Works to reopen the Bogong High Plains Road have continued throughout the Easter weekend as wet weather threatens hopes to have the road operational by Anzac Day.
The road was closed in October following a major landslip between Mount Beauty and Falls Creek.
Crews are now up against wet autumn weather to clear the 70-metre high and 100-metre wide landslip to open a single lane by the end of the month.
There are more than 30 specialist machines working daily to meet the time frame that was given to Mount Beauty and Falls Creek residents at public meetings last month.
More than 60,000 cubic metres of loose material and debris have been cleared from the landslip.
"To put that into perspective we are carting 70 truck loads of material every day down from the slip site," said Major Road Projects Victoria program director Dipal Sorathia.
Despite persistent efforts, workers are facing challenging conditions after being subjected to 150 millimetres of rain across just two days at the end of March.
A further 51mm was recorded at Falls Creek in the past week, according to Bureau of Meteorology data.
"Every day is becoming quite challenging as we go through the month of autumn," Mr Sorathia said.
Unstable land
The landslip itself is still potentially dangerous, particularly as wet weather strikes, and is proving challenging and complex work.
"The priority for all of us has always been from a safety perspective, that when the rain stops and the clean-up stops … [if] the rain impacted on the stability of the slip itself," Mr Sorathia said.
"It's still a very active landslip site.
"Following that rain event there has been multiple small slips within the big slip itself."
Geotechnical engineers are on site assessing the situation following the recent heavy rainfall.
Fog has also slowed works, with trucks at one time unable to travel to Falls Creek due to poor visibility.
The race to safely open the road for Anzac Day comes as snow dusted Victoria's alpine peaks on Easter Sunday and Monday, hinting at the approaching official ski season opening weekend now two months away.
The public will be able to speak with the project team on Tuesday at Myrtleford Foodworks from 1-2:30pm to ask questions about its progress.
Feeling positive
A Mount Beauty accommodation provider said tourists were aware of the road closure but many remain optimistic ahead of the ski season.
"The feeling we have is there is still confidence in the ski season," The Park's Alex Gardiner said.
"We have had lots of people asking but we have been transparent with whatever information we have been given, and I think just being aware of the situation I think instils confidence with them.
"We also are pretty flexible with our policy in that circumstance, should they need to cancel their booking, and that instils confidence too in the tourism sector."
But while ski tourists are still booking, the road closure is being felt in town.
"There's a lot of apprehension and it has certainly affected a lot more of the retail businesses in town that do rely on that flow through traffic to Falls Creek," Ms Gardiner said.
"We still have had a really strong summer and start of autumn so we haven't felt it so directly, but I know other businesses have — just [missing] that tourism dollar, that spend."
