Ski Australia

Huge parts of Australia are covered by desserts. Especially the northern parts of Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia are extremely dry and feature very hot temperatures the whole year. It is hard to imagine that skiing is possible on one of the hottest and driest continents on earth. Thanks to the geographical size of Australia, the southernmost parts of Victoria and New South Wales are featuring temperatures below 0 degree during winter times (June - September). So there are huge differences in climate between northern and southern Australia. The so-called Snowy Mountains are ranging from North-East Victoria up to New South Wales. Five major ski resorts in Australia are awaiting skiers and snowboarders. Two of them, Thredbo and Perisher Blue are situated in New South Wales and therefor are very attractive to guests from Sydney (with nearly 4 Mio people Australia´s biggest city). Thredbo is said to have the steepest slopes and the biggest vertical drop among all Australian ski areas. Perisher Blue is just 40min driving time from Thredbo and is the biggest ski area of Australia (1250 ha of skiable terrain). Perisher provides its guests with 42 relatively modern lift facilities which lead up to five different peaks (Mt Perisher (2054 m), Back Perisher Mtn (2014 m), Guthega Peak (1924 m), Mt Blue Cow (1994 m) and Mt Piper (1830 m)). Both Thredbo and Perisher Blue can be reached from Jindabyne the most famous skiing town within half an hour. This makes Jindabyne a vibrant place especially during winter times.
In Victoria south of New South Wales skiers and snowboarders have the choice between three major ski resorts. Hotham, Falls Creek and Mt Buller. Mt Buller takes advantage of proximity to Melbourne (with 3 Mio people the second biggest city in Australia). Only 248 ks north east of Melbourne, Mt Buller is the most easily accessible snow resort in Australia and the closest resort to any international airport. Hotham and Falls Creek are situated in the heart of the Snowy mountain (Victorian Alps). Therefore they are not that easy to access and less crowded than for example Mt Buller. However both Falls Creek and Hotham are worth visiting. Thanks to the so-called Heli Link you can explore the slopes of both resorts with one lift pass by being transferred from one resort to the other on a helicopter!

I am a ski instructer and create reports on ski resorts since five years now. To create this article I used information from the following sites:

ski resorts Australia
ski resorts Victoria