Businesses in the Australian Alps usually welcome large snow dumps early in the season, but it is unwelcome news for one ski resort in NSW this year with heavy snow forcing it to delay its reopening date.
Selwyn Snow Resort was destroyed during the 2019-20 bushfires and was due to open on July 2 after a two-and-a-half-year rebuild.
However, a significant early dumping of snow has forced the business to push that date back again, which Blyton Group general manager Lucy Blyton said was "devastating".
"Mother Nature has not been our friend over the past three years," she said.
"There's so much snow up there so we're at a point where we cannot clear it to keep going.
Selwyn is a family-friendly resort and attracts people from areas like the Riverina, the ACT, and along the NSW coast.
Every building, except a barbecue hut, burnt down during the Black Summer fires.
Since January 2020, COVID-19 and consistent wet weather has delayed the reconstruction process.
Now, the resort was covered in a metre of snow, making the final tasks too difficult to complete.
"Power and sewerage are the main two things at the moment," Ms Blyton said.
"Given those are pretty important things to install in dry weather, it's a bit hard when we have over a metre of snow on the ground."
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said some areas had seen the best start of the season due to the heavy snowfalls.
Senior forecaster Jordan Notara said that trend was unlikely to continue this week.
"But that doesn't necessarily mean that the snow season is going to be bad for the next week."
Customers who were planning to head to Selwyn this season would receive a refund, according to Ms Blyton, while staff would be transferred to Selwyn's sister site at Charlotte Pass.
Reconstruction work would restart this year in order to reopen next season.
"We're aiming for a fresh start in 2023," Ms Blyton said.
