American reacts to Australia's Top 5 Ski Resorts 

Good boy !!!! - you finally did a video on Australia from an Australian in Australia, with the CORRECT facts and perspective and correct nameplace pronunciation. Yippee 🎉😂

Thredbo landslide in 97 still haunts me, R.I.P to the 18 lives lost

Australia has the oldest ski club in the world. The Kiandra Snow Shoe Club was founded in the gold-mining district of Kiandra, New South Wales (NSW), Australia by three Norwegians-as early as 1861 by some accounts- and reportedly became the "world's longest continuously running ski club" as it evolved into the present-day Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club in Perisher Valley.

We have heaps of world and Olympic champions in many snow events. Australia, as does a number of countries, has a free styling pool, in Brisbane, for skiers to practice in. Australia receives more snow than the Swiss Alps. A great Australian movie, for winter scenery is The Man From Snowy River, which was shot in the high country of the Victorian Alps. Wombats are "happy chunky tanks"

What a stunningly beautiful diverse country we are fortunate to live in. Oldest living Tropical Rainforest up in the north, hot dry burnt red deserts in the centre, and snow fields in the south......not to mention the most stunning coastline anywhere on the face of the planet. All of that in one package ...... if there is a more beautifully diverse country anywhere in the world, I would like to know where exactly lol Living here is like, just dial your paradise and away you go :)

When we lived in Canberra we would go down to Perisher every winter. I was not good at skiing but loved to go sledding with my kids and later, my grandchildren. It was always a great day out. Australia is very diverse and has every type of landscape imaginable. We have lots of mountains, valleys, rainforests, tablelands, deserts, coral reefs, and the best beaches in the world. Something for everyone, so come on down and see for yourself. You won’t be disappointed. 😊

In the Australian Army, we did "Adventure Training" that involved cross country skiing and building snow shelters for survival. I'm still not sure why the ADF did this in Australia, but it was one of the best things I ever did while being paid for being in the Army. My mate and myself even built a shoe storage area outside our snow cave for visitors and even did some simple landscaping to make it homely.

I'm a teacher and have a student in an athletes development program. Kid snowboards and spends the summer with us near the beach so he can surf but as soon as the weather starts to change he transfers to his winter school near the slopes so he can train. Hope to see them in the olympics one day.

Australia 🇦🇺 I’m proud to say is bigger than most people in the rest of the world realise, it is similar in size to the USA. We possibly have every climate in our country, just travel around it until you find the place that suits you best, and settle down there. We even have a mountain range affectionately called The Snowy’s, now that should tell you something? 😉👍😊

Finally an Australian produced video! Australia has great snow resorts - I’m so glad you’ve found this great video to share ❤

Geez I frickin love my country. We are really blessed to be Aussies.

It gets cold enough to snow in many places in Australia, and not just in the mountains. But the biggest problem is that the air is often just too dry. Getting big snowfalls, especially at low elevations relies on the combination of very cold but dry air coming up from Antarctica and a source of moist air streaming down from the subtropics. If one of these ingredients is missing, you won't get much snow, unless you are at higher elevations to benegit from orographic cooling of local moisture in the air. But when you have both, you can get a lot of snow, and I mean a lot. As a result, the Australian ski season can be very fickle; some seasons are average or below average while other years have bumper seasons. It all depends on which way the winds blow.

I used to ski Perisher Valley every year from very little snow to what they call a good season here at 1.5 or maybe 2 metres in a great season. I skied in Canada, and one of the resorts, Sunshine Village, kept apologising that there normal average of 9 metres of snow was only half that season, I kept telling to stop saying sorry, it was the most snow I had ever seen.

One aspect bearly mentioned is "Cross Country Skiing". Unlike many overseas resorts, because most Australian mountains are more rolling hills than steep rocky peaks, there is huge range of cross country snow hiking and cross country skiing. Where you may start at a major resort and spend a day to weeks travelling cross country, even finding mountain cabins as temporary overnight shelter, originally built to support mountain cattle men in off snow periods, soring to autumn periods while cattle were grazing high plains. That has now been largely banned due to eco damage by hoofed animals. Wild horses remain a major issue, and culling occurs, with both support and objection. Whether you just hike snow shoe, cross country ski, even dog sled, there is huge opportunity for non downhill snow sports. Travel from resort to resort across the mountains is quite feasible. Some even involving crossing valleys outside snow country to go snow to snow cover and resort to resort, even rest stopping in small country towns. One thing that is almost all places banned is SNOW MOBILES, even for residents in the snow resorts, though permitted for work function needs. There is no public "hooning" on motorised snow mobiles. Some major amount of area is closed in snow periods to ALL motor vehicles, though there remai places where 4WD in snow is possible, I have battled through 2m high, 6ft, snow, even almost being stuck and/or relying on winching. Some highways even criss the s ow country, for example across the Mt Hotham resort. Car traffic at most resorts MUST fit chains to access into snow areas. In other cases 4WD must have chains on hand, like the highway across Mt Hotham, which I have travelled several times both directions within a day on one occasion even caught by mid Snow Blizzard. Requiring regular stops to sweep snow away from windscreen, blocking wipers by deep accumaltion. Visibility very limited, quite dangerous driving that surprised the resort access controllers when I turned up. They had just closed all road access when I appeared out of driving strong wind, driven snow and clouds ( fog). Vehicles must pay access fees to resort areas, but criss country highway travel is free, but must not stop in the village without paying a fee. Cars often must park kilomters before resort village and pay for 4WD shuttle transport into the actual resort. Available parking is often limited in the resort area, much used by permanent staff. Seen uried in deep snow cars within village, being skied over by skiers, leaving roof and front rear surfaces scratched. The viewed video only showed limited number of major ski destinations. There are many more places for public snow access from simple day trip, no ski runs, to limited ski runs, one or two lifts, smaller village resources, or far smaller tha those shown. Some only hour or so from major cities, like Melbourne. Tasmania not shown at all in this video has own ski possibilities. Yes, anyone enjoying US, Europe or sny other Northern Hemisphere winter snow sports, has great possibility to continue into Australian winter snow possibilities. And we never get the extreme cold either. In our ski areas with few exceptions the temperatures generally remain above -10°C, 14F and from memory record cold in snowy mountains like Thredbo and Perisher resorts is only around -15°C, 5°F, typical.

I’m so relieved you’re reacting to this. It will aid greatly in my recovery from the triggering trauma of the last “snow” video you did 😂

Australia's ski resorts are amazing if you have deep pockets hehe

My best friend was a children’s ski instructor at Thredbo for years. Whatever job she got, she negotiated the time to do that ski job again every year until she moved overseas with her partner

One Hectare is 2.4 acres. Not 100 acres. I knew we had snow, I learned to ski at Perisher and my Dad built the last private ski lodge there. He had to take photos so he could put back every rock he moved to get in there. We got to stay because he built it and it was such fun skiing from where we were staying to the lifts. This is why we have so many gold medals in freestyle ski jumping, snow boarders in the half pipe and mostly outdoor events in the Olympics. We have lots of mountains and if I hadn’t learned at Perisher I would never have skied Red Mountain in Canada where my son lived. We went for 3 Christmases and stayed for up to 12 weeks each trip. About 4 days of each trip were not skiing. Sometimes you have an odd opinion of Australia and we do have it all.

Living north of Brisbane, my daughter, son-in-law, and their six boys find it cheaper to ski in South Island, New Zealand. Three of the boys and mum are black slope skiiers, and love off-piste and back country skiing too. Nothing in Oz equals the slopes of Black Magic and going on black slopes at Whakapapa. There's also heli-skiing just a few hours from Christchurch, something that doesn't exist in Australia.

We even have two small ski areas in Tasmania Ben Lomand (North) and Mt . Mawson ( South) A bit more basic but they have tows and lifts. The snow can be patchy at times but mid winter you can shred to your hearts content.

Skied Perisher two seasons, in my youth..like sixty years ago...loved it all......

Was wondering when 'Wasa' ('Happy Arvo' mate!) would discover our amazing Aussie snowfields. It was fun watching Ryan's stunned facial expressions; and thanks for reviewing a video about OZ produced by an Aussie. Cheers from Sydney.

Hey Ryan, many Aussie snow fans visit New Zealand during our off-season. Our Kiwi cousins have awesome skiing etc.

I have just come back from Thredbo having attended a blues music festival. It’s summer so there is no snow and the wildflowers are out. The downhill action is mountain biking and the track wind through trees. It’s so beautiful this time of year

Un-fun fact: Vail now owns 3 of the 5 resorts listed in that video (Perisher, Falls Creek and Hotham). So every year pass, accommodation and food prices just keep going up. Before the acquisition I remember day passes at Perisher being in the $110/day range, now they're around $280 a day

Yes Ryan, we are extremely versatile here in Australia....we have it all!!! Surf, sand, sea n SNOW 😉 Glad you are finding more out about our magnificent country!! 🇦🇺 🇦🇺

G'day Ryan. I grew up in Canberra, which is only about a 3 - 4 hour car trip to the Snowy Mountains in NSW. We would pack the car the night before, then wake up at about 2:30 - 3:00am. We would dress and get ready for the drive to Cooma and then have the biggest breakfast to give us enough energy to hit the slopes at either Thredbo, Perisher, Smiggins Hole or Blue Cow. Then, at about 3 - 4pm, have another big feed to crash (fall asleep - I was a kid) for the long trip home. ❤ Miss those days - I now live in far North. Queensland.

I've not yet been in snow. That's awesome, I didn't know these were that large. Closest I'm been to something like snow was chipping away on ice, defrosting a broken freezer. I was born in Western Australia, and lived on the East Coast for half my life, but would like to hike in snow some day.

So you actually did react to our ski resorts. I was saying on the last video you needed to do this. 😂

Many of Europes best instructors come to Australia for their Summer season and spend the Winter season in Australia. @We have snow across much more of Australia than people realise from the Southern Tableands to the South of Sydney when in a good season you can see the snow on the Illawarah escapment about 40 miles south of Sydney from the Ocean shoreline to as far north as Toowoomba in the hinterland of Queenslands Gold coast region about maybe 75 miles from Brisbane and many place in between in the Mountains and as well in South Australia and Tasmania where there are also Ski resorts etc and occasionally even some areas deep in the South of Western Australia see snow on occasion. So Australia is not actually lacking in now as probably many would think who ive in the Northern Hemisphere

Happy Arvo Ryan! 🤗👍 Skiing! 🥶 I did try it once though, Thredbo is just fine in summer and the food was great! 😃 Yes, we do have winter and summer Olympians, and compete in most events - even Luge, Ice Skating! 🙋

Search a map of Australian Ski resorts and you will see they are all in a tiny area of South-Eastern Australia in the Australian Alps. Winter sports people in Australia will quite often cross the "Ditch" to New Zealand in winter. If you didn't know, there is a Mtn range that runs 2200mi up the East Coast from Western Victoria to far North Queensland called, The Great Dividing Range, it is actually the 5th longest in the world but its highest peek is only 7310ft. Occasional snow is known to fall as far North as Stanthorpe in Qld. Ask the average overseas visitor how you could perish at Perisher, most would talk about Bushfires, heat stroke, crocodiles, snakes and spiders but not many would say freeze to death under a couple of feet of snow.

I was a Snow Groomer for 20yrs in Australia and North America. Not really the ultimate in skiing but we do have it.

We go cross country skiing quite a bit as we live only 1.5 hours from Lake Mountain, a cross country only resort. Once, my husband and son were half way through a trail when they got chased by an aggressive wombat 😂. It followed them down the trail quite a way making all sorts of noises. We assumed that perhaps it had a family nearby it was trying to protect.

I lived in Thredbo Valley NSW for 14 years. Loved it and miss it. lived through snow, extreme fires for a month and my home was under threat twice...Roads... coming around a blind bend with Brumbies standing in the middle of the road ...yikes and deer darting across the road/. Summer isn't humid and no where near as hot as other areas. The country is beautiful.

I know one American and have met a couple of others who would come to Australia for our ski season, which meant they were teaching pretty much all year around.

And no snakes in the snow

3:20... I always find it funny when a yank calls a bread roll or bun a sandwich. Our sandwiches only consist of flat slices of bread. 😁

It doesn’t snow in Melbourne in Winter, but the easy 3 hour drive to the highland snow fields is great. Even more weirdly, several times on our road trips from Melbourne to Queensland, after staying overnight in Armidale, a large town in the New England highlands of New South Wales, we drove over to Glen Innes via Guyra through falling snow and surrounded by snow fields, and an hour later on our way to Grafton, we were driving in a tropical rain forest and taking our Winter woolies off.

Fun fact: Australia Alps receive more snow than the whole Switzerland combined.

- well not the ultimate destination, the snow is either overly icy in the mornings or slushy after lunch (often the temps are above freezing all day long) , but at least there is snow + altitude giving some nice rides... (2054m isn't nothing - - (Mt Perisher, NB, Mt Kosciusko at 2228m is a fair slog XC from the Thredbo Top station (2037m elevation) . ) - but does pale besides the heights of Europe or the Rockies. When there, it is best to enjoy what we do have within a "few + hours drive" of, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney - cheers.

Near my home, beautiful in summer with wild flowers. The air is fresh and the stars are amazing! Come and stay, there is so much more.

Yup this is why Pauline Hanson hates the snow cause of the slopes.

I've been skiing ⛷️ a total of 10 days in my entire life. I went to Thredbo in 2000 and 2001 I had a 5 day lift and lesson pass both years. loved it ❤ yes it's expensive. At that time I was living with a family member so rent was not much. So I could afford it, these days I'd have to save for a bit. ❤❤ hi from the land down under. 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺

Across the mountainous tops of the Great Dividing Range, winter brings heavy snowfalls. This snowfall is so heavy that Australian Alps, located near the capital city of Canberra, receives more snow than the Swiss Alps in the winter months!

I have skied the Australian resorts for a long time; more regularly between 1990 and 2015. While resorts are typically open between mid June and the start of October, the problem is the highly variable snow-pack. I have experienced snow depths on trips as little as 50 cm. However one year in the early 90s at Mt Hotham a mate & I struck it lucky, arriving to a depth of 321 cm. Snow-making is vital to Australian resorts (especially with global warming), but bear in mind this is reserved almost exclusively to beginner, intermediate, access runs, and snow-pipe areas. So advanced riders may struggle to find worthwhile runs at times. Unless you are prepared to drop everything and go up there when a 'dump' happens, you can generally only expect reasonable snow between late July and mid-September. This doesn't matter so much for beginner and intermediate skiers/ boarders, but it sure makes a difference to the advanced skier. Often lifts don't open until the general depth is 1 meter, and will close once the runs lose cover. For example the triple at Hotham is lucky to be open 1 month a year. If some lifts aren't open you can't hoof it out just a little bit to get at fresh snow outside resort boundaries. Quality of snow is highly variable as well. We don't get the 'blue ice' conditions sometimes found in eastern US resorts, but it is not uncommon to get rutted icy, smooth icy, sticky, slushy, and let's face it patchy. Yes it can snow powder in Australia, I have seen it maybe 3 times. One of those times came with a gale that forced all lifts shut within 40 minutes. Fun, but a bit crazy. Weather over a week can be very foggy (at least the snow won't deteriorate much), or sunny (with a melt/freeze cycle). With luck you will get a mid-week storm to make it all worthwhile. Mogul runs exist, but are generally shorter than 200 meters long. There are still lots of 'old' surface lifts in Australia. T-Bars, J-Bars, pomas, even rope tows at minor resorts. They tend to be shortish, but can be quite long, such as the International Poma at Falls Creek (over 1200 meters and more than 50 years old). Don't knock them too much, they are good in high wind areas where a chairlift may be closed more than you would like.

1 hectare = about 2.5 acres.

"Perisher! That's what I would do there........perish." 😂😂😂 you're a crack up. This made me laugh way too hard. 😂 another great video mate, loved it. Sending love from the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.

In Australia you can ski the slopes in the Snowy Mountains, or lay on the beach in Cairns on a balmy 28 degrees C day.

Hi Ryan, 28 years ago was my last trip from Brisbane (where I live) to Melbourne as a kid with my parents. We did a lot of touring and sightseeing in Victoria. And on Boxing Day (the day after Xmas and keep in mind its our Summer not Winter) we drove to Mt Hotham on our way elsewhere and dad and I had never seen snow before and he saw snow on the mountain so he pulled over. We got to play in the snow in thr middle of Summer. It was freaking awesome 😁😁

I grew up in Adelaide, and in Years 11 and 12, there was an optional trip during the August School holidays to go skiing for a week in the Victoria snow fields 12:15 . I couldn’t in year 11 and year 12 as I was asked to go on the first Symphonic Orchestra interstate tour (this time not as a performer), which was just before the August school holidays. I would have been back in time for the Ski Trip. Unfortunately my parents could only afford one, so I couldn’t go. Unfortunately, on that ski trip, the coach had a mechanical issue and almost rolled backwards to a major fall off the road. The back of the bus did go over the edge, but the driver was able to stop before it went down, which would have probably meant the death of many of my classmates.

Finally an Australian video. Yes Australia has more skiable snow than Switzerland. There are snow fields in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania , and yes in one place in Western Australia. In fact it snows in winter over large portions of eastern Australia. The Great Dividing Range runs from the tip Of Queensland all the way to the bottom of Victoria and those mountains and the vast elevated tablelands to the west of them get regular snow. Not so much in Queensland. In fact I live in a water front house on the ocean and some winters I can walk up my hill and see snow on mount Nerrigundah which in a direct line would be about 10km from the ocean, I don't think any other place has snow this close to the coast

My brother was first 'legal' snowboarder on Hotham 1985. (I was Baw Baw same)

Ive managed to ski my local Falls Creek Ski Resort every year for the last 40 years from June to October. But it's only a warmup for the serious skiing in the Dolomites, Italy in February.

As an Aussie that has skied most Australian resorts and the South Island of New Zealand I can assure you none compare to Whistler/Blackcomb in Canada. Our resorts are tiny in comparison but so lucky we actually have them.

I believe there is a Public (government) sports high school somewhere near one of the ski fields. Sports schools are selective entry based on the sports they have available to develop the kids. There are a couple of Private Schools that have specialist facilities at some of the snow fields, and in winter, their elite skiers do their winter schooling there, making daily training easier.

Have been to the snow a few times & attempted to ski. Spent most of the time upright so I guess that's a plus. Everything there is very expensive proably because of the limited number of resorts & limited time the season lasts.

Spent a lot of my youth at Thredbo, Perisher & Smiggins Hole in the 70’s. My first job was as a host on coach (bus) trips. It didn’t pay much, but included accommodation, some meals, ski hire and unlimited lift passes. Once got lost during a whiteout at the very top of the double chair (as a solo) on Perisher - not being able to see anything, I ski’d off the wrong side from the top - by the time I realised I’d descended quite a way - the hike back to the top wasn’t too bad, but by the time I tried to ski off the right side, the wind was howling and the powder had blown off, it was a pure ice surface with almost zero visibility. Suffice it to say, the trip down the mountain was somewhat memorable.

And from October thru to April when there is no snow, all 5 places are amazing for hiking, orienteering, horseback riding. They are spectacular to visit anytime of the year. Blessed are we, the Australians.

I love Thredbo. Winter it is gorgeous with the snow. And in the summer it is extraordinarily beautiful with alpine meadows and wild flowers to appreciate.

Apparently we get more snow per annum than Sweden. also, not uncommon to ride or ski in T shirts towards the end of the season can get warm days like 10 Deg C, and sunny, so just more comfortable to ski in t shirts. My home resort is Perisher

Hot countries are always are surprise. I was also shocked when i travelled to the middle east and discovered ski resorts in Lebanon that were 30min drive from the beach.

Perisher and Thredbo are my favourites. Not a big skier so those two suit my level well.

The high school that I went to has an annual ski trip for the year 12s. In my case we went to Perisher. It was a 20hr trip by chartered coach each way. I'd never seen snow before that trip, haven't seen it since.

these resorts are also used in the off season for bush walking.

I was just searching for this yesterday. So glad, currently in Japan for the season

I’m driving up to Hotham today. It’s beautiful in summer too.

And in our summer, lots of Aussies ski in Japan. Look that one up!

Sooo sooo glad you’ve got to see some of our ski/boarding resorts.

G'day mate great video!!

Australia has it all mate... come on down!

I love the videos you do on Australia being an Aussie😂😂

I have been to the snow a couple of times in NSW, 2 times it was awesome, 1 time was kind of meh. If I had to do it again I would go overseas to NZ or Japan. Cheaper in the long run and the powder is nicer.

1 hectare = 2.47105 acres

Australia has the third longest mountain range and Melbourne is only 2000 miles from antarctica that is why we get below freezing in over half of Australia during winter months and some times in summer as well We have had snow as far north even up in Queensland

Growing up in the 80's every winter holidays my family went to Thredbo and Perisher. Not to mention the 6th grade right of passage school snow excursion there too. Haven't been back as an adult. Maybe one day

Love Falls. Lived there for a season and. Improved my skiiing no end . Miss it . Love Perisher Blue as well : took the kiddies there on the opening day of the 2000 Olympics. Snow was starting to melt 😅

My family used to go to Perisher for ski holidays, back when I was in high school.

I'm just over an hour away from Mount Buller. Right next to Mount Buller is Mount Sterling but that's more for snow trails and doesn't have as much as Mount Buller has to offer.

Mount Baw Baw is THE BEST!!!…A smaller resort but you get to know everyone and it’s not as stuck up as Buller, etc.

No bears on our ski slopes either!

theres a range of mountains from the bottom of qld all the way down to the top of vic called the great dividing range and in winter it can snow anywhere along there.

We got it all, baby!! I must admit, tho, I havent been to the snow in more than 55 years! And, I was too much of a woos to actually ski! Just walking around was enough for me back then! We truly are blessed in this country, we really do have it all!

I went on skiing holidays a couple of times at Perisher and Thredbo. Then I went skiing in New Zealand. First thing I noticed when I was at the NZ ski field was the complete lack of trees. The NZ ski fields just seemed so boring compared to the Aussie ski fields that just seemed more interesting and comforting with all the trees on the side of most runs or even in the runs in some of the easier and lower runs.

Perisher IS the best! I've skied Buller and visited Hotham but I LOVED skiing at Perisher.

There are roughly 2.5 acres in a hectare. A hectare is 100 metres by 100 metres square. The Australian Alps are really good for cross-country ski-ing, but it's mainly done by people like experienced bushwalkers, with the appropriate gear, camping in historic huts and in the snow. Not as Gucci as downhill ski-ing, but a better and cheaper experience IMHO. Need to be fit and know how to navigate. Weather can go from beautiful blue sky to full white-out in minutes.

We have great skiing here and quite a few World and Olympic Champions so you can see we have a big sporting culture here in Australia summer or winter you can find something to do so why don't you come on down and have some fun and you might even see something you're never seen before cheers

Melbourne feller here. Got married in Vancouver 1999. Early June we got taken to the low hills around the city. Snow EVERYWHERE. No one is skiing I said. My Best Man says "Why would they, it's SUMMER like I'm an idiot. Best Man is a native of Ontario, grew up in San Diego. I countered with "In Victoria Australia, where you lived the last three years this unskiable snow would be considered a GOOD SEASON !!" He wore it like a champion.

You should check out the 1997 Thredbo landslide. Sadly 18 people perished with one survivor surviving 3 days trapped under the landslide (Stuart Diver)

Dude when it comes.tk.mountains in Australia, we have the longest mountain range in the world

Hectare = 10,000 square metres. A square 100*100 metres has an area of one hectare. It's 1% of a square kilometre. The name comes from an obsolete metric unit called the "are" (pronounced "air") which was 10*10m, and a hectare was 100 ares, coming via the rarely-used "hecto-" prefix.

😂 Thredbo and Perisher is awesome and that blew your mind eh Ryan? 😂

Not in Australia but there are some ski resorts where you do it in swimwear because it's hot outside the shade.

Ahh Perish the thought , some years ago in September it was snowing at Perisher yet 6 and a half hours drive north in Sydney it was 93 f go figure .

We got it all down here, something for everybody.

Just like a USA citizen from Florida, this Aussie from Qld didn’t see snow until I travelled to Thredbo in my forties.

It’s so funny watching this as an Aussie, having skied in the US, Canada, NZ and Japan skiing in Australia is a joke. The snow is crap, the resorts overcrowded and it’s ridiculously expensive. I love living in Aus but don’t come for the snow skiing 😂

Yep the best time to go to the middle of August September if there’s any snow that’s half decent there’s a bit of a time that will be generally speaking

Your education it coming along nicely

You can also get really great flight, ski, accommodation deals to ski in New Zealand from Australia. Ha, some o include helicopter ride to top you at the top.