Sam Perry has done plenty of time in Japan, and many seasons at Falls Creek so when he says it’s turning Japanese in the pow department you know it’s true. Especially when he’s backed up by some great images from gun photographer Matty Hull
Check it out – #2 in our Snowmaggedon season tributes ..
July 2014 is one of those memories that you’ll be telling whilst sitting in a comfy leather chair with a flickering fire providing warmth and light as your grandchildren sit with their legs crossed on the rug, eyes-wide looking up at you.
Facebook feeds were flooded with images, news agencies ran stories, magazines demanded pictures and people were getting sick of weather reporters telling them to brace for incredibly cold conditions – again. What makes #snowmaggedon different was that the hype was real and the snow was there.
There was a point after the second dump of snow I looked around Falls Creek and felt that I had arrived in Japan.
Lodges, trees and garbage receptacles looked like giant white mushrooms. Cars in the car park were just a plain of bumps – similar to a mogul field however without the pitch.
The snow! The snow was light, dry and FUN.
It almost got the point where I’d wake up at 6:30 in the morning and dread to look outside. I had been waking up every morning, looking outside, seeing it had snowed again, getting my things together and heading out to get first lift for days on end and it was starting to take its toll. I just needed to take two days off from skiing to rest the legs. The hardest decision that I had to make most days was which set of skis to take out? Mid-fats or fats?
With the abundance of snow around, this made particular side-country & back country areas a little more accessible earlier on. This particular shot was taken on Ropers across from Falls Creek.
The skin out was relatively easy as the usual creeks and rocks you normally have to navigate on your way up were completely buried. Matt Hull had this idea in his head for a while now and with the new snow and perfect timing of clear skies it was time to get it done. I’m glad that I was able to fulfill Matty’s vision and that mother nature co-operated as it’s a cracker of an image!
To live and ski through #snowmageddon was a dream come true. It really was that perfect series of storms. If there is only one negative about it, it’s that I’ll now judge every snowfall we have in the future and go,
“Yeah it’s good, but it isn’t #snowmageddon good..”
For Snowmageddon at Buller check this one:
