MAKING THE MOST OF THE SEASON THAT KEPT ON GIVING

WORDS: REGGAE ELLISS

PHOTOS: SAPH FARRELL

When late season, and post-season, snowfalls sustained a base at Perisher well into October after the resort had closed a few locals made regular journeys from Jindabyne to hit a handful of rails and hand-built jumps.

Martin Longhitano was one, and he put in that extra effort to find some different features, including a snowmaking fan gun and various staircase rails.

Martin skis Perisher daily. He’s always a standout in the Front Valley and Leichardt terrain parks renowned for his style and innovation.

A great all-round skier, he competes occasionally, but prefers to freeski, make a few edits and put a creative spin on finding ways and places to spice up his skiing.

“The idea to use the fan gun had been in my head, but I had to find the right spot,” Martin told Chillfactor.

“About a week after the mountain closed I spotted a huge pile of snow banked up behind this snowgun. It had been pushed up by a snow cat and so it was the perfect landing – I just needed to smooth it out.” Martin spent an afternoon building the take-off, mostly by himself as “other people weren’t convinced until it started to take shape.”

“The in-run was a bit tight around some trees and bushes, but it worked well to line up the landing,” he said. “The jump had to be close and with a lot of pop because I wanted to touch the snowgun and had to try to match the steep landing on the other side.”

The following day, with the help of a few friends, Martin finished building the jump and finetuning the take-off ahead of a session with Cameron Waddell and some others. Martin kept skiing until the end of November, making it a long season for him that started back in the first week of June when Perisher had an early opening of the Front Valley.

“Towards the end it was hard to find people who were still motivated to ski, including myself,” he said with a laugh. “I was really tired and sore from a long season. After that last snowfall in November it got really warm and took a lot of effort.”