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Planning your Trip

Q. Where can I go skiing and snowboarding in Australia?

There are five major ski-resorts in Australia – Perisher Blue and Thredbo in NSW (about 3 hours drive south of Canberra), and Mount Buller, Hotham and Falls Creek in Victoria (3 – 10 hours drive from Melbourne). All have their unique attractions – Perisher is the biggest ski area in Australia/New Zealand with 50 lifts, Thredbo has some great long runs, great tree-skiing and is the most up-market local resort, Hotham has the best steep runs and often gets great powder, and Falls Creek and Mt. Buller are ideal for beginners and intermediate skiers/boarders. All offer a mixture of on and off-snow accommodation, varying from the very expensive to very cheap back-packer style hostels.
Further information on these can be found at:

There are a few much smaller resorts, such as Mt. Baw Baw and Selwyn Snowfields, and while these are very suitable for complete beginners, their low altitude means that the snow cover at these can be unreliable:

Q. Where can I ski and snowboard overseas?

You can ski in every country in the world that has mountains where it snows regularly – which includes some fairly exotic places such as Morocco and Nepal, and even countries like Greece, Syria and Turkey have some fairly extensive ski-areas. Right now, billions are being invested in developing ski areas in the south-west region of China, and many Aussies and Kiwis have discovered the amazing powder snow of Japan’s north island (Hokkaido) during the last few years.

There are, quite literally, thousands of ski areas on every continent – varying in size from the small club resorts in New Zealand with just a couple of drag lifts up to the mega-resorts of Europe. For example, the Three Valleys area in France has 650 kms of groomed runs, with thousands of acres of skiing and boarding available off-piste. Even the locals haven’t skied everything in this monster resort!

There are now hundreds of websites on ski-resorts around the world, and a useful starting point for further information on these is: www.goski.com

Q. Should I try skiing or snowboarding?

It really doesn’t matter - they are both a blast and a huge amount of fun! Most people have a natural affinity for one, but a few are very adept at both.

Typically people from surfing and skateboarding backgrounds make a pretty quick transition to snowboarding, which shares the same basic stance and some of the same techniques. Anyone who can roller-blade or ice-skate will have a more natural affinity with skiing – there are many similarities between blading and the two-legged skills required for skiing.
Having said this, many surfers have become great skiers, long-term snowboarders have got into ‘new-wave’ skiing (particularly in terrain-parks), and some life-long skiers have discovered snowboarding and never gone back to skiing. So, if you’re going for more than a week it’s worth trying both to see which one is best for you.
Down the track, it’s also possible to specialise in both disciplines. Skiing offers all-mountain, racing and slalom, border-cross, terrain park, freestyle (moguls and jumps), free-riding/all-mountain, Nordic and cross-country options. In snowboarding you can choose from half-pipe, freestyle, free-riding/all-mountain, border-cross and racing/slalom.

Q. How long does it take to get to Australian ski-resorts?

If you organize your flight/transport to the resorts right, you can travel door-to-door in less than 12 hours from Perth to the ski-fields of NSW and Victoria. Some people, especially those with young families, will spread this over 24 hours, with perhaps a rest stop or overnight stay in Sydney or Melbourne.

Q. How much does it cost to go skiing and snowboarding?

The short answer is ‘it depends’. The cost is influenced by where you’re skiing, the size of the resort, how ‘up-market’ it is, your choice of accommodation/meal options, if you need to hire equipment and clothing, and the time of the season. Generally, on-snow accommodation in or close to the ski-areas is more expensive than off-snow/self-catering options away from ski areas, which can be very cost-effective. Peak season (July-August) is always more expensive than the start and end of the season (but you are usually assured of good snow during peak time).

If you’re going for the first time, it’s worth spending a bit of time working out the full cost.  Some of the items you’ll need to consider are:

*There’s also the option of flying to Cooma, about one hour from Jindabyne, and Hotham

For example, in Thredbo you can pay well over $3000 per person for five days’ half-board in an up-market hotel during peak season, down to about $1200-1300 per person for an off-snow self-catering package during the beginning and end of the ski-season (the ski season is typically divided into ‘low’, ‘shoulder’, ‘school holiday’ and ‘peak’ periods).

In the 2006 Perisher Blue brochure the on-snow/up-market Perisher Valley Hotel offers half board, twin-share accommodation with mountain views, for five nights in peak season for $2485. The Man from Snowy River nearby offers the same accommodation package and a five-day lift pass for $2570 (a five day lift pass costs $393 in 2006). At some resorts, like Falls Creak and Hotham, most of the accommodation is on-snow and many of these also offer inclusive packages.

At the other end of the scale, there are cheaper options in Jindabyne, about 45 minutes travel by car or ski-tube from the Perisher ski area and 30 minutes from Thredbo. For example  The Station Resort offers five nights multi-share accommodation, five breakfasts, three bistro dinners and a five-day ‘first-timer’ lift pass in peak season for $850, but there is the daily 45/30 minute trip to and from the local ski-areas to consider. Not all accommodation packages include lift passes, and the cost of a five-day ski-tube/mountain pass for Perisher Blue in 2006 is $479.

Tip: if you’re skiing or boarding for more than 12 days it may be worth buying a season pass  - for PB this is $1066 for the 2006 season.

All ski resorts have details about these packages on their Web sites (see above), and many hotels and lodges offer inclusive accommodation, meals and life-ticket packages. For beginners, it is generally more cost effective to go for the all-inclusive packages on offer, which can all be arranged through travel agents in Perth/WA or directly with the resorts’ booking departments.

Q. Do I have to be fit to ski or snowboard?

At the professional level, skiing and snow boarding are physically demanding sports like any other. Even recreational snowsports can be very energetic activities, so while you don’t need to be super-athletic, the fitter and more flexible you are the more enjoyment you’ll get out of these.

Skiing and snowboarding require a combination of strength, endurance, flexibility and agility. So, if you run, roller-blade, skateboard, ice-skate, ride a bike, play squash or tennis, do aerobics etc you’ll already have a good level of basic fitness. Of these, roller-blading and ice-skating most closely imitate movements in skiing, and skate-boarding moves naturally mimic many of those found in snowboarding.

There are specific exercises that you can do for skiing and boarding, particularly for the quads/legs, abs and lower back which take most of the strain. These include:

Try to fit some of these into your exercise routine, and if you decide to go for a full ski/snowboard fitness program start this at least eight weeks before you go.

A useful source of additional information on skiing-fitness is: Warren Witherell and David Evrard’s The Athletic Skier (published by the Athletic Skier, Utah - available on Amazon). This is an old book, but still regarded as a bible of ski-fitness by many ski-coaches.

When skiing/boarding it also helps if you can spend 10-15 minutes warming up and stretching before getting out on the slopes, particularly the hammies, quads and lower back area, and trying to do the same when you’ve finished for the day. This can take some effort, but particularly for older skiers/boarders, it really does help to prevent wear, tear and fatigue over the course of a 1-2 week holiday!

Q. Should I take lessons?

Do one-legged ducks swim in circles? It can be very tempting to get out on the hill on the first day and try it out or, even worse, let your mates convince you that they can “show you how it’s done”. This is potentially very dangerous – point a set of skis straight down a steep hill and you’ll accelerate faster than a Porsche, unless you know how to turn and stop safely. Skiing and boarding are sports, and like any other sport require the mastery of basic techniques; and technique, as any sports coach will tell you, is the route to pleasure!

Like golf, tennis, cricket, rugby, AFL, Thai boxing and so on, there’s no substitute for good coaching to help with developing the right skills, and these will help you get enjoyment and pleasure much more quickly than if you try to learn these on your own. So, our advice is always enroll in skiing or snowboarding lessons. And, no matter how good you get keep going back for some coaching – it’s the only way to really improve, particularly if you can only ski/board for 1-2 weeks a year.

When you’ve been a few times and want to move to the next level, most ski-schools now offer specialist week-long race camps and intensive all-mountain programs, like the SLAP program in Thredbo, for upper-intermediates and above. Check their websites for information on these.

Q. What is ‘apres-ski’ and do I have to get dressed-up for this?

‘Apres-ski’ refers to all the stuff you can do after you get off the slopes, and particularly in Europe there are many other activities for non-skiers – such as sledding, horse-drawn tours, curling, ice-skating, nightclubs etc etc. While there is the occasional requirement for smart wear for dinner in a few of the more expensive hotels in ski-resorts, apres-ski in Australia is generally very relaxed, with no sign of the poodles in fur jackets you’ll find in the more up market French and US resorts.

So, for most places don’t bother packing a large wardrobe of chic evening-wear, but taking one smart outfit won’t hurt. The rest of the time, some good quality winter boots, jeans/ track-suit pants, Ts and sweatshirts and a warm jacket other than your ski-jacket will do nicely.

Q. Will the altitude be a problem?

It depends on how much you drink. Only kidding - for anyone of average health and fitness the effects of altitude in Australia are minor. All our ski resorts are below 2000 metres, and it’s really only above this height that altitude can become a problem. In the USA for example, many resorts are well above 2000 metres, with the highest skiing points rising to 3500 metres in some places, and this will take a few days to get used to.

Q. How can I become a ski or snowboard instructor?

All snowsports’ instruction in Australia comes under the umbrella of Australian Professional Snowsport Instructors (APSI). More information about the minimum standard required for becoming a trainee-instructor, and how to enroll in ski-resort hiring clinics in early June each year can be found at www.apsi.net.au.

If you have any other questions about alpine snowsports, or ski/snowboard holidays, please contact us.