imagine the
issues that would have presented if the booth was not in place - it has been a really effective, proactive tool,” he said. According to Snr Sgt Incoll, during the weekend of July 23-24 police penalised 14 motorists for breaking the speed limit, eight for driving without chains and four for overtaking on a single line. “Police are continuing to undertake enforcement, as they always have done, in an attempt to educate members of the public attending the resorts,” he said.