Towards the end of July 2013, I took a day trip to Mount Buller to try out skiing for the first time. I decided to post my day trip experience to share what I learned from the trip.
Map
Mt Buller is about 4 hours drive from Melbourne. I signed up for a day-tour where the bus picked me up from near Flinder's St Station at 7.30am.
The bus ride was pretty uneventful - we saw a lot of empty land with occasionally a few horses grazing across the fields. As we got closer to the highlands, we would encounter mist as shown on the left.
The bus would stop at Mansfield town where you would have the option to rent ski equipment, gloves and clothing. As many tour buses stop by here, it can get extremely crowded.
I made the mistake of renting my skis and boots here. I was stuck in the line for 30mins just to get to the counter to pay and it took another 15min finding boots.
If it's your first time skiing, I strongly recommend that you do not rent you equipment here as you can also rent it up at Mt Buller as well (it's probably only $2 more expensive).
After picking up my rentals, the bus proceeded up the mountain. As we neared the resort, we started to see snow on the ground although the weather still felt warm.
The bus eventually stopped at a parking lot and we had to transfer ourselves and our belongings onto smaller shuttle busses that took us up to the town square.
On arrival at the town, I had very limited time, so I immediately went to the bus-stop to catch another shuttle bus to the ski lodge. We were given small maps but not a lot of direction on where to go but the small paper maps attached to your ticket helps a lot.
This is the town square and I took a picture while waiting for the shuttle bus to the ski lodge.
I eventually caught the shuttle bus that took me to the ski lodge where you can rent lockers to store your belongings. This was the place that I also picked up my tickets for my ski lesson.
I certainly didn't dare do skiing without taking some lessons first.
The hill looked really beautiful and perfect for skiing with ski lifts to take you to the top. However, as it was a fine day, the hill was very crowded with many folks either skiing, or snowboarding everywhere.
The ski boots are extremely tight and makes you feel like Iron-man... without the flight capabilities or enhanced strength.
Unfortunately, the lesson I learnt is that you need to wear thick socks (maybe even double layer) to give yourself padding for your feet to avoid chafing .
After 20 mins of ski lessons, I had serious blisters and couldn't continue. This is why it's better to rent skis at the lodge as I couldn't really go exploring the rest of Mt Buller lugging around those skis and boots.
I did learn some skiing skills from the class even though I couldn't complete it... most importantly, how to slow down and stop.... he-he-he.... I'd definitely like to give it a try again in the future.
I spent the rest of the day walking around the ski trail nearby.
The ski trail is pretty steep as shown on the left. This is mostly reserved for snowboarders and skiers only as it is too steep and dangerous for sledding.
The bus was due to depart at 5pm so I made my way back to the carpark. Next to the carpark, there is a smaller hill for sledding for children and I took a look around and snapped a few photographs.
Definitely, I plan to be better prepared the next time I visit Mt Buller. My recommendation is to stay overnight if you visit as a day trip is just too short.
