Warm ski season a warning of bleak future for Australia’s snow tourism: ‘So this is our new normal’ — SkimNews
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- Snowy Hydro data from Spencers Creek shows average snow depth has declined nearly 20% since recording began in 1954, with this year's peak of 94cm in mid-August less than half the 200cm measured at the same point last year (now sitting at just over 21cm in early September).
- Snow City rental shop in Jindabyne closed a month early this season, while worker Genevieve Langford said shifts are 'dropping off like flies' and that rain followed every snowfall.
- Mount Hotham ski resort in Victoria closed a month early, prompting backcountry operator Glen Clark to declare 'nothing less than net zero is going to start to turn things around' and call the season 'shithouse'.
- Australia's ski industry contributes an estimated $5.7bn to the economy versus $9bn from the Great Barrier Reef, yet the federal government has invested $3.9bn in reef protection since 2015 with no comparable package for the alpine region.
- Independent MP Zali Steggall, who won Olympic slalom bronze in 1998, said the season that once ran from the June long weekend through October now ends by early September while governments keep approving coal and gas projects.
- Climate risk scientist Stuart Browning, based in Jindabyne, said the snowpack data shows 'no good stories for the Australian snow industry,' though Perisher's head of mountain operations Andrew Kennedy said teams are 'constantly adapting.'
Why it matters: The $5.7bn ski industry has no dedicated federal protection package despite Snowy Hydro data showing snowpack down nearly 20% since 1954, while the Great Barrier Reef has received $3.9bn in government investment since 2015; early closures at Mount Hotham and rental shops like Snow City are already cutting into seasonal workers' income in Jindabyne.
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