twitter #aacfalls

We have been promoting the Instagram hashtag #aacfalls as a  great way for members and guests to add photos to the blog. Now we've been asked if we can do the same with Twitter.

If you tweet photos or comments with #aacfalls, the most recent ones will now be displayed on the blog.

AAC Niseko bookings - hurry if you want January

AAC Niseko have written to let us know that January is filling up and you need to move soon to secure a bed

The bookings for Niseko Accommodation have taken off and the Australian Alpine Club Lodge is nearly full for the month of January 2016.
I would like to let AAC Niseko Members and AAC Members know that the beds are available and that bookings need to be made soon otherwise the non AAC members/Public emailing regarding bed availabilities may be able to make a booking.
Please let me know if you are thinking of coming as I am happy to put your name on a bed. Should I then have other parties interested in that time, you will be notified and given first preference.
If you need information about Niseko and how to get there then please visit our website www.nisekoclub.com
If you would like any further information then email nisekoclub@optusnet.com.au.

Breaking news - The summit is open

Summit chair opened this afternoon, Thursday 16 July.

A white start, a lean month and now snow

The snow gods put on a lovely opening weekend

... then let it all slip away with no more significant falls in June.

The lift company have done a good job with snowmaking on Wombats, Main Street, Drovers and Mousetrap. Even so, this has been barely enough for the school holiday crowd.

After some horrible queues early in the week, the lift company decided to open the lifts at 7:30am to spread people out as much as possible -  great initiative.

Quite a few AAC people have foregone Andrew's great brekkies to get out and join the"dawn patrol" with freshly groomed snowmaking, no queues and uncrowded slopes.

The lift company also set up a small terrain park on the edge of Nastar to provide another fun option. 

Now finally the blue skies have given way to cold snow-laden clouds and there is a beautiful layer of white throughout the resort again. Best of all, we are being told that this is just the beginning. 

From janesweather.com for Friday 10 July

The snow has begun, and we will have 10 to 15 cm on the ground by later today, as a trough passes through. But this is just the first little bit – there are huge snowfalls still to come.

Heavy snow is likely from Saturday to Monday, as a strong front passes through and a low sits just to our southeast. All resorts will see at least 50 cm from this, and 75 cm is not out of the question.

The next surge arrives on Tuesday, with another low to affect the area for the rest of the week. This set up doesn’t look as favourable as this weekend, but its still 15 to 30 cm on the way. Then there may be a break next weekend if the next high moves in.



So, this all adds up to 75 TO 120 CENTIMETRES OF SNOW, from today to next Friday. Enjoy.

Prime time vacancy

The first week in August in August is historically one of the best snow weeks. This year Race Weekend falls at the end of that week, so the weekend is all but booked out. However, there are still 2 rooms available for the 5 midweek nights beginning Sunday 2 August.

With good snow forecast at last, this is a great opportunity to grab some prime time at the lodge.

Peaks Challenge 2016 - get in early

The Peaks Challenge (formerly known as 3 Peaks) is held each year on the March Labour Day weekend. Hundreds of cyclists head off at the crack of dawn to ride the 235km loop from Falls Creek to Tawonga Gap, over Mt Hotham and back up to Falls Creek. It is a hugely popular event and requires all the accommodation the village can provide.

In 2015 the club worked with Falls Creek Central Reservations to enable competitors to become Summer Associates and stay at the lodge for the weekend. It was very successful and we will do the same again. As well as contributing to the development of green season, this event bought a healthy injection of summer revenue to the club.

We expect that all rooms will be booked well before the event. Last year some AAC members were disappointed that they could not get in.

So if you or your friends and family are intending on coming to the lodge for that weekend, BOOK NOW

Special arrangements for Peaks Challenge weekend

• Bookings are for 3 nights starting Friday 11 March
• Linen is provided
• Cost for 3 nights is $264* if you book through the club. Bookings through Central Reservations will attract a higher fee.
• Bookings for members are open immediately
• Entries for the actual event openned on 20 July, and accommodation bookings are sure to follow.
• The games room and TV rooms will not be available - they are reserved for bike storage

* Fee for an existing member is $20 less

Coffee machine

Just a reminder for coffee-aholics that you need to provide your own pods for the Nespresso machine. It is possible to buy compatible pods at the Falls Creek supermarket, but they are not as good as the Nespresso pods (at least in this coffee-aholic's opinion)

The dripolator and its coffee are still provided for those who prefer that style of coffee.

Lodge Internet

We've been able to increase the data allocation for members and guests. Previously everyone received an allocation of 2GB. We are happy to be able to increase this to 5GB.

People who are staying for extended periods may ask Myra or Andrew for an additional allocation if necessary.

The restriction on data is to ensure that we can provide an internet service for everyone in the lodge. Attempts to subvert the system will be regarded as breaching lodge rules and may result in loss of internet access or other disciplinary action.

Ken Long nominated for life membership of AAC National

Ken Long has been honoured with Life Membership of AAC National. Although the proposal came from Anton, Ken was a founding member of AAC Falls Creek and he and his family have had a long involvement here too.

Congratulations Ken.


The citation, written by Philip Robinson, Chairman of Anton

Proposed Life Membership for
Kenneth Frank Long.

The committee members of Anton Huette endorsed at their meeting on 15/10/13 the proposal to submit this application for Life Membership to The Australian Alpine Club.

Ken's association with AAC began as a founding member of Falls Creek and was part of the committee to construct the lodge in the late sixties. He was later invited to be on the initial committee of Anton to construct a new Lodge at Mt Hotham commencing in 1970 with Lodge opened in 1972.

During his membership at Anton he has held every committee position at some stage, along with the role of Chairman for 10 years. He received from the members on 12/5/1999 Life Membership of Anton Huette. He was further granted a Special Service Award on 17/5/2011 acknowledging his continuous service and dedication of 41 years.

His involvement with AAC as a long term delegate from Anton Huette, during which he served as vice president and other supporting roles.

He holds a unique position of association with all Victorian projects, offering a Booking Service for Falls Ck, Patchacoffle, Dinner Plain, Anton Huette and Old Collegians at various times.

Over the years Ken is acknowledged as one of the most recognised faces of Skiing in Victoria through the contributions made to 2 projects at Falls Creek and Mt Hotham. Along with bookings for members of up to 5 projects, with their requests for ski holidays, as well as AAC reciprocal bookings from all over Australia.

We the members of Anton fully support this proposal for granting of Life Membership to a most worthy member who has contributed extra ordinary years of service, loyalty and dedication to the objectives of The Australian Alpine Club.

Working Bee 2015

The May working party was a hive of activity, with followup work by tradesmen over the succeeding weeks.

extending the ski lockers

major projects included:

• all the downlights in the common areas and bathrooms have been replaced with much more efficient LED lights
• the ski lockers have been extended
• the linen storeroom has been relined and reorganised, including all the audio/visual and internet cabling and a new Uninterruptible Power Supply to improve internet reliability
• major reorganisation of under-lodge storage
• on-going revegetation programme and weed control

stripping out the storeroom

and all the essential regular preparations

• restock firewood
• store pantry supplies
• kitchen clean up
• checking and mending of linen etc
• spa preparation
• ski room cleaning
• painting and general maintenance

Thanks to everyone who helped and to Myra for looking after us

AGM May 2015

The AGM was held on 26 May and was quite well-attended. There was much discussion but nothing controversial. The committee remains unchanged.

Preliminary feedback from the survey was discussed and it was decided to the reopen the survey to give members longer to respond.

Myra performed the important duty of drawing the winner of the survey competition. Congratulations to Judy Barone who now has a $150 accommodation voucher.

Vale Rodney Moss

Rodney Moss died on 14 May. He was instrumental in establishing the original AAC Falls Creek lodge, and later in securing a great site for the new lodge. As well as serving on the AAC FC committee for many years, he was a founder of the race club, a member of the Falls Creek Tourist Area Management Committee (forerunner of FCRM) and chair of the Victorian Snowsports Association.