Spring snow may come, but it will be too late for Rainbow Ski Area which has made the tough call to close for the season before it even got a chance to open.
The photos and webcam say it all – patches of snow on rock and tussock after a winter that brought a copious amount of rain to the region, but just a smattering of snow. Since the beginning of May, just 29cm of snow has fallen on the field, making it one of the leanest winters since Rainbow opened in 1982.
Rainbow Sports Club chair, Rachel Robinson, says westerly storms will come in September, but keeping the field in a state of readiness for what will likely be just a few days of skiing and snowboarding would take resources away from future years.
She says it is a hard decision to close, but to only open for such a short time in September would haemorrhage money. Whereas now, the ski field, which is run by Rainbow Sports Club, will be in a sound financial position to open next season.
“And that’s the support of the people who bought the season passes that ensures that there is a future for Rainbow. The diehard ones that love Rainbow. They will buy again because it’s families like myself who want to preserve it - I want to ski with my grandchildren.”
The club ski field had employed staff to get the ski field and roads ready for the season. It had the ski instructors, lifties, rental and café staff as well as a groomer all lined up for a season which never happened.
“By the time you get to now, well, it’s pretty tough going. A lot of them were able to hang out and wait, but of course a lot can’t. They need to find employment and they can’t just put their life on hold.
“We had a brilliant group of people lined up for this season and the lack of work was tough. I cannot thank the crew enough for sticking with us.”
While it’s the first season the ski field has not opened due to the lack of snow, Rachel says it stayed closed one season about 25 years ago when Rainbow Sports Club took it over from Beyond Rainbow. Coincidentally, that winter was also a lean year for snow.
“We’ve seen Rainbow lean and we’ve seen other fields lean, and sometimes it’s just swings and roundabouts, so we believe we will have our turn again.”
She points to Mt Lyford Ski Area which was able to reopen one of its terrain areas for the first time in 30 years after it received a major dump of snow this year.
“This is not our first lean year and in between we’ve had some epic years. So, we don’t lose heart from this.”
Rachel says it is not only Rainbow Ski Area that has missed the snow this year, but also the St Arnaud village and the businesses, including accommodation, that have not had people visiting for the snow.
Ski Area Manager, Marke Dickson, says Rainbow is focused on making further improvements to the ski area in readiness for opening in mid-July 2026.
Season passes purchased for this season will be automatically extended through next winter and he says the same applies to people who purchased three-day lift tickets.
