5 Best Ski Resorts in Australia

Ski resorts in Australia offer many of advantages over in other boarding destinations in the world. Most of these resorts are considered “on snow”, which means you can ski right into your hotel from the slopes. In addition, snowboarding and skiing in Australia is available for everyone of all ages and skill levels; including families with children. For these reasons and more, go ahead and make plans for you and your family to enjoy the less congested, fabulous slopes of Australia for your next ski holiday.

Falls Creek

Falls Creek not only provides the ultimate ski experience, but it is unsurpassed in beauty in its Bogong High Plains surrounding. It is one of the most popular ski resorts because it offers a myriad of family activities the whole year round. Starting with the official snow season, the resort opens its lifts and slopes for enjoyable skiing as well as snow tubing, bungy trampolines and snowboarding for young people. There are more than 65 kilometers of meticulously groomed cross country trails on the resort’s property.

Falls Creek also offers attractions and activities for adults to enjoy which include dining, shopping, music, dancing and spa treatments. The summer season is equally family friendly with activities that include fishing, exploring and hiking, carnivals, sporting events and much more.

Perisher Ski Resort

Perisher Ski Resort, formerly Perisher Blue, is situated in the Australian Snowy Mountains. It is Australia’s largest ski resort, comprising a total of four villages and ski fields on 1,250 hectares. The resort is well known by skiers around the world because it offers a great variety of activities that are suitable for people of all ages.

Included among the features of this resort are chairlifts that seat eight, two high speed detachable lifts, two triple chairlifts and more. There are 4 J bars, 21 T bars, a total of 4 ski carpets as well as eight additional boarder and skier moving devices. To accommodate a range of ages and skill levels, the resort offers three levels of run difficulty grades. Twenty two percent of the runs are for beginners, 60 percent for intermediate skiers and 18 percent for advanced boarders.

Mt Buller

Mt. Buller ski resort is located about three hours from Melbourne, in an unincorporated Victoria location with a population of 251 people. The mountain has an elevation of 1804 meters AHD, which is the Australian altitude measurement. The summit and faces of Mount Buller are widely known ice climbing locations every winter. The mountain resort is the popular host location of several yearly events including two international World Cup competitions and the Victorian Snowsports Championships.

The resort is also popular because of the comprehensive network of 25 lifts that transport over 40,000 people each hour; which is the highest number capacity in Victoria. The ski area contains about 80 kilometers of trails throughout a 300 hectare terrain. The nine kilometers of cross country trails serve as a connection to Mount Stirling.

Selwyn Snowfields

Selwyn Snowfields in the Snowy Mountains of NSW sit close to Australia’s highest town, Cabramurra. First timers and families are especially fond of the resort, since it reserves about 88 percent of the terrain for beginner and intermediate skiers to enjoy. The resort is also a favorite for tons of advanced boarders; especially its challenging 800 meter “long arm run” and even more exciting steep Racecourse Run. Selwyn Snowfields take up a total of 45 hectares. It features pomas, T bars, rope tow, platter and one snow tube lift in addition to 11 lifts. Also popular is the Township, a blue run that was fitted with exciting park like terrain features in 2007.

In order to adjust for the low natural snow cover due to its low altitude, the resort developed a state of the art snowmaking facility. This facility provides spectacular snow cover due to the resort’s access to the water that is continually supplied by Three Mile Dam located nearby.

Thredbo Village

This ski resort can be found about 6 hours, or 500 kilometers, from Sydney. The village of a little over 400 residents rests in the Thredbo River valley. It attracts more than 700,000 visitors each winter season because it boasts the longest ski runs in all of Australia when the mountain is completely snow covered.

Thredbo Village is also popular for its many terrain parks. One park, Wombat World, is especially designed for children. Two parks for beginners and intermediates, Easy Rider and Intermediate Park, offer rails, jumps, boxes and picnic tables for visitors. The advanced park offers huge jumps, a wall ride and rails for freestyle skiers with enough experience to meet its challenges. Thredbo also is a destination to indulge in summer sports such as rock climbing, abseiling and fishing. Each year over 300,000 visitors attend the annual blues music festival at Thredbo.

Kristy

Kristy is an intrepid traveler and landscape photographer. When she’s not on the road with her laptop you can find her writing for Drive My Car Rentals. A groundbreaking new community website to help you save up to 80% on the cost of traditional car hire.