Perisher Valley (NSW), Australia - Heading into the Queen's Birthday Weekend, the traditional opening of the Australian ski and snowboard season, slopes were brown and bare across the mountains of New South Wales and Victoria with temperatures too warm to make snow. As if on demand, however, snow began to fall on Saturday, accumulating modest totals that combined with last-minute snowmaking efforts in the colder air to allow early-season glisse at one Australian resort.


Twenty-one centimeters of snow fell in Perisher village overnight Sunday night, allowing the ski resort to offer top-to-bottom skiing on the Front Valley on Monday via the Village Eight Express chairlift after 95 snow guns fired up on Sunday night across Perisher Valley and Blue Cow. Perisher was the only Australian ski resort to have lifts in operation over the long holiday weekend.

"It has been a fantastic start to the season. Not only did we have a great selection of acts preform at the Snowy Mountains of Music festival but we've also had fresh snowfalls. Guests have flocked to the resort in the thousands and we've sold hundreds of lesson and lift packages," commented Nathan Butterworth, Perisher's Resort Services Manager.

Elsewhere around the country's ski regions, Falls Creek logged 10 to 15 centimeters of new snow, Mt. Buller officials report 10 centimeters, and Thredbo has tallied 15 centimeters, enough to give resort operators optimism that skiing and riding will be available before next weekend.

Temperatures remained below freezing across the Australian Alps on Monday. Even colder air to allow increased snowmaking efforts is expected to descend upon the region by Wednesday.