From news.com.au

AND people say Aussie snow is no good. Well, those people haven’t skied in South Africa, that’s for sure.

South Africa has a ski resort. Yes it does. It really, really does. It’s called Tiffindell and it’s in the northeast of the country in the Drakensberg ranges.

The problem with the Drakensberg is that they don’t get much snow. They’re higher than our own Snowy Mountains but a lot further north and a lot dryer in winter.

While the area sees occasional blizzards, most snow-bearing Southern Ocean cold fronts simply don’t make it that far north. Indeed, Tiffindell’s website sheepishly admits it has barely seen a natural flake for the whole of 2014.

No matter. Instead, as it does most years, the resort has relied upon snowmaking on the frequent cold, clear Drakensberg nights.

Make enough snow and you can do almost anything. You can even stage South Africa’s first national ski championsip, as happened a couple of weeks ago.

The race was even officially sanctioned by skiing’s governing body, the FIS, and attracted a couple of C-grade European skiers.

“It’s a sunny every day with bulletproof snow so I’m really impressed,” one Swedish racer said. This brings us to our point about the skiing at Tiffindell not exactly being ideal for your average holidymaker.

See, ski racers love icy snow because they have the technique to maintain an edge on the slick surface. But for the average recreational punter, an icy slope means terror, uncontrolled sliding and usually a severely bruised backside.

Snowmaking snow almost always ends up icier than normal snow, especially when it’s not blended with the real stuff. So basically, you’ve got a slope a few hundred metres long, about 30 metres wide, and consisting entirely of bulletproof ice. Not exactly paradise, eh?

Read more at news.com.au