It has been a poor snow season in Australia after the country’s warmest winter on record, with several ski areas set to close much earlier than usual this coming Monday, September 4.
Australia’s largest and most popular ski resort Perisher announced on Saturday that it would close the Blue Cow and Guthega areas of the resort after this weekend, having already closed Smiggin Holes earlier this week, leaving just the Perisher Valley area open.
Perisher consists of four distinct areas – Blue Cow, Guthega, Smiggin Holes and Perisher – with one local commenting on leading snow industry website ski.com.au that it was “the earliest ever closure of Blue Cow except for COVID years”.
9News has contacted Perisher’s owner Vail Resorts to confirm whether any of the resort’s four distinct areas have ever closed this early in the days since snowmaking became commonplace in the 1980s, and will update this story if they respond.
Meanwhile, at least two other Australian resorts will be closed for skiing and snowboarding from Monday, including Mt Baw Baw in Victoria, and Selwyn Snow Resort in New South Wales.
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These two resorts are the lowest ski resorts in mainland Australia and have suffered worse than higher resorts from lack of snow in the meagre 2023 snow season.
Selwyn closed in early August, reopened briefly after a moderate snowfall, then closed again and hasn’t reopened, while Baw Baw has struggled along with just one lift open for the last week, but the last few patches of man-made snow are now rapidly turning to mud, as you can see in the image above.
Traditionally, Australian ski resorts try to stay open until the first weekend in October, and while Perisher says it aims to make it through until then, the warm early spring weather predicted by the BoM may have the final say.
Indeed, September is often the time of year with the deepest snowpack, as it was in 2022 when the heaviest depth of the season at Spencers Creek in NSW – roughly halfway between Perisher and Thredbo – was 232cm on September 20.
In more positive news, the NSW resorts of Thredbo and Charlotte Pass will both remain open this coming Monday along with the Perisher Valley section of Perisher
In Victoria, Falls Creek, Mt Buller and Hotham will all remain open, albeit with limited skiing and snowboarding on offer.
