Skiing in Australia takes place in the Australian Alps in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as well as in the mountains of the island state Tasmania, during the Southern Hemisphere winter.
Skiing began in Australia at the goldrush town of Kiandra, New South Wales, in 1861."Kiandra - Gold fields to Ski Fields" The first ski tow was constructed on the Mount Buffalo plateau, Victoria, in 1936. Australian skiers competed in the Winter Olympics for the first time in Oslo 1952 and have competed in all subsequent Games, winning medals at every Games since 1998. Malcolm Milne became the first non-European to win a ski race world cup in 1969, and Olympic medalists include Zali Steggall, Alisa Camplin, Dale Begg-Smith, Lydia Lassila and David Morris in skiing and Torah Bright, Scotty James in snowboarding.
Australia has extensive skiable terrain during the southern hemisphere winter in the south eastern states and Australian Capital Territory, between elevations of around 1250 m to 2200 m. Elevation of the snowfields in Australia varies with latitude; however, viable winter snows are generally found above 1500 m: Perisher Valley Ski resort has Australia’s highest lifted point on Mount Perisher of 2042m ASL and a base elevation 1720m ASL. Kiandra, in the Northern Skifields, has an elevation of 1400 m, while Mount Mawson near Hobart, Tasmania, is at 1250 m.
Australia has five major downhill ski resorts: Perisher and Thredbo in New South Wales and Mount Buller, Falls Creek and Mount Hotham in Victoria. Smaller downhill resorts such as Selwyn Snow Resort and Charlotte Pass in New South Wales, Mount Baw Baw in Victoria, and Ben Lomond and Mount Mawson in Tasmania provide a more relaxed experience than the busy major resorts and are popular with novice skiers and families. Cross-country skiing is popular in Kosciuszko National Park, the Alpine National Park, Yarra Ranges National Park, Baw Baw National Park, and Mount Buffalo National Park. It is also sometimes possible within Namadgi National Park of the ACT and in the Tasmanian Wilderness.
Snow conditions
According to the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology, in most years snow is sufficient above about 1500 metres to sustain a "viable ski industry". However, snow falls vary greatly from year to year.
Despite the large year to year variations of Australian snow seasons, observations show a major long term decline in the average snowpack depth, with an average downward tendency of about 0.4–0.6 cm (depending on altitude) per year since 1954. This is a result of increasing temperatures and decreasing cold extremes in the winter, leading to an increase in alpine rain events. The ski resorts are already being affected by the increasingly unreliable snowfalls and the shortening life of the thinning winter snowpack. This trend has been partly offset by multimillion dollar investments in snow making and snow grooming at the major resorts. However, the smaller resorts are mostly at lower altitudes, and therefore are more exposed to the effects of global warming, and are experiencing increasing disruptions of their snow season, threatening their continued viability in the coming years. Former popular resorts, Kiandra (1400 metres above sea level) the birthplace of skiing in Australia, and Mount Donna Buang (1250 metres) the most popular ski resort in the 1920s and 1930s, are now considered too marginal for recreational skiing. Mt Donna Buang, now rarely has skiable snow and is reserved for sightseeing only. Climate change is predicted to continue reducing natural snowfall and opportunities for snow making at Australian alpine resorts, representing a threat to the viability of Australia's ski industry. Australia's ski resorts are located near the top of the highest mountain ranges in Australia and so there is little scope to relocate to higher areas if the existing ski fields become too warm.
The official opening of the ski season for most resorts coincides with the Kings Birthday Long Weekend on the second Monday in June, although extensive downhill skiing often does not become available until late in the month or July due to the climate change induced shortening of the snow sports season. The season usually ends in early October, although in the twentieth century it was not unusual for some of the higher resorts, particularly Perisher and Thredbo, to extend into early November. However, more recent years have seen poor conditions as early as late September.
History and major locations
There is skiable terrain in three States: New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, as well as in the Australian Capital Territory, during the Southern Hemisphere winter. The ski season runs from June/July to September/October.Toomey, Jade; Glenday, James; Twyford, Lottie (2024) As Australia's ski seasons get shorter, towns and operators who rely on the snow are looking to summer to diversify ABC NewsAustralia's snow season Bureau of Meteorology A number of well serviced resorts have been developed, including: Thredbo, Perisher Ski Resort, Charlotte Pass and Selwyn Snowfields in New South Wales; Mount Buller, Falls Creek, Mount Hotham, Mount Baw Baw and Mount Buffalo in Victoria; as well as the small resorts of Ben Lomond and Mount Mawson in Tasmania.
New South Wales has the highest terrain and ski resorts: Perisher's newly constructed Mount Perisher 6 Chair terminates at 2042 metres, Thredbo's highest lifted point is a close second at 2037 metres, and Charlotte Pass at 1990 metres. In Victoria, the highest lifted points are at Mount Hotham with 1845 metres, Falls Creek at 1842 metres, and Mount Buller at 1805 metres.
Jindabyne is the main service town for the New South Wales resorts, but most Australian resort centres have on-snow accommodation. Other ski-service towns include Cooma and Adaminaby in NSW and Bright in Victoria. Canberra is situated around two hours' drive from the New South Wales ski-fields, while Melbourne is in good proximity to some of the Victorian resorts (less than two and a half hours’ drive to Mount Baw Baw and three to Mount Buller). The resort village of Dinner Plain in Victoria also has ski facilities.
The mainland's highest peak is Mount Kosciuszko at 2228 m.Footnote: As regards regions with skiable terrain, the Australian Government's Geoscience Australia Website records the highest mountains by State and Territory as follows: Mount Kosciuszko, NSW, 2228 m; Mount Bogong, VIC, 1986 m; Bimberi Peak, ACT, 1912 m; Mount Ossa, TAS, 1617 m (while the highest mountain on Australian Territory is actually Mawson Peak, Heard Island, at 2745 m, which despite being snowbound, has no ski industry owing to its extreme isolation).
New South Wales
New South Wales is home to Australia's highest snow country, oldest skifields and largest resort. Recreational skiing in Australia began in 1861 at Kiandra, New South Wales, when Norwegian gold miners introduced the idea to the frozen hills around the town. The first and longest surviving ski club in the world, The Kiandra Snow Shoe Club, was formed at Kiandra in that year.
Kiandra, the Northern Skifields, and the birth of skiing in Australia
In the 19th century, Kiandra, a gold mining town at 1400 metres above sea level in the Snowy Mountains, was usually isolated by deep snow for months, making access by horse or foot difficult or at times impossible. In 1861, Norwegian miners introduced recreational skiing to the snowbound mining settlement after manufacturing over forty pairs‘'Scores of young people are frequently engaged climbing the lofty summits with snow shoes'’ 6 August 1861. of both short skis known as skates and the longer snow shoes’'The roads were passable except with snow shoes or the more novel mode of travelling on skates'’. Braidwood Observer. 12 August 1861. during the months before the first winter snow. To avoid confusion with a conventional skate the skates were described as (two palings turned up at the front end and about four-foot long). There were no fence palings or posts in Kiandra in 1861."There is little or no timber in the country here, and whatever there is, is of no use for fencing or house building purposes." The Yass Courier, 4 August 1862.
Other early ski clubs reported in 1861 include the "Trysil Skytte- og Skiløberforening" (Shot and Ski Practitioner Association) in Norway, and the Onion Valley Snow Shoe Club in the United States.Butte Record, Marysville, "Daily Appeal" 26 January 1861. The Norway association held their first competition in January 1862. Alpine ski clubs were first founded in Munich, Germany 1891, Switzerland 1893, Arlberg, Austria 1901, followed by France and Italy. Sir Arnold Lunn founded the Kandahar Ski Club of Great Britain in 1924.
The "Kiandra Snow Shoe Club" held separate ski races for both ladies and children as early as 1885. Barbara Yan was the first identifiable woman documented as to having won a Downhill Skiing Championship. Yan also won the ladies downhill in 1887, the year her siblings won the girls' under-8 section and second in the under-12s.Manaro Mercury, Cooma & Bombala Advertiser, 10 August 1887. In 1908 the club held the first ever documented International and Intercontinental Downhill Skiing Carnival. Results - America 1st, Australia 2nd, England 3rd.The Melbourne Argus, 6 July 1908.
Australia's longest running skiing competition is the Balmain Cup. By 1933 team racing was open to virtually all competitors from any club or imported talents but Arthur Balmain of Cooma believed this was unfair to local enthusiasts. He donated a perpetual trophy open only to competitors residing in or about the Southern Districts and only for members who held membership for twelve weeks in the local ski club. Arthur Balmain, whose company transported skiers to all localities, envisaged a competition that would encompass all clubs. He decreed that a team must compete for the Balmain Cup with all members competing in four disciplines: Downhill, Slalom, Jump and Langlauf. In 1946 the competition format for competitors eligibility was changed and the jump section was removed."Kiandra GoldFields To Ski Fields"
In the wilderness region south of Kiandra, The Alpine Hut, near Mount Jagungal, was built in 1939 to cater for skiers. Access was arduous - via packhorse and ski.AAC - History
The Kiandra Goldrush was short-lived, but the township remained a service centre for recreational and survival skiing for over a century. The Kiandra courthouse closed as a police station in 1937, and was for a time used as a private residence, before becoming the Kiandra Chalet (until 1953) and later the Kiandra Chalet Hotel, The owner of the Chalet ran a ski rope tow. The Chalet closed in 1973 and the building became a Roads Depot building. Australia's first T-bar lift was installed on Township Hill in 1957, but in 1978, Kiandra's ski lift operations re-located permanently to nearby Mount Selwyn (Selwyn Snowfields). Selwyn is the most northerly of Australia's ski resorts with a base elevation of 1492 m and a top elevation of 1614 m. Selwyn is well suited to families and first timers, with 88% of terrain catering to beginners and intermediates, however the steeper gradient of the Racecourse Run provides some more challenging terrain for advanced skiers and boarders. The longest run at Selwyn is the 800 m "Long Arm Run".
Longer slopes and more reliable snows lie further to the south and in the 20th century, the focus of recreational skiing in New South Wales shifted southward, to the Mount Kosciuszko region.The history of skiing at Kiandra has been the subject of several studies, including 1959's "Historic Kiandra", written by the Kiandra Historical Society and Kiandra Goldfields to Skifields (2006) by Norman W. Clarke
Kosciuszko Region