The $26m gamble at the top of Australia

It’s early December and bushwalkers have reclaimed the Snowy Mountains, hiking through its fields of flowers and over running creeks that months ago were covered in snow.

But high above them, a team of tradesmen and engineers have little time to take in the view as they race to finish a new $26 million chairlift that will service thousands of skiers and boarders when they return in winter.

Workers construct the top station of the new Mount Perisher chairlift.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The past two snow seasons in NSW were among the worst on record but Perisher ski resort says its new Mount Perisher six-seater lift, which will ease queues and almost halve the travel time of the two lifts it is replacing, is a vote of confidence in the future of Australia’s snow industry.

There’s no plan to use the lift for mountain bikers in summer, as rival Thredbo does, even as state and federal governments push for the mountains to be more than a winter destination, opening a new $27 million bushwalk this month and drafting plans to turn Perisher village into a bustling alpine hub like Big Sky in Montana, which could accommodate visitors all year round.

The reimagined village, detailed in a draft development control plan released last year by the NSW Department of Planning, would feature plazas, public spaces and a seven-storey hotel built over Perisher’s main car park. The hotel and other infill development would increase the number of people allowed to sleep in Perisher each night by 1700.

Perisher resort general manager Nathan Butterworth says while owner Vail has no plans to invest in summer, extra beds in the village would reduce day-tripper numbers in winter and ease congestion that can fill Perisher’s car parks on peak days and close the road from Jindabyne.

Big Sky Resort in Montana accommodates visitors year-round.

“The available housing in the valley is far below what we would see in any of the other Australian ski resorts, and certainly far below what we would expect to see in any of our international comparative resorts,” Butterworth says.

“So allowing [more] people to travel up once, enjoy their time on the mountain, and then travel down just removes that significant friction and pain-point for the bulk of people.”

Tourism is worth $740 million to the Snowy Monaro region, according to the local council, and is its largest source of employment. But previous development proposals for Kosciuszko National Park, which hosts much of the tourism, have sparked controversy amid concern for the area’s unique and sensitive environment and the species that rely on it.

The Department of Planning says it is finalising the plan for the alpine regions, and a spokesperson said any framework would balance development potential with environmental stewardship, to allow “sustainable development in this ecologically sensitive area”.

The final section of the new Snowies Alpine bushwalk, from Perisher to Bullocks Flat.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Butterworth hopes Vail will sign a new lease soon with the National Parks and Wildlife Service that would cover Perisher village, not just the area used for snow operations, and allow Vail to pursue some of the development touted in the plan.

Perisher’s lease runs out in 2048 but Butterworth is confident “there’ll be skiing well beyond that”.

He says Vail’s decision to invest in the new chairlift was a “reasonable gamble” made after considering the reliability of snowfall and the effects of climate change. Vail has also spent about $1 million on snowmaking infrastructure at Perisher this year.

“It does reflect a commitment of our resorts to the Australian region and a belief in our ability to continue to deliver and use that snowmaking investment to combat any immediate [climate change] threats,” Butterworth says.

Perisher boss Nathan Butterworth at the new top station for the Mount Perisher chairlift.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Thirteen snow gums will be removed during construction. Perisher says it has mostly contained development to already-disturbed land and will rehabilitate vegetation. It says the design avoids sensitive bog in the valley and any rock excavated will be returned to provide habitat for the endangered Guthega skink.

The lift’s top station, at 2042 metres, will be the second-highest building in Australia, behind the Rawsons Pass toilet block near the Mount Kosciuszko summit, and will replace Thredbo’s Karels T-bar as Australia’s highest lifted point.

The lift could be retrofitted to carry bikes but Butterworth says there is little money to be made from summer in Australia, where the beach will always prove the most popular place to escape the heat.

The access road from the bottom station to the top station on Mount Perisher hits a 40-degree angle.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“Our focus in the short term is just to continue to build the resilience in our white season business,” he says.

Thredbo has been developing its summer offerings for decades to combat the climate change threat to its winter business, building mountain bike trails and a rollercoaster that opened this year, but it recorded a $2.5 million summer loss last financial year. In comparison, winter brought in a profit of more than $17 million.

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