One Australian Ski Resort Is Making Snow While Others Surrender To Mother Nature

Australia's winter of 2026 will be remembered for warm temperatures, a shortage of snow, and nearly every resort closing more than a month earlier than planned. Perisher, known as Australia's largest ski resort, is bucking the trend and remains open, albeit with limited terrain and a minimal snowpack. A recent cold snap, however, should help keep the good times rolling for at least a little while. Perisher shared that it fired up its snowmaking guns on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, as temperatures dipped below freezing. Snowmaking is confined to the resort's Front Valley terrain, but it's a welcome respite for skiers hoping that the season still has some legs. The resort had nine of its 45 lifts and just a handful of trails open on September 8, but skiing is skiing, as they say, and our friends Down Under are surely thankful that Perisher hasn't called it quits yet. Thredbo, which is only a few miles away from Perisher as the crow flies, remains open with even less terrain and snow. The resort's operations have been confined to a single Green Circle trail called 'Friday Flat', and some summer activities, like the disc golf course and skate park, are open for the season. Thredbo, against all odds, still managed to host its annual Banked Slalom event this past weekend. The course was made by pushing snow from wherever the resort's terrain park crew could find it, and while the result wasn't necessarily pretty, the Thredbo faithful turned out, and the Banked Slalom event went down. Tap or click below to watch. Despite the deteriorating snow conditions, neither Perisher nor Thredbo has announced a new closing date. Both resorts are still advertising the long holiday weekend of October 4/5 as their intended closing. Stay tuned, as that will most likely change. The winter of 2026 was the warmest in Australia's history, according to DTN. Temperatures were significantly above normal across Australia, but the southern half of the country, notably where the ski resorts are, was hit hardest. 'Nationally, average temperatures ran 1.45°C above the 1961–1990 benchmark, the third-highest anomaly on record,' writes DTN. 'The warmth was widespread, with almost the entire continent at least 1°C above average, but the map below shows one standout hotspot: a broad band across central Queensland and the Gulf country running around 2°C above average, well ahead of the rest of the country.' While Australia and parts of New Zealand struggled with winter, ski resorts in Chile and Argentina are celebrating one of their best snow years in recent memory. Ski Portillo and Valle Nevado have extended their seasons into October for the first time in decades, pro skiers the world over are bagging and tagging insane lines at Las Leñas on seemingly a daily basis, and more snow is expected later this week. The Southern Hemisphere's ski season is notoriously unpredictable, and this year's will be remembered as such. This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.