Perisher Blue, New South Wales

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Perisher Blue
Perisher Front Valley
Location:	Perisher Valley
Nearest city:	Canberra
Top elevation:	2054 m
Base elevation:	1640 m
Skiable area:	3,076 acres (12.45 km²)
Lift system:	50 lifts
Snowfall:	1.9m (median)[1]
Web site:	Perisher Blue

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Perisher Blue is Australia's largest skiing resort. It is located in the Australian Snowy Mountains in the southeastern corner of New South Wales, in the Snowy River Shire, about 600 kilometres southwest of Sydney.

The resort is an amalgamation of the Perisher, Smiggins Holes, Blue Cow and Guthega skifields and many lifts. The base elevation is about 1,640 metres AHD and the summit elevation at the top of Mount Perisher is 2,054 metres. The resort is accessible by road and by the Skitube, Australia's only underground rack-railway. The main skiing period is in July and August, with the official season running from the second weekend in June to the first weekend of October.

Perisher Blue consists of 49 lifts. One eight seater (built in 2003), two high-speed Quad detachable chairlifts, four fixed-grip Quad chairlifts, two Triple chairlifts, four Double chairlifts, 21 T-Bars, four J-bars, four ski carpets, and eight other types of skier and boarder moving devices.

There are four villages that comprise the Perisher Blue resort:

Perisher Valley, Elevation 1,720 m
Smiggin Holes, Elevation 1,680 m
Guthega, Elevation 1,640 m
Blue Cow, Elevation 1,890 m

The run difficulties are graded, 22% beginner, 60% intermediate and 18% advanced.

The resort covers 12 km² and has 148 snow guns covering 4.4 km². Snow making usually commences in the last week of May. Snow making became increasingly important in the early 2000s as prolonged drought has led to less natural snow^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] History

Perisher Valley has its roots in the early pioneer days, when graziers used the surrounding valleys for summer pasture. The name Perisher is steeped in mystery, the myths surrounding its origin stem from the graziers attempting to rescue livestock trapped in the high country. Braving the full force of the blizzard as they crested The Gap, the feeling among the graziers were - "This is truly a perisher!"

Smiggin Holes is of Scottish origin. The trampling of hundreds of cattle consuming rock salt that graziers had placed there, caused depressions that filled with water. These depressions were called "the smiggin holes". 1939 signified the start of Smiggin Holes as a destination for skiers. A cafe was established to service skiers en route to Charlotte Pass and Mt Kosciuszko.

The method of travel in those days consisted of horse drawn sleighs to Smiggin Holes, then arduous journeys oversnow on skis to Mt Kosciuszko. As the number of skiers increased, services, facilities and means of access were improved, and Perisher's first lodges were constructed. Telemark and the Snow Revellers Club being completed in 1952. In the winter of 1953 the first oversnow transport operated to Perisher Valley. It was greeted by the inhabitants with cheers and celebrations.

In 1958 Svere Kaaten, another pioneer of the mountains, built a sophisticated rope tow at North Perisher. Ken Murray, an old friend of Svere's built another rope tow and Perisher's first T-bar. Development continued and Mt Perisher Double Chair was opened in 1962. After the opening of the first chairlift, T-bar expansion and rope tows, the Perisher area thrived. Murray Publishers Pty Limited was taken over by Australian Consolidated Press in 1972 and Kosciuszko Alpine Resorts was formed.

Murray Publishers then traded under the name of Perisher Ski Resort which incorporated the resorts of Perisher and Smiggins. In 1995, Murray Publishers Pty Limited and the Alpine Australia Group Pty Limited merged to form Perisher Blue Pty Limited.

[edit] Weather

Temperature

Taken at Perisher Valley, New South Wales, 36.40°S 148.41°E.

Average minimum
    Jan   Feb   Mar   Apr  May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sep   Oct  Nov  Dec    Year 
°C  5.6   5.4   3.9   1.0  -1.0  -3.6  -5.2  -4.2  -2.3  0.4  2.3  4.1    0.3

Average maximum
    Jan   Feb   Mar   Apr  May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sep   Oct  Nov   Dec   Year 
°C  18.1  18.0  15.3  11.0  7.4  3.5   2.1   2.8   5.2   9.4  13.2  15.1  9.7

Mean depth curve

Snow

Snow depth measurements are taken by Snowy Hydro Limited at Spencer's Creek, approximately 2 km west of Perisher Valley.

Snow depths in cm      Jun      Jul      Aug      Sep      Oct     Season 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mean                   45.3    107.3    164.3    178.0    108.3     120.6 
Standard deviation     42.3     60.0     64.1     68.6     72.2      54.3 
Median                 35.9    100.2    153.4    171.0     85.4     110.6 
Maximum               188.0    212.6    281.7    252.7    260.9     202.8