SAM Magazine—Perisher, Australia, May 27, 2016—With the start of Australia's ski season a fortnight away, there's been consistent snow across the country's main ski areas, which forecasters say should continue for most of the coming week.

Mt. Buller and Perisher were among several Aussie resorts that took advantage of the cold temperatures to fire up the snowguns for the first time. Snowmaking supplemented the flakes falling from the sky, with Perisher reporting 5 cm of natural snowfall.

“We've put in more snowguns over on Shakey Knees, Wombat, and also Family Run this year, so it's wonderful to see them already on the job today,” said Laurie Blampied, GM of Buller Ski Lifts.

Blampied added, “I like the look of the forecast and am not ruling out the possibility of welcoming guests up here before the official start of the season on the long weekend if this continues.”

The long weekend in question is the Queen's Birthday weekend commencing Saturday, June 11. This is traditionally the starting weekend of the Australian ski season, whether or not there's any snow cover.

The fresh snow is a welcome contrast to weather forecasters' expectations for a milder and wetter winter than usual due to a recent switch from El Nino to La Nina in the Pacific.

This story is from Snow Hunter's World Weekly Snow News

• Previous
  Colorado Supreme Court Rules Avalanches an Inherent Risk of Skiing
• Next
  More International Expansion Possible for Vail Resorts