Paul Delves is now 87 years old and continues to visit Mt Buller at least eight times per season and still loves to ski!
He has not missed a year at Mt Buller since 1960!
How good is that!
Paul learned to ski at Yarrongobilly near Tumut NSW.
It was 1948 and his father Harry introduced him to the sport.
They did day trips with family and friends and had a blast.
In 1956 Paul and his sister Barbara went to Mt Buffalo and progressed their skiing technique, learning the ‘Austrian method’ from instructors including Max Magreita and Olly Polisak.
In 1960 Paul and Barbara came to Mt Buller for the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
It was a fantastic snow season that year.
They stayed in Mansfield at the Delatite Hotel.
The drive from home in Griffiths was 4.5 hours, or 248 miles (399.11kms).
One week after that first trip, they returned to Buller, this time bringing the whole family!
The following September, in 1961, they decided they wanted to establish their own ski club.
They contacted Gerry Gannon, the government secretary at the time for Mt Buller, and they were informed they required 25 members in order to be able to form a club.
They quickly met the requirement with like-minded snow lovers from Griffiths.
They were granted Block #1 Goal Post Road, Mt Buller in the first week of January 1961 and named it Four Winds.
Within the club they selected a Melbourne based member named Theo Portburi, who quickly became their representative for all matters relating to building the club.
Within five weeks the club was constructed to ‘lock up’ stage!
During construction, the members would stay in Mirimbah at the base of the mountain and drive up each day.
To make cement, they would bring water from White Bridge in 44-gallon drums.
They used an outside toilet and had no electricity.
In 1961 Paul visited Mt Buller on 22 different occasions, including 16 consecutive weekends from the start of June.
There was consistent snow on the mountain from mid-April. That same year Kooroora burnt down.
In 1963 Paul first met George Aivatoglou, through friend Tony Aslangul. Tony was a 1956 winter Olympian and had established Auski ski shops.
The main store was located in Hardware Lane, Melbourne, and they had just built a second shop at Mt Buller. George worked there.
They became great friends, and this friendship continued even when George and Margaret moved to Molony’s Ski Shop to work for Geoff Henke in 1970.
And in 1984 George and Margaret purchased the Molony’s Mt Buller Ski Shop and renamed it George’s Ski Hire.
Paul describes the time as being ‘magnificent’.
Clubs were being constructed in all corners of the village.
Everyone was friendly and helped each other.
Parties were held everywhere.
It was incredibly social.
The mountain brought groups of people together, from all walks of life.
