Oz/NZ 2025
- Thread starter Sbooker
- Start date
Not ChrisC's type of terrain. The mountains are geologically old, short verticals and not very steep. Australia skiing falls into the category of you need another compelling reason to be there, like Patrick and the 2022 Midnight Oil concerts or the 2028 or 2037 eclipses. In my case it was Adam's choir tour in July 1997.
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If you were going to be there in the next week Oz would be a nice place to be but committing to be there in a few weeks would be unwise. We have the very real potential for big changes to the negative in a short time frame. All it takes is a couple of back to back rain events……
Very familiar scenario in our Northeast, which ChrisC knows well.
Patrick
Well-known member
Another resort that squeeze in the top tier when the snow is good, Mt Buller. Big mixed on terrain, glades, at least one ikonic alpine steep.
Agree. I've been keeping a keen eye on the Southern Hemisphere. Canterbury (Christchurch) areas look like they are going well (Hutt, Ohau, Porters).
Short vertical, but all the double blacks on the right side of the Hotham's map and one run slightly off-piste at Buller are as steep as anything I've seen on a ski map in North America.
I know the odds are extremely difficult, but I would definitely like to repeat the skiing during a total solar eclipse. I believe the centre line is right above Queenstown NZ. That being said, my IG feed was bombing me with eclipse in Iceland next summer. Spain 2026? I hate continental Europe in summer now that we are no longer forced to use that time to travel.
Yes but the weather odds suck, and unlike North America 2024 you don't have the option to relocate to someplace better on short notice. Go see the eclipse, then go skiing somewhere else. That is our likely plan as Oz/NZ is Liz' remaining unskied continent.
ChrisC
Well-known member
That bad and changeable?! Meh.
It would be more of 'A trip to Australia' with a bit of skiing.
Sometimes I have heard scuba trips described as a Trip to X with some scuba diving. Meaning it was not exclusively scuba-focused.
So things could go this way in a few weeks...?
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Qualitatively there's an idea. Take a scuba trip to Australia add in a little skiing. You will be relocating about 20 degrees of latitude to do that.
Liz is resistant to combined ski/scuba trips due to the massive amount of gear that has to be schlepped. It's not as bad for me because I rent BCD and regulator. And one of my greatest trips was a week in Palau diving followed by 11 days skiing in Japan.
Patrick
Well-known member
My ski trip with flying involved (or that NJ ski trip) always include some touristy part, the exception would be the trip I shared with Tony in 2016 (MT, WY, UT: 13 ski days in 13 days in 8 resorts) or my Alberta-BC. April 2023 trip: 24 ski days in 27 (11 areas plus one coaching course for the last 5 days.That bad and changeable?! Meh.
It would be more of 'A trip to Australia' with a bit of
So things could go this way in a few weeks...?
Australia, NZ, Europe Nov/Dec 2024, June 2025 Scandinavia trip definitely all included massif and/or walking days.
Actually Buller doesn’t look to bad for tomorrow Tuesday (a few moments ago). Various webcams, but no pics from the Alpine.
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It has in the past.So things could go this way in a few weeks...?
The other thing I don't like gambling on is getting rained on even if I'm skiing on a good base. It means that if I am going down south I am booking last minute with an established base and a forecast of clear weather. I've gone with a forecast of snow and only got that at the top few hundred feet of the hill while most of the vertical is rain.
For detailed snow conditions reports, can check the ongoing threads on the Aussie ski forum. This post has recent pics from Buller.
late July 2025 (Australia)
www.ski.com.au
late July 2025 (Australia)
Snow Report - Mt Buller Winter 2025 - Reports, Pics & News
Lucky this system snowed at all imo. Horrible setup. 100% +1c difference would have been completely shite
www.ski.com.au
ChrisC
Well-known member
The snow levels bounce around that much?
Sounds like Pacific Northwest skiing. It's fun, but highly variable. Great if you are local, but not worth a huge trip (caveat: Whistler or Bachelor, possibly Hood (inland BC excepted too)).
At least the Australia resorts have nearby lodging. WA state areas do not have anything notable.
ChrisC
Well-known member
ChrisC
Well-known member
I'm more likely to try skiing in NZ once, with other activities (never made it to the Milford Sound area). And instead return to Japan: try Nagano/Hakuba ski areas for a couple of days and head back to Hokkaido.
I cannot imagine packing for a diving and skiing trip! I would bring ski gear and rent diving gear. Dive gear is relatively interchangeable (I only own 'travel-type' BCD/Regulator (decent ScubaPro setup)).
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Patrick
Well-known member
That’s really the bottom at the village with pretty flat beginner run. Once you gets off the lift, most skiers would move at the lifts pods on different parts of the mountain.I see 2 big enormous HS Lifts and not a lot of space for people.
Patrick
Well-known member
I checked earlier, many areas at closed with the storm coming. Wind, precipitations, maybe some snow at higher elevations (read this from various snow report).
Not really. Latitude of 36-38 is like the central Sierra but altitude like Hoodoo or Willamette Pass (latitude 44). So no surprise snowfall is far from the 350-400 inches of those places in North America. The Spencer Creek data implies perhaps 250 inches, but at 6,004 feet that's in the upper range of Aussie ski area altitudes. If you plug Perisher's latitude (36.41) and altitude range (5,640- 6,739) into that chart I posted on West Coast rain vulnerability, it comes out 606 feet lower than the worst ski area on the chart, Mt. Hood Ski Bowl.
Here's an article from Australia' excellent 2022 season showing that the rain/snow situation was not so good at Deep Creek, just 700 feet lower than Spencer's Creek.
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They don't call that latitude belt the Roaring Forties for nothing. There is so little land between 40S and 60S that almost everything is chronically windy, Patagonia being particularly infamous. NZ being islands with very low tree line and no place more than 70 miles from the ocean doesn't help. The rate of down days for heliskiing in NZ is similar to Alaska's.
My opinion only but it’s crazy spending that amount of money on accommodation - particularly when the skiing can be a very average or poor experience.