Sorry Lizzy, it’s time to go.

There are old skiers and bold skiers but no old bold skiers

You don’t become an old bold skier without skiing the world. I’ve skied India. I’ve skied Japan. I’ve even skied Tasmania. And one thing these places do is they know not to make a song and dance about some ridiculous weekend marking the non-birthday of an irrelevant monarch. They know that a ski resort just isn’t worth opening without snow. They show a bit of self constraint and hold their official openings on conditional and seasonable dates.

Onto the mainland of Aus and the Queen’s Birthday long weekend marks their opening weekend. It is a circus of turning coal into snow via fires, wires and snow making machines. The resorts launch into gear in late April, start pumping only to see most of it melt as an as-to-be-expected Autumn storm thrashes the fake snow with rain and hot air. When the hooha of the Queen’s Birthday passes everyone pisses off home only to return once winter really arrives in July. 

If there is only one good thing to come from COVID-19 I hope it is that this year’s delay to the start of the ski season STICKS. If we’re lucky Australia will give up on the monarch and finally listen to country. Change the date!