Just days out from the season opening, fresh snow has fallen in the Kosciuszko National Park ski fields, with more on the way.
Around 10cm fell on the high peaks at Thredbo and Perisher overnight on Sunday and Australia's most trusted snow forecaster, Pete "The Frog" Taylor, is predicting up to 32cm over the next 15 days.
An intense low pressure system situated in Bass Straight off Flinders island pushed a very cold band of air up from the south and into the alpine country, generating snow showers on late Sunday and Monday in Thredbo and Perisher.
The maximum temperature expected at Perisher on Monday was 3C with "a medium chance of snow showers, becoming less likely late this afternoon and evening [with] winds southwesterly 25 to 35 kmh", according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Low temperatures will persist in the following days.
However, there was the possibility of rain on Thursday, turning to snow above 1700m. A very intense low pressure system is arriving late this week which offers fresh hope of more snow for the start of season-opening festivities on Friday night.
Very low temperatures in the mountain have allowed the resorts to run their snowmaking equipment intermittently since late April. Given the skills of their grooming teams, there is confidence that well-tracked areas like Perisher's Front Valley and Thredbo's Merritt's Spur Cruiser will have sufficient ski and snowboard cover for the coming weekend.
One-day adult lift passes are now their most expensive ever, with $199 as the non-discount walk-up price at Thredbo and $241 for Perisher. However, online discounts are available from both.
The dodgy old Mt Perisher double chair, which opened in 1961, has been dismantled for the coming season to make way for a new high-speed six-seater chair which will make the trip to the top of the mountain - soon to be Australia's highest lifted point at 2042m - in 11 minutes.
While key support infrastructure is now in place, the new chair won't go in until next summer which means considerable people-lifting pressure on the existing Mt Perisher triple chair.
Perisher will open the season with its free Peak Music Festival starting on Friday night and running through the weekend, with a fireworks display at 7pm on Saturday.
A key attraction and opening this season at Thredbo is the new 1.5km Alpine Coaster. There are plans, too, as more snow arrives, to build both a mini-pipe and a a 22ft half-pipe at the resort as a local training ground for our winter athletes.
Season-opening activity at Charlotte Pass is on hold for another four weeks after a fire destroyed the resort's sewage plant a few weeks ago. However, a Victorian company has fast-tracked the build of a self-contained transportable system which is due to be installed at the end of June, ahead of a July 5 opening.
