Australia's ski season shrinks as snow depth plunges — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Snowy Hydro data shows Spencers Creek snow depth topped out at 94cm in mid-August, down from 200cm the previous year and now sitting at just 21cm; average depths have declined nearly 20% since records began in 1954.
- Jindabyne rental shops are closing early — Snow City shut a month ahead of schedule, and Jindy Snow worker Maggie Hume says shifts are "dropping off like flies," with workers describing the season as their "new normal."
- Mount Hotham in Victoria closed a month early, according to backcountry operator Glen Clark, who called the season "shithouse" and warned that "nothing less than net zero is going to start to turn things around."
- Independent MP Zali Steggall, a 1998 Olympic slalom bronze medallist, said the ski season that once ran June to October when she trained now ends around September 9, and criticised governments for still approving coal and gas projects while alpine communities suffer.
- Perisher's head of mountain operations Andrew Kennedy said the industry is "resilient and proactive in adapting to change" and continues investing in energy-efficient snowmaking despite variable weather.
- The ski industry contributes about $5.7bn to Australia's economy versus $9bn from the Great Barrier Reef, which has attracted $3.9bn in federal protection funding since 2015 — yet no equivalent package exists for the alpine region, according to Protect Our Winters campaigner Ruby Olsson.
Why it matters: Australia's ski industry generates roughly $5.7bn annually and underpins regional economies like Jindabyne, yet it receives no federal climate adaptation funding while the Great Barrier Reef has pulled in $3.9bn since 2015. With snow depth at the benchmark Spencers Creek site halving year-on-year and Mount Hotham closing a month early, the economic stakes for alpine communities are no longer hypothetical — workers are already losing shifts.
Ask SkimNews
