Australia’s biggest ski resort to get US owners — but local skiers win

PERISHER’S acquisition by an American ski resort chain is still to be approved by the federal government, but proponents say Aussies skiers will be the big winners.

Supplied Editorial

AUSTRALIAN skiers appear to be the big winners from the $176.6 million sale of Perisher ski resort to the Colorado-based Vail Resorts in the United States.

Under the deal, local skiers will be able to use their Perisher season pass, at nine US ski resorts for unlimited skiing in the northern hemisphere winter.

Given one million Aussies head to the US to ski each year, the offer has been described as an “earth-shattering opportunity” by Vail Resorts’ chairman Rob Katz.

Perisher ... the largest ski resort in the southern hemisphere has been sold to a US company. Picture: News Corp Australia

He said at $750 Australian, the “Freedom Pass” would see skiers through both the southern and northern hemisphere winters.

“Given where the Australian dollar is at the moment (against the US), it’s a pretty darn good deal,” said Mr Katz.

The pass will be valid at resorts owned by Vail, include Breckenridge, Keystone and Araphoe Basin in Colorado, Park City and Canyons in Utah, and Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada.

But the deal is limited to just ten days of free skiing and riding at Vail and Beaver Creek in Colorado.

“The season pass opportunities for Australians are unprecedented anywhere in the world,” Mr Katz said.

“To be able to buy a season pass for Perisher and use it all season long in the Australian winter, and then get season long access to the nine resorts we have in the United States in the US winter, is really an earth-shattering opportunity for people.”

He said Perisher was an attractive prospect for Vail because it was the “leader in the Australian market, the biggest, and the most popular”.

“The reason why we’re doing this is because we want to have a closer connection and relationship with the entire Australian ski market.”

Getting a lift . Aussie skiers will get cheaper access to US skifields as a result of the Perisher sale. Picture: Supplied.

The deal will also work in reverse — with purchasers of Vail’s Epic Pass receiving unlimited and unrestricted skiing at Perisher.

But Mr Katz said the numbers of Americans heading down under to ski were relatively small.

The New South Wales Government and Foreign Investment Review Board is understood to be examining the acquisition that includes the resort areas known as Perisher Valley, Smiggin Holes, Blue Cow and Guthega.

Perisher is currently owned by Australian billionaire James Packer.

The resort holds a long-term lease and licence with the NSW Government under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, which expires in 2048 with a 20-year renewal option.