Australian Ski Resort Fires Up Snowguns As Winter Approaches

Originally posted on Powder | By Ella Boyd | Last updated 5/15/24

Perisher, located in Kosciuszko National Park, NSW, Australia, is the Southern Hemisphere's largest alpine resort.

The resort's snowmaking crew has officially clocked on for the season and have been warming up the guns this week. Officials at the resort celebrate with a post and caption that reads, "Winter 2024 let’s go!!"

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Perisher currently has 47 lifts, with 4 different resort areas, so snowmaking at the resort is likely no easy task. Perisher is also in the process of constructing a new lift, the Mt. Perisher 6, to replace the older Mt. Perisher, for use next season in Winter 2025.

The old lift chairs will be auctioned off from June 8th to June 9th. The auction will be held in person on June 8th, and then online on June 9th.

The Mt. Perisher Double Chair was Perisher’s first ever chairlift, a two-seater, fixed-grip chairlift that first opened to skiers in 1961. Prior to its construction, the areas that now form Perisher Ski Resort were serviced by a handful of T-Bars and rope tows.

The upgraded lift, the Mt. Perisher 6, will improve resort capacity and assist to redistribute skiers across Perisher’s network of 48 lifts (including this new one) across four resort base areas to reduce general lift wait times and improve flow and circulation. Read below.

The resort's 2024 opening day is set for June 8th, so there's only about a month left until the Aussies will be able to ski their largest ski resort.

While Perisher aims to remain open until early October, it closed earlier than usual last winter in September due to a lack of snow. Even worse, the Guardian reported that Australia's 2023 winter was the warmest on record.

Hopefully, this season will be better and Perisher will be able to remain open as normal.