Maybe the Reserve Bank of Australia needs a new index of economic activity: the Cooma Pie Index.
In the depths of the pandemic, baker Bruce Callaghan was making ten dozen pies a day at the town's Original Hot Bake. Now, it's 14 dozen. The 40 per cent jump in production (from 120 pies a day to 168) tells the story of the rise from the crisis.
The Cooma Pie Index (CPI) of economic activity is up substantially.
Mr Callaghan works 12-hour night shifts in the bakery, which is a refreshment stop on the route from Canberra to the snowfields.
"It's been a particularly busy ski season," he said as he pricked the marks into the top of the pastry signifying "curry" (two marks), "steak and kidney" (a star) or "plain" ( a single knife mark).
And he's not alone. After COVID and lockdowns cut short the season for many businesses in the last two years, 2022 has seen a dramatic change of fortunes as hoards of skiers have returned to the ski fields.
A hundred kilometres south of Cooma, the slopes are bustling with skiers (even as the snow remains patchy).
"Is the pandemic over?" asks Kellie Lock from Cairns, holidaying in Thredbo with her children Aaylie (9) and Jenaya (7). She answers herself: "Yes. Everyone's sick of talking about it."
The sentiment is echoed across the resort: "Last year, we were really cooped up because of the lockdown," Ruth Nitto, who's with her daughter Ava, said.
"We were booked to come but three weeks into the season and everything locked shut. This year, we managed to get in before the kids started school, and enjoy the snow, the sun, and having some time with the family.
"Getting locked up last year was really hard. And being out and about and having the pandemic end is amazing."
There is an optimism, too, in the stores near the resorts. "Sales and the amount of people visiting, it's massive," Craig Hemsley of Jindabyne Sports, which sells ski equipment, said. "Everybody's back and it's great to see."
Snow has been scant this winter but there was enough early on to last (and, anyway, the resorts produce their own). "The snow came down early and set the season up," Mr Hemsley said.
Of course, the pandemic isn't over. It just feels like it in Jindabyne and the resorts around.
And its effects do linger. When staff catch the obstinate virus, they have to isolate and that puts pressure on businesses.
"When we come to hospitality and businesses, the pandemic is over," Olivier Kapetanakos, president of the Jindabyne Chamber of Commerce, said - but adding a caveat: "However, it has a rolling impact. It's over in the sense that we don't have any more lockdowns but it continues because our staff routinely get COVID and we still have the mandated isolation if you test positive.
"But the pandemic is over. Tourism is here - tourists expecting a lot for their dollar, and some cases it's not being delivered."
It's not always being delivered, he said, because some restaurants simply can't open for the full seven days a week. That has a knock-on in that some accommodation businesses now also provide meals.
But the demand is there, according to Mr Kapetanakos who owns a string of businesses including cabins: "We have people asking for accommodation every day. Most of the accommodation providers have got a full book."
On top of that, hoteliers have not come out of the pandemic unbruised.
Bibi Rajahodi had two hotels, one in Jindabyne and one in Tasmania. So brutal was the lockdown that she has sold the Tasmanian enterprise, retaining only the Panorama Jindabyne ("the most beautiful view in the Snowy Mountains", according to its sales pitch). It was touch and go whether either of the businesses would survive the lockdowns and the on-off reopenings which made booking difficult.
A year ago, at the height of the snow season, only two of the 26 rooms were occupied. The restaurant overlooking the Snowy Mountains and Lake Jindabyne was deserted at breakfast when it should have been full.
"All our staff left and we had to work really hard, and we got burned out," she said. "We were working from 6am to 10pm every day."
But they got through. "We were very strict in our financial strength. We are very tough people. We are very strong.
"But business is back. It's been really good this year."
The rediscovered confidence means new businesses are now setting up. "There was a gap in the market so we filled it," Fen Bannister said as she leaned out of her new coffee caravan on the roadside at Berridale.
She and it exude enterprise. The toasties have trendy names like "Groovin for a Ruben". It is to the taste of passers-by.
She set up the business tentatively, not knowing how long it would last, "but we are so busy that it's permanent".
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