SNOWLOVERS across Victoria celebrated the news Mt Buller and Mt Stirling resorts were set to re-open to visitors following the easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions across Victoria on July 27.

But there are some rules to visiting the mountain requiring all guests to alpine resorts having a negative COVID test within 72 hours prior to arrival.

Some capacity limits were also placed by the government for venues.

Guests have been urged to pre-book all Ski and Snowboard School products and lift passes online in advance to secure preferred dates.

During the latest lockdown Mt Buller and Mt Stirling were blanketed in a wintry cover of deep snow – 124cm fell since the lockdown began with more on the way.

Skiers and boarders across Victoria were excited to mix up their exercise routines, treat themselves to a winter escape and get on the slopes when lifts turned again.

Following the heavy snowfalls during the lockdown Mt Buller’s mountain operations crew set about working around the clock preparing the ski areas for re-opening with tonnes of snow being shovelled and lifts cleared before they rolled into action.

“It’s a colossal task to clear snow from the lift load areas and resort buildings, but in a ski resort having a lot of snow is a good problem to have,” explained Buller Ski Lifts’ general manager Laurie Blampied.

“The resort has been buried with deep snow during the past fortnight when we had to stand-down all but a very small team to maintain the bare safety essentials.

“The wild weather posed real challenges as we 'dig out', de-iced frozen lifts, groomed the runs and prepared the ski areas to make it safe for skiers and boarders to get up here and make some turns.

“We were eager to open up as much terrain and as many lifts as possible, and we thank everyone for their patience as we scaled up staffing and operations towards that goal.”

Extensive grooming was done on key runs with popular lifts Wombat and Howqua scheduled to join the list before the weekend.

Mt Buller has 300 hectares of skiable terrain and close to 80km of runs to groom and make safe for guests.

Cross country trails were also offering a deep ungroomed cover.

Mt Stirling re-opened to visitors on Wednesday (July 28) with the café back open the following day.

Snowplay, tobogganing, snow shoe adventures and skiing were all back on the agenda with a superb fresh snow cover on the trails, snowplay slopes and practice slopes.

The Mt Stirling patrol was also kept busy clearing tree branches and grooming trails.

It’s not too early to plan for a spring snow stay and mid-week is the best time to experience more of the mountains.