Perisher Ski Resort

Oh, my gosh, Ian, it's been definitely a bittersweet week in the Antipodes.

Today, Perisher Resort put the 2026 Aussie Ski Season to bed as the last resort standing, and definitely kudos to everyone involved in the season down under.

With such early closings for so many summers, you know, early as late August, it was challenging.

But there were, as always, definitely good times to be had, even with just a smidgen of snow.

Could the Australian ski season one day be a thing of the past? 2026 has delivered the hottest winter on record across much of the Australian Alps.

It's pretty chilly up here in Perisher, but unfortunately not cold enough to produce some natural snow.

Overnight, it only got down to around three degrees.

As you can see-

[upbeat music]Thanks, Tamsin.

While the Australian ski season has never been comparable with the likes of Canada or France, it's still been a staple for many Aussie families and snow bunnies.

Be it learning to pizza at Friday Flat in Thredbo, zigzagging across Blue Cow at Perisher, or cruising down Burke Street at Mount Buller, our ski resorts are much adored and whole local economies rely on them.

But Dr. Andrew Watkins, an adjunct professor in climate science at Monash University, and a Science Alliance member of Protect Our Winters, believes the days of Australian snow could be numbered.

And Harry was on a chairlift sharing Jesus with a young man.

So he's on the Village 8 in Perisher.

And he was saying, his little friend was saying to him in ski school, I go to the temple every day with my parents for hours and we, you know, worship Jesus.

a particular, in a particular non-Christian tradition.

Yes.

Or Thredbo, Perisher.

Perisher.

And tackling a race down there.

Yes, I've got the Ultratown Kosciuszko, the 50K, coming up in November.

They've lost all their toys and all their fun stuff.

So we went with, uh, a friend of ours and my niece down to Perisher.

Not much snow at the time, but, uh, we'd never seen snow before, so it was nice for us.

We built a few snowmen.

I think if you're a beginner, this is fine.

Reporting live from Perisher.

Grassy greens, fresh runs, crispy runs.

Drab.

But you know you're going to Jindabyne.

Once you know you're going to Jindabyne, how can you not finish this race? It's only a climb up to Perisher, isn't it really? A massive climb.

And those roads in there, they just go straight for hours, just so long.

Yeah, you look at the dots and particularly those at the back end, but I think you see people's demeanour change once they see that Kosciuszko National Park sign and the road, the line goes from white to yellow.

And the hardest thing is the bikes, the cyclists in the park.

If you're in there early in the morning running it, like last year it was a bit later in the day, but previously I'd been in a bit early.

And you get the cyclists that have ridden from Jindy up into Perisher and, you know, and then they're on the way back.

And they're coming down those hills and they're doing like 70 to 90 Ks.

Now, famously, I've already shared this on the podcast, but Tom, I, when we were in Japan on a big holiday trip, just private school stuff, we were in Niseko.

It's like Perisher Blue, but elsewhere.

You're coming

off great in this episode.