So your ex was a skier and then stopped skiing? Peculiar. I can see how that might have caused difficulties.
Oz/NZ 2025
- Thread starter Sbooker
- Start date
I’ll heartily second this but I will note the southern end of the Goldie (down Coolangatta way) is by far more beautiful than the skyscraper scene of Surfers Paradise/Broadbeach.
I still don't understand why you refuse to fly or ski to Tahoe, BC, etc., yet do redeyes to Europe?
From the emojis, I'm reasonably sure that ChrisC was joking because we've covered why I prioritize the Alps over many ski destinations out west so many times.
Mount Maroon today.
^^ Wildflowers despite mid winter.
^^ Lots of scrambling.
^^
360 degree views from the top. Nice despite the haze. The mountain to the right background in the above pic is Mt Barney which we’ll do in a few weeks. 1200 metres of elevation. A big day hike.
^^ Wildflowers despite mid winter.
^^ Lots of scrambling.
^^
360 degree views from the top. Nice despite the haze. The mountain to the right background in the above pic is Mt Barney which we’ll do in a few weeks. 1200 metres of elevation. A big day hike.
Patrick
Well-known member
Aren’t Hotham (favorite OZ area), Falls Creek and Perisher on Epic or is it just limited to a few Epic passes?
Melbourne and Canberra are definitely shorter drives as all of Oz (with the exception of Tasmania) all within both cities.
I know I’m nuts, arrived Sep 19 after getting off and barely sleeping on my YOW-YVC-SYD 24hr trip, dealing with Qantas for a destroyed ski bag, I rented a car and drove 700km towards Hotham
Sep 20 : Hotham
Sep 21-22 : Buller (ikon)
Sep 23: drive to Jindabyne
Sep 24-26 : Thredbo (Ikon)
Sep 27 : 480km to Sydney
Sep 28 : Midnight Oil show
Sep 29 : drive back to Jindabyne
Sep 30-Oct 1 : Perisher-Thredbo
Oct 2 : drive back to Sydney
Oct 3 : last Oil show.
Oct 4-7 : Sydney, beaches, Blue Mountains
Oct 8 : flight back to Canada
I’ve had 2 great trips to Australia (2018, 2022) versus once in NZ (2016), of course it wasn’t uniquely skiing. I was hoping to return to NZ in 2023, but skiing injury in late May at Mammoth totally messed up those plans. Maybe this summer?
As I said before, when the skiing is prime in Australia, the difference in skiing experience are minimal.
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As noted before, Patrick hit good seasons in Oz and an exceptionally bad one in NZ. Australia ~ SoCal in terms of vertical, terrain quality and probably snow surfaces. NZ ~ southern Vermont for vertical and snow reliability though topography is completely different (NZ better by my preferences). Then there is the issue that Oz skiing is more expensive and more crowded than South Island NZ.
Patrick
Well-known member
Yes, but I got 6 days with the Ikon in Australia (maximum would be 10 vs 5 in NZ).
I scored two 50% discount Epic tickets for Hotham and Perisher. If I return to NZ, probably be uniquely on the South Island. I want to return to Cardrona (expanded since last trip + didn't see anything skiing in a Whiteout), Treble Cone (best area I've skied in NZ) and try to get to the clubfields.
On each of the 3 trips, I skied 7-8 days.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Those are some significant distances/drives from Sydney to the ski mountains (5-8 hours?). Even the distances between ski areas are substantial (3-5 hrs?). I think Perisher-Thredbo are closer together.
I am not sure I would sign up for that. This year, I found that trying to get from Central Switzerland to SW Switzerland is long due to the impressive mountains and the requirements for car-trains (3+ hours). Even relocating from Serre Chevalier to the Aosta Valley seemed like a slog.
New Zealand: I would likely cheat and fly to Queenstown, NZ.
The Northwest road trip seems ok because you are basically on Interstates - easy. Just a few are far from one another.
In short, skiing one day and moving the next is mentally/physically taxing.
Day trips from one location are easier.
Patrick
Well-known member
You are correct regarding the distances. The only important within a day trip distance are Melbourne for the closer Victoria areas (Baw Baw and Buller. Hotham and Falls Creek are a bit more of a stretch. Thredbo, Perisher and Charlotte Pass are relatively close to each other. There is a huge distance between the Victoria and New South Wales areas. Although fairly close by air, all the Victoria are require a drive down to the valley and use of a different mountain to access the other. Note: driving up to the Victoria areas isn't free and requires chains (mandatory) even when it's totally dry pavement. There is also shuttles (30-45min) in the main towns at the bottom of the valley. Cost is roughly the same the toll.
New South Wales areas, base of Thredbo and Perisher are within the National Park which requires a daily fee (it was $28 AUD in 2022), chains also mandatory. You can avoid the park fees and chains requirement by accessing Perisher via the Funicular which is outside the park limits, but I can't remember what the cost is? I only used it twice in 2018, one to ski Perisher and the other for Charlotte Pass. Charlotte Pass is only accessed via snowcat as the road isn't plowed in Winter. Jindabyne is the ski town, ideal base for access.
Queenstown is definitely the ideal base to fly in. You can easily access Remarks, Coronet from Queenstown. Not far north, Wanaka is less touristy to still a ski town, ideal to reach Treble Cone and Cardrona. If I go, I would be looking into landing in Christchurch which is bigger and somewhat closer to Mt. Hutt and clubfields.
Agree, but always prefer the safari type trips for exploring. I just came back from a 5200km trip (train, bus, automobile) in Scandinavia with 6 days at 3 different areas.
2016 NZ trip (4400km,18 days, 7 ski days, 7 areas (North and South) which included a one way flight from Christchurch to Auckland. The 1st Australian trip in 2018: landed in Melbourne, ski 3 days in Victoria, one day to drive to drive to NSW, 4 ski days then Canberra and Sydney. There was so sightseeing in the front and back end of this trip.
There's a tradeoff between commute time and packing/relocating time. Our last Euro trip in 2024 started based in Sierre. Crans Montana was close but Grimentz and Aletsch were an hour commute each way, and I was worn out a bit more than starting some other Euro trips.
We have found that something like 3-4 nights per lodging stop, skiing very close places works well. In 2023 we started with a couple of one night stands so we could met sbooker and family at the end of their trip. But then we had 3 nights in Via Lattea and 4 in Briancon/Serre Chevalier. Liz likes to minimize the one night stands, so we average about one day a week of those. I want the one night stands to be close to the next day's ski area; otherwise with packing the ski day tends to get an undesirably late start.
I'm glad that chain requirement was not there when I skied Thredbo in 1997. I was exhausted on the drive back to Sydney after that ski day.
The Christchurch vs. Queenstown decision from a ski perspective is a somewhat close call in a good snow year. If you want to do both, as I did on my first trip in 1982, the drive between them is 5-6 hours, but an overnight stop at Mt. Cook for the Tasman Glacier or heliskiing is worthwhile.
Patrick
Well-known member
A quick rundown of current snow reports in OZ/NZ ski areas. Note: Clubfields opening dates are generally late July.
4 categories: South island, North Island, Australia, Tasmania.
Base, season, lift, runs
Hutt : 112-155cm, 303cm, 5/5, na
Ohau : 80-90cm, 83cm, 3/3, na
Porters : 70-100cm, na, 6/6, na
Treble Cone : 77cm, na, 9/9, na
Dobson : 57-65cm, na, 4/4, 18/18
Cardrona : 52cm, na, 8/9, na
Remarks : 30-100cm, 83cm, 7/7, na
Roundhill : 30-50cm, na, 6/6, na
Coronet : 15-70cm, 53cm, 7/8, na
Turua : 37-40cm, na, 6/7, na
Whakapapa : 30-36cm, na, 2/18, na
Perisher : 160cm, na, 43/44. 96/112
Falls Creek : 93cm, 201cm, 13/15, 75/90
Hotham 90cm, 199cm, 80/105, 13/14
Thredbo : 80cm, 157cm, 15/16. 48/53
Buller : 55-94cm, na,17/19, 36/81
Charlotte Pass : na, na, 4/4, 15/25
Baw Baw : 40cm, na, 3/7, 5/13
Dinner Plain : 18-34cm, na, 1/1, na
Selwyn : na, na, 6/7, 24/24
Ben Lomond : na, na, 2/6, na
4 categories: South island, North Island, Australia, Tasmania.
Base, season, lift, runs
Hutt : 112-155cm, 303cm, 5/5, na
Ohau : 80-90cm, 83cm, 3/3, na
Porters : 70-100cm, na, 6/6, na
Treble Cone : 77cm, na, 9/9, na
Dobson : 57-65cm, na, 4/4, 18/18
Cardrona : 52cm, na, 8/9, na
Remarks : 30-100cm, 83cm, 7/7, na
Roundhill : 30-50cm, na, 6/6, na
Coronet : 15-70cm, 53cm, 7/8, na
Turua : 37-40cm, na, 6/7, na
Whakapapa : 30-36cm, na, 2/18, na
Perisher : 160cm, na, 43/44. 96/112
Falls Creek : 93cm, 201cm, 13/15, 75/90
Hotham 90cm, 199cm, 80/105, 13/14
Thredbo : 80cm, 157cm, 15/16. 48/53
Buller : 55-94cm, na,17/19, 36/81
Charlotte Pass : na, na, 4/4, 15/25
Baw Baw : 40cm, na, 3/7, 5/13
Dinner Plain : 18-34cm, na, 1/1, na
Selwyn : na, na, 6/7, 24/24
Ben Lomond : na, na, 2/6, na
Are those snowfall amounts from ski area websites or automated third party (SnoCountry, OpenSnow)?
Patrick
Well-known member
Almost all ski areas, where I couldn’t find it (1 or 2 cases), I got the numbers from Onthesnow.
Almost all sourced from SnoCountry and extremely unreliable outside North America.
Patrick
Well-known member
I only used their numbers when I couldn't find any numbers from the areas websites.
Understood, but we recently reviewed South America and it was really bad. I spot checked the Alps too and concluded that SnoCountry should not be used for this info with that degree of inaccuracy. I even e-mailed Joel, who said they will likely stop using SnoCountry for Europe next season.
Patrick
Well-known member
I just checked, all the base depth and accumulation numbers are from the ski areas’ snow report. I might have use external websites for some missing trail counts?