Australia Ski Season Limps To Its End

10th September 2026

Last modified on September 14th, 2026

It’s been a winter to forget with resorts closing early & some continuing but with reduced terrain. New Zealand has seen a growth in tourism after a good winter for snow. UPDATED

Six of Australia’s ski resorts have already closed early and ended their season after limited snowfall and warm temperatures:

Thredbo
Mount Baw Baw
Selwyn Snow Resort
Charlotte Pass
Mt Hotham
Falls Creek

Perisher and Mount Buller remain open, but only just.

Mt Buller, Australia. Image © PlanetSKI

It has been the warmest winter on record, and we have reported on the situation on PlanetSKI:

“The season was frankly a shocker. This was the fourth disappointing season since 2020,” said Dr Andrew Watkins, a climate scientist and adjunct professor at the Monash University and a science advisor to the campaign group Protect our Winters.

“The problems were El Niño and climate change.

“It was not that dry this year, but the problem was the warmth.

“The heat just did us in.”

The higher resorts saw the worst snowfall for two decades, while for the lower ones it was the worst on record.

“While conditions and available terrain have differed between resorts, continued investment in snowmaking and snow management has meant that skiing, snowboarding and snowplay have been available in NSW, Victoria and the ACT since the June long weekend,” said CEO of Snow Resorts Australia Josh Elliott.

“Snowmaking has been a core component of the Australian snow experience for more than 35 years.

“New technology, including All-Weather Snowmaking Systems, now allows resorts with these systems to produce snow in ambient temperatures of up to +20C.”

PlanetSKI reader, Mihai Dragota, has comment on the PlanetSKI Facebook page.

“I can confirm that skiing conditions in Australia were/are sub-standard,” said Mihai.

“Only half of Perisher’s slopes were open when I skied there for a day in late July.

“Also surprising was the lack of quality and even safety, with bushes and rocks in the middle of the slopes.

“Such obstacles would have been much better signaled or the slopes simply closed in the European Alps.”

Australia’s loss has been New Zealand’s gain.

New Zealand has had a decent winter and there has been a rise in Australian skiers and snowboarders as they sought out the snow.

The ski gateway towns of Queenstown and Christchurch on the South Island saw rises of 20% and 11% respectively.

In New Zealand there was a record number of overseas visitors and the figures in July surpassed pre-Covid visitor levels for a single month.

Stats NZ reported 256,600 overseas visitor arrivals for July.

The country saw 3.69 million arrivals in the year leading up to July, which is a 9% increase from the previous year,

Australia: Made up 53% of July visitors
China: Made up 11% of July visitors
United States: Made up 6% of July visitors
Japan and Britain: Made up 3% each

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