The days and nights are certainly getting colder. Electric blankets are being pulled from the back of cupboards, heaters are being warmed each night and the front lawn is covered in frost each morning.

Winter is just around the corner and this season Perisher Blue is more prepared than ever.

The first installment of the Perisher Blue Ski Slope Plan is literally on track. Teasing us of what�s to come, the Southern Hemisphere�s first ever 8-seater chairlift is nearing completion, The Village 8 Express. Work on the chair began last November, with the parts being shipped in from Austria, and Doppelmayr carrying out the job of piecing together each section, down to every last bolt.

The chair will be able to move up to 4,000 skiers and boarders per hour, enabling quicker access to the resort�s 1245 hectares. A newly crafted and engineered ski out surface at the top of Front Valley will take all 8 riders off the chair in the same direction, at an easy and gentle gradient.

The chill is definitely in the air, as the temperature hovers around just 7 degrees during the day and then dropping below 0 at night.

Neil Thew, Perisher Blue�s Public Relations Manager says �Predictions from John Moore�s long range weather forecast indicates that the 2003 season will be above average for snow fall. It is forecast that light snow will start falling as early as the first week in May and continue to increase in intensity into June. Regular and consistent falls are expected throughout June, July & August. Good snow is also expected for September, as well as October- so it's looking good for a long snowy season this year�

The cold nights have also meant that snowmaking around the resort should soon begin. New snowmaking guns will be mounted atop The Village 8 Express towers, which will add even more snow to the natural cover of Front Valley.

All in all it�s looking like a big one this winter in the mountains.

For further details contact Dave Kirwan on 02 64594419