Perisher Valley, New South Wales

Last updated

Perisher Valley
Perisher from Mount Perisher.jpg
Perisher Valley from Mount Perisher.
Australia New South Wales relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Perisher Valley
Location in New South Wales
Floor elevation1,720 m (5,640 ft)
Geography
Location Snowy Mountains, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates 36°24′S148°25′E / 36.400°S 148.417°E / -36.400; 148.417  

Perisher Valley, commonly called Perisher, is a valley formed below Mount Perisher, a mountain that is located in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia.

Contents

Located in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, the valley is the site of one of four resort bases of the Perisher Ski Resort, which also comprises Guthega, Blue Cow and Smiggin Holes. It is located within the Kosciuszko National Park between Jindabyne and Charlotte Pass on the Kosciuszko Road. Access to the valley is via the Skitube Alpine Railway or by road. Although it is primarily a winter only resort village, year round accommodations are available, including tours, and bush walks. [1]

At the 2021 census, Perisher Valley had a population of 99 people. [2] In winter, the population is approximately 2,500 due to guests.

Climate

Perisher has either a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfc) or a subpolar oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfc), depending on whether the 0 °C (32 °F) or −3 °C (27 °F) isotherm is used, with cool summers and cold winters, although the higher peaks have a tundra climate (ET). As expected of a ski resort there is a snowpack lasting for several months of the year, sometimes into early summer, however not as long-lasting as equivalent or even lower elevations over the western side of the range due to its sheltered location. Snow can be expected to fall on 60.2 days of the year on average. [3]

Climate data for Perisher Valley Ski Centre (1991–2010, extremes 1976–2010); 1,735 m (5,692 ft) AMSL; 36.40° S, 148.41° E
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Record high °C (°F)28.2
(82.8)		29.8
(85.6)		25.4
(77.7)		22.0
(71.6)		18.0
(64.4)		14.0
(57.2)		10.5
(50.9)		13.5
(56.3)		16.0
(60.8)		21.0
(69.8)		25.5
(77.9)		25.2
(77.4)		29.8
(85.6)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)19.7
(67.5)		18.7
(65.7)		16.1
(61.0)		12.1
(53.8)		8.3
(46.9)		4.2
(39.6)		2.8
(37.0)		3.6
(38.5)		6.1
(43.0)		10.0
(50.0)		14.3
(57.7)		16.1
(61.0)		11.0
(51.8)
Daily mean °C (°F)12.8
(55.0)		12.0
(53.6)		9.5
(49.1)		5.9
(42.6)		3.2
(37.8)		0.5
(32.9)		−1.0
(30.2)		−0.4
(31.3)		2.1
(35.8)		5.1
(41.2)		8.0
(46.4)		9.8
(49.6)		5.6
(42.1)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)5.9
(42.6)		5.2
(41.4)		2.8
(37.0)		−0.4
(31.3)		−1.9
(28.6)		−3.3
(26.1)		−4.7
(23.5)		−4.4
(24.1)		−1.9
(28.6)		0.1
(32.2)		1.6
(34.9)		3.4
(38.1)		0.2
(32.4)
Record low °C (°F)−5.0
(23.0)		−7.0
(19.4)		−7.0
(19.4)		−10.8
(12.6)		−9.8
(14.4)		−18.0
(−0.4)		−17.0
(1.4)		−15.0
(5.0)		−12.5
(9.5)		−11.6
(11.1)		−8.5
(16.7)		−5.9
(21.4)		−18.0
(−0.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches)113.9
(4.48)		88.0
(3.46)		92.0
(3.62)		71.0
(2.80)		104.4
(4.11)		174.1
(6.85)		155.6
(6.13)		243.6
(9.59)		244.2
(9.61)		161.2
(6.35)		152.8
(6.02)		87.5
(3.44)		1,689.5
(66.52)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)8.08.38.88.810.112.412.212.713.712.811.26.4125.4
Average afternoon relative humidity (%)61656265738588847968615671
Source: Bureau of Meteorology [4]

Snow depth

Snow depth measurements are taken by Snowy Hydro at Spencers Creek, approximately 2 kilometres (1 mi) west of Perisher Valley.

Average depth curve Spencers Creek Average Depths.png
Average depth curve
Full record Spencers Creek Snow Depths.png
Full record

History

The Snowy Mountains region is thought to have had Aboriginal occupation for some twenty thousand years. Large scale intertribal gatherings were held in the High Country during summer for collective feasting on the Bogong moth.

This practice continued until around 1865. [5] European explorers entered the district from 1835, and in 1840, Edmund Strzelecki ascended Mount Kosciuszko and named it after a Polish patriot. High country stockmen followed who used the Snowy Mountains for grazing during the summer months. Banjo Paterson's famous poem The Man From Snowy River recalls this era. The cattle graziers have left a legacy of mountain huts scattered across the area. [6] A story, which may be apocryphal, credits James Spencer, who settled in the area in the 1840s with saying 'What a perisher' when caught in a storm, giving origin to the Perisher area. [7]

The Kosciuszko National Park in which Perisher is situated came into existence as the National Chase Snowy Mountains on 5 December 1906. In 1944 this became the Kosciuszko State Park, and then the Kosciuszko National Park in 1967. [8]

Perisher snow fields Perisher valley snow fields.jpg
Perisher snow fields

The development of Skiing in Australia began at Kiandra in the Northern Snowy Mountains around 1861, but in the 20th century, the focus of Skiing in New South Wales shifted towards the Mount Kosciuszko region. The first Kosciuszko Chalet was built at Charlotte Pass in 1930, giving relatively comfortable access to Australia's highest terrain. [9] The growing number of ski enthusiasts heading to Charlotte Pass led to the establishment of a cafe at Smiggin Holes, near Perisher Valley, around 1939, where horse-drawn sleighs would deliver skiers to be begin the arduous ski to the Kosciusko Chalet. [10] It was the construction of the vast Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme from 1949 that really opened up the Snowy Mountains for large scale development of a ski industry and led to the establishment of Thredbo and Perisher as leading Australian resorts. [11] [12] The Construction of Guthega Dam brought skiers to the isolated Guthega district and a rope tow was installed there in 1957. [13]

Oversnow transport in Perisher village SnowMobileSnowys.jpg
Oversnow transport in Perisher village

As the number of skiers increased, services, facilities and means of access were improved, and Perisher's first lodges were constructed. Telemark and the Snow Revellers Club being completed in 1952. In the winter of 1953 the first oversnow transport operated to Perisher Valley. It was greeted by the inhabitants with cheers and celebrations. In 1958, Svere Kaaten, another pioneer of the mountains, built a sophisticated rope tow at North Perisher. Ken Murray, an old friend of Svere's built another rope tow and Perisher's first T-bar. Development continued and Mount Perisher Double Chair was opened in 1962. After the opening of the first chairlift, T-bar expansion and rope tows, the Perisher area thrived. Murray Publishers Pty Limited was taken over by Australian Consolidated Press in 1972 and Kosciuszko Alpine Resorts was formed. Murray Publishers then traded under the name of Perisher Ski Resort which incorporated the resorts of Perisher and Smiggins. In 1995, Murray Publishers Pty Limited and the Alpine Australia Group Pty Limited merged to form Perisher Blue Pty Limited.[ citation needed ]

The last establishment of a major skifield in NSW came with the development of Mount Blue Cow in the 1980s. In 1987 the Swiss designed Skitube Alpine Railway opened to deliver skiers from Bullocks Flat, on the Alpine Way, to Perisher Valley and to Blue Cow, which also opened in 1987. [12] The operators of Blue Cow purchased Guthega in 1991, and the new combined resort later merged with Perisher-Smiggins to become the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere. [14] In 2009 Perisher had 48 lifts covering 1,245 hectares and four village base areas: Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega. [15]

Snowy Mountains of Music

Since 2009, Perisher Valley has been the host of the Snowy Mountains of Music Festival, a folk festival created by the same people behind the Illawarra Folk Festival. The festival runs every year on the Queen's Birthday Weekend, which is also the official start of the Ski Season for the Snowy Mountains. It acts as both a promotional festival for the Australian Snow Season, specifically, Perisher Valley, but also as an outlet for all sorts of Australian and International talent across a diverse range of genres. [16]

Resort statistics

Perisher Valley Climate Pv-climate.png
Perisher Valley Climate
Average snow depth chart from Spencers Creek, near Perisher. Compiled by Snowy Hydro. Spencers Creek Average Depths.png
Average snow depth chart from Spencers Creek, near Perisher. Compiled by Snowy Hydro.

Perisher Valley is situated at 1,720 metres (5,640 ft) above sea level. The summit of Mount Perisher above the village reaches 2,054 metres (6,739 ft) of altitude. The highest lifted point is the Mt Perisher Double Chair at 2034m. According to statistics posted on the Perisher website in 2012, the recognised natural snow line in the region is at 1,650 metres (5,410 ft) and over the previous 15 years, the average maximum snow depth throughout the Resort had been about 1.9 metres (6.2 ft). Average minimum temperature during winter was stated as −3.7 °C (25.3 °F). [17]

In 2012, the four resort bases of the Perisher Ski Resort contained a skiable area of 1,245 hectares (3,076 acres) and were serviced by 47 lifts, making Perisher the largest Australian ski resort. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowy Mountains</span> Mountain range in Australia

The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera system. It makes up the northeastern half of the Australian Alps and contains Australia's five tallest peaks, all of which are above 2,100 m (6,890 ft), including the tallest Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches to a height of 2,228 m (7,310 ft) above sea level. The offshore Tasmanian highlands makes up the only other major alpine region present in the whole of Australia.

The Kosciuszko National Park is a 6,900-square-kilometre (2,700 sq mi) national park and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, for which it is named, and Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Its borders contain a mix of rugged mountains and wilderness, characterised by an alpine climate, which makes it popular with recreational skiers and bushwalkers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Alps</span> Bioregion in Australia

The Australian Alps are a mountain range in southeast Australia. The range comprises an interim Australian bioregion, and is the highest mountain range in Australia. The range straddles the borders of eastern Victoria, southeastern New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory. It contains Australia's only peaks exceeding 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in elevation, and is the only bioregion on the Australian mainland in which deep snow falls annually. The range comprises an area of 1,232,981 ha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thredbo, New South Wales</span> Ski and mountain bike resort in New South Wales, Australia

Thredbo is a village and ski resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of Sydney, accessible by the Alpine Way via Cooma, Berridale and Jindabyne. The village is built in the valley of the Thredbo River, also known as the Crackenback River, at the foot of the Ramshead Range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Pass, New South Wales</span> Ski resort in New South Wales, Australia

Charlotte Pass is a snow resort and village in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The pass is in the Kosciuszko National Park where the Kosciuszko Road crosses Kangaroo Ridge. Charlotte Pass is the closest village to Mount Kosciuszko, the tallest mountain in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skitube Alpine Railway</span> Electric rack railway in NSW, Australia

The Skitube Alpine Railway is an Australian standard gauge electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Cow Mountain</span>

Blue Cow is a ski resort that is part of Perisher located in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, within the Snowy Monaro Regional Council. The resort is situated within the Kosciuszko National Park and is administered by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service. During winter months, the only access to the village is via the Skitube underground railway. In summer, access is via off-road only. Blue Cow is one of the four resort bases within Perisher, Australia's largest ski resort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bullocks Flat</span> Place in New South Wales, Australia

Bullocks Flat is a flat portion of the Thredbo Valley adjacent to the Thredbo River, in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guthega, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Guthega is an alpine village and the site for a hydro electric dam located in the Kosciuszko National Park, on the upper reaches of the Snowy River, on the western face of Mount Blue Cow, Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter sport in Australia</span> Overview of winter sports practiced in Australia

Winter sports in Australia encompasses a great variety of activities across the continent of Australia, including winter sports played in snow and ice such as ice hockey. Climate varies considerably from the tropical North to temperate South in Australia, and sporting practices vary accordingly. Ice and snow sports like Skiing in Australia are conducted in the high country of the Australian Alps and Tasmanian Wilderness. Australia has relatively low mountain ranges, but a long history of participation in recreational skiing and the Winter Olympic Games. Australians have won olympic gold in ice skating, skiing and snow-boarding events. Australia's generally flat geography and usually mild winter climate otherwise provide ideal conditions for international non-snow/ice winter sports and team games like rugby union football, rugby league football, and association football (soccer), which are all popular sports during the Australian winter and in which Australia has enjoyed considerable international success. Australian rules football is a home-grown winter football code with a wide following throughout Australia. Many other sports are also played or watched in Australia through the winter season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowy River Shire</span> Former local government area in New South Wales, Australia

The Snowy River Shire was a local government area in the Australian Alps region of New South Wales, Australia from 1939 until May 2016. It was named after the Snowy River that runs through it. Prior to 1936, it had been named as Dalgety Shire since establishment in 1906.

Sport in New South Wales describes participation in and attendance at organised sports events in the state of New South Wales in Australia. Sport forms an integral part of the culture of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smiggin Holes, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Smiggin Holes is a village in the ski resort area of Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is primarily a winter-only resort village. It is within the Kosciuszko National Park, and is administered by New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change. Access to the village is via road. There is an access fee payable to the national park, and motor vehicles are not permitted to stay overnight in the winter months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skiing in Australia</span> Overview of skiing practiced in Australia

Skiing in Australia takes place in the Australian Alps in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as well as in the mountains of the island state Tasmania, during the Southern Hemisphere winter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perisher Ski Resort</span> Ski resort in New South Wales, Australia

Perisher Ski Resort is the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere. Located in the Australian Snowy Mountains, the resort is an amalgamation of four villages and their associated ski fields, covering approximately 12 square kilometres (5 sq mi), with the base elevation at 1,720 metres (5,640 ft) AHD, and the summit elevation of 2,054 metres (6,739 ft) at the top of Mount Perisher. 4.4 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi) of this area is covered by 240 snow guns, which are used to artificially supplement the natural snowfall. Perisher was acquired by Vail Resorts, United States on 30 March 2015 for a sum of approximately AU$177 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skiing in New South Wales</span>

Skiing in New South Wales takes place in the high country of the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales during the Southern Hemisphere winter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosciuszko Road</span> Road in New South Wales, Australia

Kosciuszko Road is a road in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia which runs from Pine Valley, to the ski resort of Charlotte Pass in Kosciuszko National Park.

Kosciusko Alpine Club (KAC) is the second oldest ski club in Australia after the Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club (1861). It was founded in 1909, two months after the NSW Government opened the Hotel Kosciusko at Diggers Creek, the first hotel in the Kosciusko area. The Hotel Kosciusko became the winter home of KAC until 1930 when the Kosciusko Chalet opened at Charlotte's Pass. KAC was the only ski club in the Kosciuszko area until 1920 when the Ski Club of Australia was formed.

References

  1. ↑ "Perisher Valley NSW - Accommodation, Skiing & Things to Do". VisitNSW.com. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Perisher Valley (Suburb/Locality)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 17 August 2022. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  3. ↑ Annual snow days sorted in descending order of average occurrence by australianweathernews.com
  4. ↑ "Climate Statistics for Perisher Valley Ski Centre". Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  5. ↑ "Kiandra Historical Society". Kiandrahistory.net. 10 February 1959. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ "Perisher Valley - Culture and History". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 November 2008.
  8. ↑ "Top of Australia hosts park's centenary". ABC News . Archived from the original on 6 December 2006. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
  9. ↑ Archived March 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Archived August 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ "Winter Ski & Snowboard | Summer Biking & Hiking". Thredbo.com.au. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  12. 1 2 Archived September 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ "Guthega Ski Resort". Christiana Capital. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  14. ↑ Archived April 12, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Archived March 24, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ Archived April 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  17. 1 2 "Resort Stats". Perisher.com.au. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2016.

36°24′S148°25′E / 36.400°S 148.417°E / -36.400; 148.417

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.