Video shows nightmare queues at Perisher Ski Resort’s Front Valley

A depressing video at Australia’s biggest ski resort has caused a stir online, with one person choosing to turn around and cancel their weekend snow plans.

Australia’s ski season was off to a slow start — and it seems some popular slopes are feeling the consequences.

Delayed openings saw a rush of traffic which combined with bad weather conditions to make for huge queues at Perisher Ski Resort on Saturday.

Footage posted to social media revealed long lines of skiers and snowboarders waiting for lifts at the largest alpine resort in the Southern Hemisphere.

Michael Fearnside, operations director at Perisher Ski Resort, said staff and guest safety is top priority.

“In certain weather conditions, it just isn’t safe to operate every lift,” he said.

“Yesterday, we saw wind speeds of around 100km per hour at the top of the mountain which limited the number of lifts we could safely open”.

@benjaminwild1 nightmare fuel @ perisher rn #snow#lineslinesLINES♬ original sound - benjamin .

Mr Fearnside said Perisher has the advantage of a network of surface lifts which can operate in higher winds, and they had all the surface lifts that could safely operate spinning, in all four areas of the resort.

“Today, we have 27 lifts ready to spin (subject to wind) and our beginner friendly Smiggin Holes area (that is typically more sheltered from prevailing wind) is now open and serviced by five lifts,” he said.

“The current series of weather systems has delivered 64cm of snow over the past seven days and the Perisher team are working hard to continue to prepare additional terrain and lifts for operation during the school holidays”.

The video, captioned “nightmare fuel” and posted on TikTok Saturday, showed jaw-dropping lines at Front Valley, Perisher’s main access run to the entire resort.

One unimpressed viewer commented: “drove up the mountain and turned straight around”.

The video shocked viewers online. Picture: Tiktok/benjaminwild1

Another person was thankful for the video, saying they were considering going but “this made an easy decision”.

One commenter asked whether this “was normal”, to which someone gave the advice to “go outside school holidays and later in the season”.

Frustration over the queues is understandable given time is precious — and expensive — on the slopes.

A one-day lift ticket for Sunday June 25 is $234.

Then there are the additional costs of gear, transport and accommodation for those planning to make a weekend out of it.

Low June snowfall forced Perisher and Thredbo to postpone or majorly restrict their opening days this season.

In an online article, skiing website Powder explained how the start of the Australian ski season “was looking, well, a little slow”.

“But now that June;s properly underway, winter’s finally appearing down under”.

One person said the queues caused them to turn around. Picture: Tiktok/benjaminwild1

“Perisher barely managed to adhere to its planned opening day this season, only offering a surface lift during the first weekend of the year due to low snowfall. And Thredbo, another major Australian resort, was forced to delay opening during the early June dry spell”.

Earlier this month, meteorologists warned that if a number of climate factors combine this winter, the 2023 snow season could be one of the worst in decades.

But Australia’s ski resorts rejected warnings about the potential for below-average snowfall on the slopes this season.