Joyful scenes as Australia’s ski slopes open early

One of Australia’s top ski resorts has opened early after surprise snow dumps, bringing joyful scenes to the slopes.

Massive snow dumps across Australia’s ski fields have prompted one major resort to open its lifts ahead of schedule.

A surprise announcement that Perisher’s Village Eight chair lift would begin spinning from midday Friday had keen locals lining up.

It is over a week earlier than the traditional start to the season over the June long weekend, although perisher had already announced plans to open from this weekend.

Perisher’s Village Eight chair lift opened from midday Friday. Picture: Perisher

Thredbo is also recording dense snow coverage and is expected to open its lifts as planned on 11 June.

“Conditions were just too good to wait to open this week and we just felt like we wanted to get going today,” Perisher general manager Belinda Trembath said.

Locals lined up to be one of the first down the slopes. Picture: Perisher

Perisher has received over 60cm of snow since Monday, with more than a metre of snow predicted over the weekend and into next week.

“Looking ahead to next week, we’ve got about another metre of snow forecast, so conditions are just looking wonderful for that official opening weekend, where we could have up to 1.6m of snow on the ground,” Belinda Trembath said.

Over a metre of snow is forecast for the resort over the weekend and into next week. Picture: Perisher

Tourists are being told to plan ahead and take care on the roads. Picture: Perisher

Conditions were also ideal for creating artificial snow, with machines running throughout the week to help bolster what was on the ground.

After two extremely difficult seasons throughout Covid-19, Ms Trembath said there was plenty of excitement to get back to skiing and boarding.

“It’s been a tough couple of years for our resort, for our community and our industry. All I’d do is encourage everyone to plan ahead, to book online and to stay safe on the roads,” Ms Trembath said.