By TOM COSTA

AS many readers of this publication would be aware, one of Falls Creeks favourite son’s, skiing royalty, Steve Lee suffered a major stroke last September.

Safe to say, this was a massive shock to everyone and a massive blow to Steve, his family and indeed the whole Falls Creek and skiing community.

In one way or another since childhood, Steve’s life has revolved around skiing.

Growing up in Falls Creek, skiing came naturally to Steve, but he was certainly not content with it being a recreational pursuit.

Instead Steve took his sport to the very highest level achievable as a representative of Australia in the dangerous and demanding discipline of Downhill racing.

After arguably the most successful alpine skiing career of any Australian male to date, Steve went on to work in various fields but his love for skiing never faded (and probably never will).

He then set himself up to keep the skiing dream alive.

His first venture was here in Falls Creek, where he came up with the genius idea of creating a lightweight passenger trailer to ferry skiers into the backcountry.

This is where I came into the picture.

Steve needed a second guide/sled rider who knew their way around the area, so my hand went up like a shot.

Fast forward more years than I care to count and here we are…. Steve’s daughter Layla has decided to take over the reigns of the family business.

It was a no brainer to put my hand back up and offer my help.

After a couple of early hiccups and a hand full of COVID setbacks, we are happy to announce that we are back in business for the remainder of the 2021 winter season.

Suffice to say that Steve Lee’s ski boots are metaphorically too big to fill, but we will be doing our best to keep the dream alive and continue offering an amazing and unique backcountry skiing experience.

The team consists of Steve’s nephew Paddy Dodd, long time friend and co–conspirator Bruce Johnston, and yours truly out in the field and Layla Lee taking care of the business and booking side of things.

The resort is open for business and has a great cover of natural snow and the backcountry is looking primed for the rest of winter and the spring season.

So, do yourself a favour, grab a couple of your best buddies and book yourself a backcountry tour.

For details/bookings, go to backcountrytours.checkfront.com/reserve or checkout @weskiforstevelee.