Skiers are celebrating down under as one of Australia’s best-ever seasons has been extended into October.
Many resorts, including Falls Creek, Perisher and Mt Buller, have already announced they are staying open until 8 October and others are expected to follow.
The storm, nicknamed Blizzard of Oz 3.0, has left Australia with some of the best snow conditions this century – and even more is on the way. Thredbo, for example, has hit its deepest natural snow depth since 2000 and has had 4.5m of snow this season.
So much fresh snow to carve up! Buy your #epicaustraliapass now to before 12 Sep to beat the price rise! https://t.co/BAfuM7kn2j #perisher pic.twitter.com/AMPpoQhap0
— Perisher Ski Resort (@PerisherResort) 8 September 2017
Announcing the season extension, Falls Creek said it was heading into spring with 100% terrain open, and around 1.5 metres depth on the ground. ‘We’re in party mode,’ said a statement on the resort website. ‘We are super-confident we will still be enjoying some of the best runs come October so we’re calling it now - Falls Creek will be skiing all the way until last lifts at 5pm October 8th.’
At Thredbo, they were equally ecstatic! ‘Wow, wow, wow, wow…Blizzard of Oz 3…thank you! Our accumulative total of the storm so far is at 130cm. This snowfall has taken our season total over the 4 metre mark, shaping it up to be one September to remember.’
Mt Buller confirmed that it too will stay open until the end of the Victorian school holidays on Sunday 8 October, after the best recorded September snowfalls since 1992.
Buller Ski Lifts General Manager Laurie Blampied said, ‘We have 180cms of deep and good quality snow cover on our ski runs and more cold and snowy weather in the forecast so it’s an ideal opportunity to keep the lifts rolling and invite snow lovers to enjoy this very wintry September and ski for another week.’
Mt Buller has its entire 300ha ski area open with an excellent snow cover of between 142-180cms of deep snow and all lifts available for operation.
On its website Perisher screamed: ‘Wahoo! The snow has not let up and we have got layers and layers of powder to show for it, with a fresh 10 centimetres overnight taking us to 1.47 metres since the storm started! Skiers and boarders are in for a treat, with miles of fresh tracks just waiting to be made!’
And it is a similar picture in New Zealand, where Mt Hutt announced it is extending its season for an extra week until 15 October. ‘We've got absolutely oodles of snow, so staying open through to the end of the NZ school holidays makes perfect sense,’ said a statement from the resort.
If this doesn't whet your appetite for the upcoming ski season in the Northern Hemisphere we don't know what will!
