Mount Hotham, Falls Creek closed to skiers as Mt Buller undertakes review

Two major Victorian ski resorts will be shut until mid-August while a third is reviewing its options as Melbourne enters its winter lockdown.

Victoria’s Mt Hotham resort is set to be closed to skiers until at least mid-August. Picture: Chris Hocking

The world’s largest ski operator Vail Resorts will close two of its three Australian ski operations due to the new Victorian restrictions caused by recent COVID-19 outbreaks.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed ski company late on Thursday advised it would suspend its ski lifting operations at the Victorian resorts of Falls Creek and Mount Hotham until at least August 19, consistent with the Victorian government’s stay-at-home directions.

Vail’s third Australian resort, NSW’s Perisher, was unaffected and would remain open, the company said.

Vail Resorts chief operating officer Pete Brulisauer said he had not made the decision lightly as Vail’s employees, guests and the communities where it operated had already endured hardship this year.

All reservations made for lift tickets, ski and ride lessons and rental bookings at Falls Creek and Mt Hotham would be cancelled and fully refunded, he said.

At the nearby Victorian resort of Mt Buller, which is controlled by Melbourne’s Grollo construction family, the lifts, ski and snowboard school will operate until at least July 12. According to its website Mt Buller is reviewing Victoria’s stage three restrictions and will advise on Friday the results of its review. “Visits are not permitted by residents of Melbourne or Mitchell Shire at this time,” Mt Buller said.

Earlier this week chalet owners at Falls Creek told The Australian they had been hit by unprecedented booking cancel­lations from Sydneysiders and Melburnians following the decision to temporarily close the Victorian-NSW border.

“Everybody is pulling out,” said one owner of a major apartment block offering ski-in and ski-out accommodation in Victoria’s prime Falls Creek Village Bowl. “No one wants to go through quarantine,” the owner said.

Vesna Sugden said Falls Creek’s privately owned Koki Alpine Resort, which accommodates 86 skiers, would be closed for the entire season for the first time in its long history.

But in NSW the situation is far different.

“Thredbo Resort does not expect a significant impact on our seasonal winter trade following the government announcing the closure of NSW-Victorian borders,” Thredbo Resort general manager Stuart Diver said. “The overwhelming majority of our guests come from NSW.”