By PAM ZIERK-MAHONEY
Once again, the Mt Buller Chamber of Commerce, along with representatives from other chambers, businesses and organisations, gathered on Mt Buller for its annual pre-season meeting.
About 70 people attended the evening, specially hosted by the Arlberg Hotel, which opened for the night.
Representative from Alpine Resorts Victoria, Mel Van der Heyden, also attended.
The meeting was held prior to pre-dinner drinks and dinner, where speeches were given by chamber president Socrates (Sox) Pilipasidis and BSL general manager Noel Landry.
Mr Pilipasidis outlined a few of the key points open for discussion from stakeholders and business operators on the mountain going into the 2026 winter season.
Mr Landry gave a summary of the snowmaking to date and lift operation plans.
It was announced that a second carpet lift was to be installed on Bourke Street, giving more younger people the chance to ride to the top instead of having to ‘tramp’ their way up to start the downhill run again.
This will be completed in the near future.
The big news of the night was the announcement that both alpine dams were ‘full to the brim – 100 per cent’, which will give this season fantastic snow coverage through man-made snow factories and snow guns.
Chamber member Rob Aivatoglou said this is very good news for the snowmaking, which has been ongoing for several weeks in preparation for the season opening.
“Now with a well-timed nature-driven - ‘the real snow machine turned-on-right-on-cue’ [which dumped more than 25cm just prior to the opening weekend] – it looks like being a great season,” he said.
Mr Aivatoglou said the whole evening was great with a very good vibe to it.
“There were many enthusiastic operators, accommodation people and businesses attending,” he said.
For photos of this event turn back to pages 10 and 11 – ‘On and Off the Snow’.