Geoff Walker has had quite the journey in his association with Mt Buller and snowsports in general.

From Adelaide, his first foray was with a University trip to the snowfields in 1979 through to 1981, one of the biggest on record for Mt Buller.

From there he was hooked on the sport and when appointed to Port Augusta (SA) as a teacher in 1982, suggested they take a group to the snow and fund aboriginal kids to participate as well. There he started to coordinate small regional schools to enable joint snow trips to occur.

Moving to Oakbank Area School he had gained qualifications in Snow Safety and Outdoor Education, and again led the combined ski trips to Mt Buller, which coincidentally was the start of a long association with Mansfield and Mt Buller.

Geoff subsequently did an Instructor course in 1993 at Buller and met his wife-to-be, Sue George. He then worked full time at Buller in 1995, ‘followed’ Sue to California to work a northern ski resort, then worked at Buller full-time for a few years with USA seasons in between.

Geoff and Sue were married in the chapel on Mt Buller in 1997 and have two sons Dan and Ollie, who are also qualified instructors and continue part-time coaching at Buller.

Deciding to take up an opportunity to locate and teach at Mansfield Secondary College (MSC) in 1998, in graphic design (Visual Communication Design), laid the foundation for much to come.

Geoff was also responsible for the MSC Snowsports and worked with BSL to set up the Local Seasons Pass for Mt Buller. This in effect increased the participation and accessibility for students. He was fortunate to coordinate MSC Snowsports for 20 years, seeing students acquire and develop skills, enjoy the Interschools (which now sees more than 6000 students participate) and achieve success at State and National levels.

Mansfield had many students and teams go on to be number one at Nationals. Their ‘Wednesday Program’ is very unique and embraces the alpine environment of Mansfield’s ‘backyard’. Geoff also enjoyed being on the Schools Snowsports Development Foundation (SSDF) for nine years, which at that time was the body overseeing the Interschools.

Through Mansfield and Mt Buller’s association with Vail Resorts (USA), Geoff took groups of MSC students to train in Snowsports in the 2005 and 2006 January holidays, before accepting the role as Director of Haileybury Alpine Academy at Valmorel (France) and Mt Buller for a few seasons. He had also a role previously part-time with Melbourne Girls as on-snow training coordinator.

Geoff has been associated with the ‘Mark Adams Ski & Golf Day’ bar the first year, which has been running since 2000, raising over $500k for local schools. He acknowledges the initiative struck up by Laurie Blampied, Michael David, Mark Adams, Roman Pacak and Noel Landry plus generous sponsors for the immense benefit it has provided for local students and schools.

Peter Baddeley, the former Principal of MSC, supported Geoff’s idea of a Buller Annex for secondary students and told him to ‘go for it’. Ultimately this is one of Geoff’s proudest achievements, not only for local students to pursue their athletic goals, but for students of Buller families and external schools.

Geoff is still passionate about the unique and innovative experience the Annex provides, capably led for almost a decade by Sam Magree. He sincerely hopes that MSC will endeavour to commit to its continuation and importance within the Mansfield, Mt Buller and broader snowsports community.

Having retired from teaching at MSC in 2018, Geoff continues to be a part of Mt Buller as a coach of a ‘Snow Squad X’ group, and is now in his thirty-third year as an instructor, albeit mostly part-time.

Sue is the Ski & Snowboard School manager and in 2026 will celebrate her 40 years with BSL. Geoff is immensely proud of Sue’s career and leadership within BSL.

As a family with Dan and Ollie, since 2011, they continue to operate training camps at Sun Peaks (B.C. Canada) in January and March/April holidays.

Geoff loves being a part of the Buller community and the BSL team, with the history and connectivity, friends and family which holds dear to him.