{"id":1184,"date":"2020-06-13T06:32:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T06:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/?p=1184"},"modified":"2020-06-13T06:35:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T06:35:18","slug":"the-black-bluff-ski-club-or-dont-forget-to-brake-before-you-hit-the-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/13\/the-black-bluff-ski-club-or-dont-forget-to-brake-before-you-hit-the-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"The Black Bluff Ski Club, or don\u2019t forget to brake before you hit the lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was a Tasmanian child the school-ma\u2019amish Mrs Marsh demonstrated the mastery held by Colgate toothpaste over a piece of chalk. Or something<\/em>. \u2018It gets in?\u2019, chirped this harridan\u2019s childhood charges, as she pulled the chalk from a bottle of red dye and snapped it in half. Sure enough, the red dye had suffused the chalk. Apparently it did<\/em> get in.<\/p>\n

Quite what this had to do with the whitening powers of toothpaste was and is beyond me, but I still thought of her when, abandoning the TV, I gazed at Black Bluff gleaming on the skyline. If ever a mountain had the Colgate ring of confidence it was this one. Its winter coat seemed brighter, thicker and longer-lasting than those of Mount Roland and Western Bluff. Of the peaks I saw regularly during the course of my north-west-coastal school days only Mount Ironstone, behind Deloraine, rivalled it as a snow-cone.<\/p>\n

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(Top) George (GP) Taylor at a one-room Levenvale, Taylors Flats, Loongana, 1926. (Above) Later he added another gable containing a second room. The head of Black Bluff is lost in cloud. Photos by Ron Smith and Chris Binks respectively.<\/p><\/div>\n

So I wasn\u2019t surprised to learn that, in the late 1920s and 1930s, when Tasmanians began to attack their peaks on homemade skis and toboggans, Black Bluff came in for some serious scrutiny. In the winter of 1928 Ulverstone jeweller and photographer George (GP) Taylor and Cradle Mountain Reserve Board Secretary Ron Smith climbed the bluff to test its suitability for winter sports. \u2018In frosty weather after a fall of snow\u2019, they wrote, \u2018skiing and tobogganing could be carried on successfully, and the accessibility of the mountain from the coast should make it a popular winter resort, provided sufficient accommodation is available on the mountain\u2019.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Base map from LISTMap, courtesy of DPIPWE.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Ulverstone Tourist and Progress Association had surveyed a Black Bluff track from near Taylor\u2019s Loongana shack Levenvale, but on the back of this report the Public Works Department\u2019s Paddy Doyle cut a better one (the Brookes Track) which opened in January 1930.[2]<\/a> \u00a0Further afield near Cradle Mountain, Waldheim Chalet tourism operator Gustav Weindorfer must have noted events at Black Bluff apprehensively. For years he had been encouraging the development of hiking and winter sports at Cradle Mountain with modest return. Both were starting to take off now, but a new mountain playground at Black Bluff\u2014a place you could park your car under\u2014might scotch his business.<\/p>\n

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Action from the ski club\u2019s first outing on 26 June 1932. (Top) Jack Breheny, Lola Vollprecht and Sid Butler on the ski slope above Paddys Lake. (Middle: left to right) Sid Butler, NB (\u2018Darkie\u2019) Wilson, Bill Mitchell, Jack Breheny, Lola Vollprecht, Peter Roger-Jones, Gifford Brownrigg, club secretary George Cruickshank, Cecil Rawson, Vince Taylor and (far right) club president George Taylor. (Above): Stella Pemberton, Gifford Brownrigg, George Cruickshank and Mrs Gillam climbing the Brookes Track near the later chalet site.
Photos courtesy of the late Jack Breheny.<\/p><\/div>\n

As it turned out, Weindorfer was in his grave by the time Ulverstone enthusiasts pressed the issue of forming a ski club.[3]<\/a> The club took its cues from the Legges-Tor-based Northern Tasmanian Alpine Club (NTAC), dubbing itself the North West Alpine Club. The club\u2019s first outing was in June 1932, when a delegation from the NTAC consisting of Jack Branagan, Reg Hall, Bill Mitchell and Eileen Perrin visited Black Bluff in tandem with about 50 local members.[4]<\/a> Taylor\u2019s two-room Levenvale, 90 minutes by car from Ulverstone, seemed an ideal base camp, with skiers relaxing by its roaring fire and in its bunks. Even veteran skier ET Emmett threatened to test the new ski field.[5]<\/a> As was the case at Cradle Mountain, conditions were not often optimal for skiing, but another successful outing was staged on 6 August 1933.<\/p>\n

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(Top and middle) Skiers on the slope above Paddys Lake during the 1932 season; and (above) the Tourist Bureau uses a photo of Black Bluff skiing to promote winter sports during the 1930s. All three are Mel Nichols photos. Top is from the Illustrated Tasmanian Mail, 1 December 1932; centre from the Weekly Courier, 13 July 1932, p.24.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1935 an enlarged club rode \u2018a wave of enthusiasm and activity\u2019.[6]<\/a> Some of that was directed at changing the club\u2019s name to the Black Bluff Ski Club and erecting a twelve-bunk ski chalet at a spot below Paddys Lake known as Boozers Rest.[7]<\/a> Benefiting from a \u00a315 Tourism Department grant, club members split timber and hauled it up to the 950-metre mark, and during the winter and spring of 1935 working bees soon completed the two-room hut with spacious fireplace.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

This, surely, would bind members socially just as the NTAC had bonded over chalet building. Skiers now had a refuge from the weather and, conveniently, skis and toboggans could be left on the mountain. What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n

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(Top) Tobogganing on the saddle above Paddys Lake, 6 August 1933. (Middle) George Hodgkinson, Jack Breheny and George Cruickshank on the ski slope. (Above) Bill Breheny takes a break above Paddys Lake. Photos courtesy of the late Jack Breheny.<\/p><\/div>\n

A few things.\u00a0 World War Two (1939\u201345) played a part in the club\u2019s fortunes. While Hobart and Launceston were no closer to their ski fields than Ulverstone, they had bigger population bases to draw upon in the event of the original enthusiasts petering out, moving on or mobilising as part of the war effort. However, something else preceded that. In winter with snow on the ground and ice on the lake it was probably hard to imagine a bushfire roaring down on the chalet, but that is exactly what happened in mid-summer, January 1939. The building was destroyed. The \u2018boozers\u2019 lost their roost.[9]<\/a> There was no impetus to rebuild even in the post-war period when nature sports and studies boomed. Now you can drive to a ski field\u2014why climb?<\/p>\n

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Mrs Marsh probably knew nothing of climate change, and the effect it had on toothpaste \u2026 or snowfall. Unreliable snowfalls are the bugbear of skiers, but in my child\u2019s eye Black Bluff still has its pearlies out, beckoning those bright young things who knew how to Charleston and how to wear a sou\u2019wester.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> GP Taylor and RE Smith, \u2018Black Bluff Mountain: winter sports and mountaineering near Ulverstone\u2019, 21 August 1928, report to the Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> \u2018Ulverstone: Black Bluff Track opened\u2019, Examiner<\/em>, 28 January 1930, p.5.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u2018NW Tasmanian Alpine Club\u2019, Australian and New Zealand ski year book<\/em>, New South Wales Ski Council, Sydney, 1933, p.228.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u2018Mountain sports\u2019, Mercury<\/em>, 29 June 1932, p.5.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u2018Winter sports: visitors to Tasmania\u2019, Mercury<\/em>, 22 July 1932, p.6.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> \u2018Black Bluff Ski Club\u2019, Australian and New Zealand ski year book<\/em>, New South Wales Ski Council, Sydney, 1935, p.234.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> \u2018North West Alpine Club\u2019, Advocate<\/em>, 22 May 1935, p.6; \u2018Ski club hut\u2019, Advocate<\/em>, 25 May 1935, p.6.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> \u2018Ulverstone\u2019, Advocate<\/em>, 27 June 1935, p.6; \u2019Black Bluff hut\u2019, Advocate<\/em>, 17 July 1935, p.6; \u2018Trip to Black Bluff\u2019, Advocate<\/em>, 3 September 1935, p.6.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> GP Taylor, \u2018Bush fires\u2019, Advocate<\/em>, 30 January 1939, p.6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a Tasmanian child the school-ma\u2019amish Mrs Marsh demonstrated the mastery held by Colgate toothpaste over a piece of chalk. Or something. \u2018It gets in?\u2019, chirped this harridan\u2019s childhood charges, as she pulled the chalk from a bottle of red dye and snapped it in half. Sure enough, the red dye had suffused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,233],"tags":[710,715,714,719,712,711,709,717,713,25,716,718],"class_list":["post-1184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tasmanian-high-country-history","category-tasmanian-nature-tourism-history","tag-bill-breheny","tag-black-bluff","tag-black-bluff-ski-club","tag-brookes-track","tag-george-gp-taylor","tag-george-cruickshank","tag-jack-breheny","tag-loongana","tag-north-west-alpine-club","tag-ron-smith","tag-skiing","tag-taylors-flats"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1202,"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions\/1202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichaygarth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}