Skiing in Australia

A snowHead

My lovely other half has dropped the bombshell that we won't be going skiing this year because we have to save up for Australia in the summer. I was distraught and considering whether I could divorce her and find someone rich enough to take me skiing all before next season. Then I remembered some threads on here about skiing in Australia discussing access and cost and some of the oddities. Irritatingly, I can't find them. And after spending a while on Google I don't feel much wiser.

I've seen mountainaddict's account and that was useful. If anyone can link me to the others, I'd be grateful.

Otherwise, I'd appreciate any advice you care to share? We are going to be visiting family just outside Sydney, probably late July or August and it looks like we should be thinking about Threbo or Perisher. Am I right and when is the best time, or rather the most reliable, to go? Is it best to drive down or fly? If we fly is there reliable transport to the resorts and will we be able to get around once we are there? And what are the costs like? Is there good ski hire and can you hire boots, clothing,etc? And could you get a week out of it or would a shorter stay be better?

Phew. That was a lot of questions? Very Happy

A snowHead

Dont expect much in terrain in comparison to Europe. Conditions can be touch and go any year .

Thredbo is the better of the two.

Stay in Jindabyne

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Where are you staying near Sydney?

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@CH1975, Penrith. That does make the Snowy Mountains the closest, doesn't it?
@stanton, I think it's more about the exoticness.
I was just looking at hotel prices. They are huge. £400 a night huge. Unless I can sort those out that'll scupper our chances.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Yes Snowy Mountains would be the nearest, it's a 6 hour drive to Threbo/Perisher you can fly to Cooma and from there you could probably get a Greyhound bus to the resort.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@abc, based on this year's prices the pass and gear were high but acceptable. Then we saw the hotels. I suppose it's due to the exchange rates. It's made me nervous about the rest of the holiday.

After all it is free

The prices are very similar to North America and staying near the resorts can be very expensive. Jindabyne is a good base in NSW but it is tough to get cheap accommodation. Staying there does give you the option of choosing between Perisher, Charlottes pass and Thredbo.

Personally I prefer Thredbo. With snow making they can actually get you skiing all the way into the village. This gives a verticle drop of nearly 700m. Generally slightly steeper slopes and if you have touring kit it can be easier to get to the main range.

Perisher is a huge ski area, but lacks the vertical of Thredbo. Lots of cruisy runs and you actually ski over 4 mountains. Good for an explore and if the snow conditions are good then great skiing in and around the snow gums. At Perisher i have found Mt Perisher and Guthega peak areas to be the quietest, and generally the best for skiing.

If you are on a budget and there is enough snow there is also Selwyn ski area. http://www.selwynsnow.com.au/ Its not great but it is cheaper and possibly easier to get to. Can ski it on the way to Jindabyne if your looking to break some travel up.

Don't rule out Victoria, its no cheaper but there is good skiing there. It would add a few hours to the travel time though. Mt Hotham for me has been the best place to ski in Australia. Some good steeps and you stay on top of the mountain. Its no cheaper than the NSW resorts but probably has a lot more steeper terrain. Also good for touring when condition suits. Falls creek is on the same range, more mellow but you can stay at Mount Beauty which is easier to find cheaper accommodation. Just the small job of a 30 mile drive up the mountain to ski every day.

There is also Mt Buller which is close to Melbourne(3 hours away). Never really been a fan of the place but have never visited it when the snows been good.

henzerani Thredbo & Perisher were indeed pricey for lift tickets but we saved a few $$ by booking online directly with the resort websites.

Our self catering digs at The Station in Jindabyne were also expensive compared to our other Oz hotels - but not extortionate. We found digs at very reasonable prices for Sydney, Cairns and Alice Springs - some cheaper than UK equivalent standard. Food and drink prices were similar to home - dearer in Sydney than elsewhere in Oz but not overly so.

Accommodation at Thredbo and Perisher resorts is, however, extortionate - hence our stay in Jindabyne. You can also stay at Cooma en route to Jindabyne, which has a few cheaper places. We stayed there the night before our first ski day and drove to Thredbo from there. We booked very late due to a change of plan - our friends in Canberra couldn't accommodate us at the 11th hour. As a result, we found very limited availability and high prices in Cooma. I'd suggest you only book The Swiss Motel there if there is nothing else available. We generally don't mind basic digs but that really was something else....

I'd recommend a car for convenience and ease of access to the slopes, especially as Jindabyne is about 30 miles from the skiing. For Perisher, you can drive part way and travel the rest by underground train (the 'Skitube') but - you've guessed it - the price of that is expensive. You should also note that, when travelling by car, you have to pay a daily (expensive!) fee to enter the national park containing both ski areas. Still cheaper than the Skitube though.

We did find cheap (hoorah!) ski and boot hire though. Prices in Jindabyne are half those on the mountain and you can get good discounts on top for booking online. We used Jindy Ski Hire - on the main road just before the town. Great service and decent kit. They do snow chain hire too - it's compulsory for all vehicles to carry them on the drive up to the ski area.

Yes it's expensive to ski in Oz - but we loved it and it was worth every penny. The skiing exceeded our expectations - although we were lucky to have fresh snow conditions.

You just need to bite the bullet and factor the skiing into the price of your overall holiday. I don't think that you'd regret it.

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Spent a season in Mount Hotham (Victoria) in 2001. It wasn't a particularly good season for snow, however there is enough there to keep you occupied for a few days if conditions are good. Hotham has a max vertical of about 450m, and the majority of the skiing is actually done below village level.

Hotham has it's own small airport about 10 miles away, and you should be able to fly there from most of the major cities.

You can get a helicopter (helipad is in the resort and not at the airport) directly from Hotham to the next nearest resort (Falls Creek), which is a similar sized resort. It wasn't too expensive at the time (around £40 return, and worth it for the ride alone). It only takes about 8 minutes by helicopter. The alternative is about a 2 hour drive I think.

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I enjoyed my trip to the Australian resorts one snowy August. As said above, Jindabyne is a good option for accommodation and you can park at the Skitube for direct access to Perisher and Mount Blue Cow. Thredbo's skiing is more challenging but Perisher has a much bigger area now covering Perisher itself, Smiggins, Blue Cow and Guthega. Six hour drive from Sydney was ok and the trip back via Melbourne and Victoria's many vineyards was more enjoyable!

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Thanks @yuppie, @mountainaddict, @LOTA, and everyone else. I think the idea of staying away from the resorts in Jindabyne is appealing. That way we might keep the price down and give ourselves the opportunity to ski a few different places. I think what I have in mind is a loop that takes in the sites and experiences there and back with the ski-ing in the middle. That way the trip remains a holiday with skiing rather than a skiing holiday.

Pricing it at this summers prices and using The Station, Jindabyne, a 5 day stay with ski hire and passes and hire car would be £2100 for 2 adults and a child(and that is ignoring that the motel seems to be including passes in the offer, which seems to good to be true). That is expensive but not ridiculous. And we'd be hiring a car and staying somewhere anyway, if we did a road trip.

A couple more questions. Did you all take you clothes with you or is there somewhere to hire them? And is there much accessible off-piste and are their guides to take you there?

I took all my kit with me (skis at Heathrow in late July looked a little odd!) but I had plenty of luggage allowance as I went business class. The Station is very much part of the Perisher resort set-up and lift passes are often included in the room rate, special deals etc. They also do clothing rental as well as the usual skis and boots.

You know it makes sense.

We took all our own kit which included touring skis. There is a huge back country area refereed to as the main range around Thredbo/Perisher. But you will need touring set ups to access it. We used a company for a couple days touring but did most touring ourselves.

The company was called K7 adventures. http://www.k7adventures.com/default.htm . We had a good few days out with them, taking in the highest peaks and skiing fresh tracks through the snow gums. We were lucky though, like mountain addict in that we were there when there was some fresh snow. It can be hit and miss with conditions, like most places. But from our experience it is more miss than hit.

Thredbo do have a touring ticket that enables you to use the main chairlift for one up lift. From memory that was 25 Aussie dollars. From there you can then tour out towards the main range and ski Australias highest peak Mt Kosciuszko. For us it worked out the same to hire a guide and take the lift up as it would have done for a days ski pass. So if the weathers good we would certainly recommend doing that.

As for off piste, from my experience Thredbo probably has the best. It does get skied out very quickly though. We have had some good off piste conditions on Mt Perisher at Perisher ski area. A lot of locals head there when there is fresh snow so that does say something for the area. On skiers right off the Eyre T Bar is a pretty big ski field that takes a while to get tracked out. If you don't like t-bars you can just ski down to the Perisher chair.

The best off piste we have had in that area is up at a place called Dead horse gap. You will need touring gear though. You go through Thredbo on the Alpine way road. There is a small car park and you tour up through the snow gums. This is a different way to access the main range. We have rarely seen many skiers in this area, so you can get fresh tracks even after a few days with out snow fall. Skiing powder through the snow gums is an amazing experience. Hopefully you will get the chance.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@LOTA, @yuppie, thanks. I think I'd hire a guide, if nothing else that for the company. My wife is a piste skier and I'm not responsible enough to take my daughter into the wilds. Or perhaps I'm too responsible. It looks like they can hire me touring skis.

A snowHead

Very comprehensive response re. off piste etc from yuppie - I have nothing much to add Smile

- except that both Thredbo & Perisher don't have particularly good piste marking (compared to Europe & Nth America) - so it can be difficult to tell what's on piste and what's off. So in some places you just ski where you like on a broad area of mountain.

At Perisher we found some nice steeps and pockets of powder as a result - but struggled a bit at Thredbo in poor visibility. In fact we got off the highest lift in a whiteout and didn't have a clue where to go - couldn't see any piste markers. Pretty alarming until some other skiers appeared...

We took our ski clobber but hired skis & boots in Jindabyne - see earlier post. The Station does ski hire too - but not as cheap as Jindy Sports' prices.

Speaking of the Station: it's in a rural, quiet, out of town location, which may not be to everyone's liking. We enjoyed staying there, albeit for only 2 nights. It's a large complex of (mainly or totally?) self catering units with a restaurant, quite nice pub and pizza place. Our unit (for 2 people) was large, warm and well equipped, with good cooking facilities - ideal for a ski stay.

A snowHead

just fly to NZ for a couple of days Very Happy

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@hang11, I should look at that. Is the cost much lower? For a Brit. I'm guessing that the Australian experience is expensive because of the exchange rate.

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@hang11, i was going to suggest the same. Very Happy

@henzerani, if you haven't already bought your tickets it may be worth looking at a Round the World type ticket. You could fly something like: UK-Asia-Sydney-Queenstown-Auckland-USA-UK. There are direct flights from SYD to Queenstown. The cost compared to a normal UK-Asia-Australia-Asia-UK will not be much more expensive. You can get very clever by buying tickets that start in another country for much less cost but that would be a thread in uts own right. I've done that three times. Toofy Grin

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Gaza, is the UK-Asia-Australia-Asia-UK ticket what I would call a return ticket to Oz with stops in somewhere like Bahrain or Singapore?

And @Gaza, @hang11, how does skiing work in New Zealand? There seems to be a couple of big (remote) resorts on N Island and lots of small ones on S. Island . Do you base yourself somewhere central on S Island and go to lots of places?

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@henzerani, I've been to NZ a couple of time but never skied so can't comment on what it is like. However, it is a stunning country and if you are in Australia it would be a shame to miss out on a trip. In general, NZ is cheaper for many things. It may be worth looking at hiring a Campervan for a few days. Although it will be ski season it is probably still considered low season so you may get a good deal. I was there for the Lions Tour in 2005 and we had a very comfortable van that had good heating so it kept us warm even in the cold NZ winter.

The UK-Asia or Middle East-Australia-Asia or Middle East-UK is a 'standard' return ticket.

I posted about my 2005 Round the World run on FlyerTalk. The ticket I used is more restrictive nowadays to prevent the type of thing I did. I'd done something similar a couple of years before but originated in Joburg having used BA Miles to get there and 10 months later, KLM Miles to return. In the intervening period I'd been back in the UK as normal.

Toofy Grin

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

You might have more choice of flights if you were interested in NZ by going Sydney to Christchurch, then do as @Gaza, says and hire camper van/motorhome and head for Wanaka and Queenstown, the south island of New Zealand is amazingly beautiful. To stand on the beach and look at the southern Apls with Mount Cook rising up to over 3700m just 20 miles away is quite a view.

After all it is free

All depends on your time over in NZ. It takes approx. 3 1/2 hours from east coast of Australia to fly to most anywhere in NZ thereafter skiing works as follows

North Island
Mt Ruapehu has the two main resort fields in NI - its a reasonable 4 1/2 hour drive from Auckland and you can incorporate some other sites to and from if coming out of Auckland, e.g. your run right pas Waitomo caves about half way.
See my TR http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=115286&highlight=

There are a few very small club fields around NI. One is near Ruapehu and one on Mt Taranaki (Mt Fuji in that Last Samurai Tom Cruise movie) not far away either - generally (same in SI) these are privately owned, small, harder to reach (4WD usually a must), very limited facilities (maybe no rental, likely no lessons) and use a bizarre "nutcracker" tow of which I have never tried (nor really do I want to ). But I guess an authentic experience.

South Island
Resort skiing is mainly around Queenstown/Wanaka. Generally (and its generally, ok people) costs will be higher around here (both flights and accommodation and cars) as this area is geared up for the tourist $. I have not skied in this area but have visited it. It is indeed spectacular and a great place for a driving holiday (or tiki-touring as the locals have it). Sarge McSarge on here is your man for info here but I do know people who do ski here too so could get you some info.

I have skied Mt Hutt, about 1 1/2 hours drive from Christchurch. Not much of an area but has snow and runs.

Also a scattering of private fields at points between deep south and Christchurch, again none of which I have skied.

Any questions or need more info I would be happy to help.

the local snowhead site:

http://ski.com.au/forum/index.html

Shocked

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If you are looking at coming to somewhere like Queenstown make sure it is after the end of the NZ and Australian school holidays. I think they are all back at school by the last week of July. Flights to Queenstown daily from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and most days Coolangatta. Price of accommodation in Queenstown and Wanaka covers a wide range but you will find plenty way cheaper than £400 a night. Just had a quick look at room prices for seven nights at the end of July and they range from about NZ$ 500 in a backpackers up to NZ$ 5000 for an upmarket apartment or multi bedroom house. Lots of hotel rooms in the one to two thousand range. Those prices are for the whole seven nights. Lift passes are about NZ$ 100 per day but cheaper for multiple days at most areas. Unfortunately we are having a record warm autumn and the long range forecast is not that great for snow but it is still early. And saying that the forecast for the next week is for wet and getting colder.

I'm in Australia but not close to the mountains. Prefer to ski Japan or North America for better snow and choice. Of the Australian resorts my pick would be Thredbo, has a nice village and vibe. Perisher is larger but disjointed and the night life is non existent. Sorry to sound pretentious but my memories of Perisher were groups of young drinking knuckle draggers behaving inappropriately. Go Thredbo.....

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