East London - The cold front which hit the country in mid-April has excited skiing enthusiasts with the prospect of a snow-covered winter in the mountains.
At Tiffindell Ski Resort in the Eastern Cape, staff are preparing for what they hope will be a bumper season. The recent cold snap blanketed the resort with snow and staff members had their first ski and snowboard runs.
Lew Campbell from Tiffindell said: “It was too difficult to keep them off the slopes so we downed tools and had a few runs. So much fun was had skiing and we can now see the benefit of all the hard work we have done getting the resort ready for the season.”
Campbell said it had been an exceptionally good season for snowfalls in Europe and the resort was hoping this would carry over locally so South Africa’s skiers could get some good runs this winter.
“Our management team are all keen skiers and our aim is to give South Africans the chance to get up into the alpine terrain of the beautiful Eastern Cape highlands and experience a unique few days enjoying a completely different environment. Skiing, snowboarding or just seeing snow, throwing snowballs, or sliding downhill on a disc is great fun for all the family.”
The first skiers and snowboarders will arrive early next month and the season will run until the snow melts at the end of August.
Tiffindell was established in 1993 and grew from small beginnings to a fully equipped winter snow resort with state-of-the-art snowmaking and grooming equipment, ski lifts, restaurant, ski shop, ski school, conference facility and accommodation for more than 150 guests.
The multi-million rand family resort lies on 30000m² of groomed ski area and offers three months of skiing each year by way of natural and man-made snow.
Non-skiers may come and enjoy a unique South African snow experience, making snowmen, throwing snow balls or tobogganing down “Bumboard Alley”.
Developments for this season include the enlargement of one of the Tiffindell dams to four times its original size, increasing the snowmaking capacity.
The road has been graded between the hamlet of Rhodes and Tiffindell, allowing vehicles to reach the resort hassle-free in clear weather conditions.
All facilities of the newly built mountain suites, and the self-catering luxury, private and family chalets have been tested.
Resort managers are busy with the ski lift line on the main slopes and snowmaking equipment has been serviced and is ready to produce snow when the weather permits.
l Call 083 264 5145 or 011 7816528, or e-mail [email protected]. - Saturday Star