Australian ski resorts, take a bow.
Long considered below par on the world stage when it comes to their paltry snow dumps, NSW and Victoria have excelled in producing plenty of cold white flakes for August, prompting skiers from Hotham to Perisher to toast the best local conditions in years – as resorts flag they expect to remain open until early October.
"We currently have about 185cm of snow, which is the most for this time of year since 2010, when there was 192cm – so it's certainly up there with the best years we've ever had," Perisher's chief operating officer, Peter Brulisauer, said, adding 2012 and 2004 were also strong seasons.
"Last weekend [August 19 and 20] was one of the busiest weekends in Perisher's entire history," Mr Brulisauer said. "Given we're the biggest ski resort in the southern hemisphere, the lift queues weren't too bad as there are plenty of runs to choose from." All 3500 beds located on mountain were booked out, with accommodation virtually impossible to secure in Jindabyne – or even in Cooma, more than an hour's drive from Perisher.
Neighbouring Thredbo's Jordan Rodgers, general manager of Kosciuszko Thredbo, predicts "the best September in over five years" as temperatures remain cold and snow keeps falling.
"The mountain is a picture with so much snow and we're experiencing the best skiing of the season right now," Rodgers said. Visitation rates for Thredbo over the past week were up 8 per cent compared with last year.
It was good news for Thredbo's parent company, Event Hospitality and Entertainment (EVT), which posted a 14.9 per cent net fall in full year profits on Thursday August 24. Thredbo was a rare star performer in EVT's results, delivering normalised profit up by 21.2 per cent to $18.2 million on the prior year.
Newcastle-based software development company MetroView will also be seeing a sweet spot, judging from the number of skiers downloading its free 3D terrain Snowzat app, which helps those skiing in teams or with friends keep track in real time of where other group members are on the mountain.
In Victoria's High Country, locals are still joking about the 'Blizzard of Oz' after the huge dump at Mt Hotham that stretched from Thursday August 3 through to the 7th.
Over the past two weeks, Mt Hotham has received 170cm of natural snow, providing the alpine resort with the highest accumulated snow fall in a decade. Mt Hotham last year unveiled $4.5 million worth of snow making equipment imported from Europe. Artificial snow combined with solid natural falls have helped drive year-on-year growth of 18 per cent for visitor days this season – the highest growth of any Victorian resort in 2017, reported Glenn Watson, senior marketing manager with Mount Hotham Skiing Company.
However, before snow bunnys get too enthusiastic, it's worth remembering that in August 1981, Perisher and Thredbo reported 3.6m of snow. "I was a bit young to remember it, but that was indeed a real fairytale year," Mr Brulisauer reflected.
Over the pond, the biennial New Zealand Winter Games opened in Queenstown on Friday, with extra competitors in town given that the Winter Olympics kick off in Seoul on February 9.
New Zealand's Coronet Peak has Czech, American and Swiss teams in training. The Koreans are also on ground – training a ski robot called DiANA (complete with ski boots), which they're trialling for a Winter Olympics opening segment.
With Joanne Gray
