Apres skiing Back to school

South Eastern NSW, it includes the ski fields in the 4 districts of Perisher, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega. Covering 12.4 square kilometres, its vast expanse makes it the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest alpine resort.

The Perisher season lasts from the NSW June Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend to the NSW October Labour Day Long Weekend. With average minimum temperature during winter being -3.7°C degrees Celsius, there’s sure to be snow all season long, but in case there’s not enough snow the Perisher snow guns ensure adequate cover for snow sports. There are nearly 50 lifts in operation. The percentage of fine weather days during winter is 70%, which makes for excellent conditions on the mountain.

The varied terrain is suitable for all ages and ability levels – Mt. Blue Cow and Mt. Perisher are popular with beginners and intermediates, the other two with advanced skiers.

Perisher staff will happily tell you that the skiing is much better here than in New Zealand’s South Island, even though the mountains are not as beautiful - a major reason being that access to the ski fields is much simpler at Perisher.

Do you know how Perisher got its name?

It’s quite a literal interpretation, apparently. The Snowy Mountains region was used as grazing land for cattle in times gone by. The animals sometimes perished in the winter, and if it was going to be a particularly harsh season, the locals would lament, “This one’s going to be a perisher…”.

Similarly Mt Blue Cow is named after a particular breed of Scottish cattle whose thick black fur gave off a bluish hue in the distance. And Smiggin Holes gets its names from the mounds of salt that were thrown around for cattle to imbibe, which ended up making large holes in the ground.

On his third day out on the slopes, Ashim was swooshing down Mt Blue Cow’s Easy Rider green track, under John’s watchful eye.

“That was awesome,” he said as he finished, expertly clicking off his skis.

“I can’t wait to try snow-boarding next!”

We know what his family will be doing next winter holidays.

Abhilasha Sengupta