Good snow at Mt Donna Buang

On Thursday July 1, 2010, I went up to Mt Donna Buang, 90 km east of Melbourne, and 16 km past Warburton.

At 1280 m above sea level, this mountain is the closest peak to Melbourne where good snowfalls occur during winter.

The road was closed at the main car park - to reach the summit is about 1 km further up. The summit road past the carpark was starting to freeze, as the temperature had droppped to zero degrees by noon.

There was about 20 cm of snow at the summit, with lots of interesting snowmen being built, and toboggans everywhere!

Which snowman do you like best?

Unfortuately, there was heavy fog and mist around the summit, obscuring the Alpine views.

This was the first day of free admission to Mt Donna Buang, as a consequece of a decision by the Victorian Goovernment to abolish entry fees to State and Regional Parks across the State.

To mark the occasion, Parks Victoria had provided free hot food and drinks for all visitors on this day, served from a commercial Hot Food Van which had come up from Warburton!

There is no cross country or downhill skiing at Donna Buang. In winter, the resort offers snowplay, sightseeing, and tobogganning. The walking tracks at the summit to Mt Boobyalla, Dom Dom Saddle, Acheron Gap, Mt Victoria and Ten Mile picnic ground are often buried under winter snow. The Dom Dom Saddle track is signed as "no entry during the snow season".

Until the late 1930s, there was a ski village at Donna Buang, near the present day main car park, and downhill skiing was popular, but this was almost totally destroyed in the Black Friday bushfires in 1939. What remained was dismantled and rebuilt at other snow centres, such as Mt Buller.

The Donna Buang Rd was built in the 1920s, and members of the newly formed Melbourne University Ski Club, formed in 1929, visited the region often.

The downhill ski-run was subsequently closed down and became the present-day toboggan run.

The lookout tower is the third generation - the first was a wooden structure built in the 1920s - this was replaced around 1940, itself later replaced by the present steel tower.

There are good signed lookout points on the Donna Buang Rd on the way up, past the Acheron Way turnoff, offering panoramas across the Yarra Valley and Wwrburton. (see photos).

See all of the Photos of my trip, which include some black and white historical images, from year 1940, for comparison purposes!

Falls Creek Snow Trip, Alpine National Park

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On July 28, 2008, we went up to the Falls Creek Ski Resort, in the Alpine National Park.

We started at Bright, 335 km NE of Melbourne, and travelled through Tawonga Gap and Mt Beauty, then up the High Plains Tourist Rd, arriving at Falls at about 10.30 am.

The law required us to carry wheel chains, which were to be fitted to 2WDs at Howman's Gap. We were OK, as my Forester Subaru is an AWD, exempt from chains, unless directed otherwise. The general exemption applies to engaged 4WDs.

The snow ploughs do a good job of keeping this road open - paid for from the $30 per car daily entry fee!

Snow had fallen as low as 800 m.

It was our intention to do some cross country skiing along the groomed trails, picking up from our 2007 trip. This turned out to be virtually impossible - the ground temperature was minus 5 at noon, and wind gusts were reaching 60 km/hr. Natural snow depth was about 105 cm!

Blizzard-like snowstorms and high horizontal winds along the High Plains Rd created an almost "no-go" situation.

My friend Mick actually got as far as the start of the Rocky Valley Dam Wall, but was forced to retreat, along with some other skiiers, due to heavy continuous snow and huge winds.

I didn't bother with the skiis, and trudged up towards the Nordic Bowl, then turned back! I did this four times, about 2 km in total, but the wind drove me back!

School groups who had come up for the day were very disappointed at the horrific conditions.

We had our lunch in the Shelter, then drove back down the mountain, stopping at Mt Beauty township, then a big loop through Happy Valley and Myrtleford, back to Mick's new country house at Bright.

There were stupendous views of the snow-covered Alps from vantage points near the Mt Beauty village, and from the Bogong View Lookout on the Kiewa Valley Highway, near Tawonga. There were excellent views also across to Mt Buffalo from Happy Valley Rd.

Enjoy our full set of Photos

Snow Trip to the Cresta Valley, Mt Buffalo National Park

On July 27, 2008, we travelled up to the Cresta Valley snow resort in the Mt Buffalo National Park, about 320 km NE of Melbourne.

We started at the town of Bright, from Mick's new country house, after having driven from Melbourne in the morning.
We arrived at the Cresta Valley car park at about 2.15 pm, after paying our $10 car entry fee.

The road is kept clear by snow ploughs.

We were amazed at the massive snow cover in the Valley - the cross country ski trails were under about 50 cm of beautiful soft powdery snow, blue sky with some clouds, temperature on the ground about minus 2. No wind!

This is the starting point for the South Buffalo Walk which we had completed earlier this year in the autumn, no snow then of course!

There are several XC ski loop trails in the Valley - 500 m, 1 km, 4 km, and 6 km. These are marked with colored poles - the tracks are groomed daily, but fresh snow soon fills them in!

Nearby is the toboggan run and heated shelter sheds.

Mick disappeared over the hills on the 4 km trail - I was content to do the 500 m circuit!

After all this, it was about 4 pm, getting colder, and it had started to snow. The blue skies had vanished!

Mick reappeared out of the gloom, like a Yeti, so we headed back to Bright, past the Dingo Dell car park and Crystal Brook Plains. By this time, it was snowing steadily and quite dark - a large wombat was crossing the road in front of us and settled down in the snow field nearby!

These Plains were like the South Pole, covered in deep snow, with only the tops of the bushes visible!

The views from Cresta Valley were spectacular, with The Horn peak a few km away, resembling a miniature Matterhorn!

Snow, snow, everywhere!

There were superb views across the Ovens and Buffalo River Valleys from Mackey's Lookout further down the mountain.

See the full set of Photos

Good snow at Mt Donna Buang

On July 14 2008 I went up to Mt Donna Buang, 90 km east of Melbourne, on a cold, windless and cloudless day!

The road was closed at the main car park - to reach the summit is about 500 m further up. The summit road past the carpark was frozen solid ice, and the surface was like a skating rink.

There was about 20 cm of snow at the summit, with lots of interesting snowmen being built, and toboggans everywhere!

There is no cross country or downhill skiing at Donna Buang. In winter, the resort offers snowplay, sightseeing, and tobogganning. The walking tracks at the summit to Mt Boobyalla, Dom Dom Saddle, Aceron Gap, Mt Victoria and Ten Mile picnic ground are often buried under winter snow. The Dom Dom Saddle track is signed as "no entry during the snow season".

Until the late 1930s, there was a ski village at Donna Buang, near the present day main car park, and downhill skiing was popular, but this was almost totally destroyed in the Black Friday bushfires in 1939. What remained was dismantled and rebuilt at other snow centres, such as Mt Buller.

The Donna Buang Rd was built in the 1920s, and members of the newly formed Melbourne University Ski Club, formed in 1929, visited the region often.

The downhill ski-run was subsequently closed down and became the toboggan run.

The lookout tower is the third generation - the first was a wooden structure built in the 1920s - this was replaced around 1940, itself later replaced by the present steel tower.

There are good views from the tower - I have a vertigo problem with heights and am not able to get to the top, but there are interesting panoramas from ground level.

There are good signed lookout points on the Donna Buang Rd on the way up, past the Acheron Way turnoff.

See the full set of Photos - I included some historical photos, dating back to 1910, for comparison purposes!