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Well it is here in Australia anyway, season opens in 10 days and the resorts are looking nice and white.

 

Its actually not common to have snow at the opening weekend and after last years disaterous season this is certainly a welcome sight

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are you actually at falls creek? is the terrain any good? are there interesting and varied off-piste options?

i've never been even remotely tempted to ski in australia. flying over from perth, i can pretty much spend the same amount of time in japan for the same price.

$90 for a lift ticket?! you have got to be kidding me. but i guess it's what the market will bear.

 

i'm interested to see how the season pans out though, so keep posting some updates.

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Hi Spook I live about 360 km from Falls Creek in country NSW but I own an apartment up there so I spend most weekends there. Its a nice resort but like all Australian resorts a lot smaller than Japan and the runs are quite short in comparison. There is a variety of runs from groomed ones to tree runs but certainly enough to keep the average skier ammused.

 

I used to fly from Perth to FC each year and have to agree the cost of just getting there makes looking at Japan a very viable option. Perhaps when your over there for some other reason take a trip to one of the resorts, you are sure to have a bit of fun.

 

As for lift tickets well I guess we have a shorter season to pay for the same infrastructure hence the higher price, its that or walk up the hills I guess

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Cost is also for insurance. The liabity issues are much different here. I do think the resorts could charge an extra 5 bucks here and not have it effect them. That 5 bucks could mean making a buck or making a loss.

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My fear is some of the Japanese resorts are doing it tough due to the lower prices being to low, I would rather pay a few more $ more for a ticket and be sure my favourite resort is still there in a few years time. The other issue is in Japan there are so many resorts where as in Australia only a few so if the tickets were cheaper here they would be very over crowded, I tend to think pricing is also used to set the optimum user numbers as well.

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The worst thing about skiing in Aus is the car entry fees to the mountains. I think it's now close to $30 a day or something in Vic? I mean hell they have to do a lot more snow clearing on the roads here in Japan and no entry fees at all.

And the food expenses on mountain are just ridiculous, about 3x what you'd pay elsewhere? Here in Japan there is hardly any mark-up at all on mountain.

Whatever way you look at it, Japan is just so much better value for money skiing and the difference in snow quality?...you just can't compare.

I really don't think I could ever ski again at an Australian ski resort.

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 Originally Posted By: Go Native
The worst thing about skiing in Aus is the car entry fees to the mountains. I think it's now close to $30 a day or something in Vic? I mean hell they have to do a lot more snow clearing on the roads here in Japan and no entry fees at all.
And the food expenses on mountain are just ridiculous, about 3x what you'd pay elsewhere? Here in Japan there is hardly any mark-up at all on mountain.
Whatever way you look at it, Japan is just so much better value for money skiing and the difference in snow quality?...you just can't compare.
I really don't think I could ever ski again at an Australian ski resort.


I agree with all that GN. but I'm still going down his year anyway. There's a lot less hassle involved to get there. No plane, trains, busses, passports, 24 hour journeys ect. Just jump in the car and go.
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I always find it hard to buy into the shorter season argument for Australia's expensive tickets. Even though the seasons OS are alot longer there still IMO only 3 months max where they are making their money. Surely big resorts in japan would be losing money running their lifts and paying their staff after say the middle of march and before the middle of December???

We might have a 3 month season but the resorts always seem to be busy for those 3 months....

 

correct me if I am wrong though!

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In NSW the snow fields are located within the NSW national park, so a fee to enter the park is required.

As for the Victoria fields, I think it a straight up charge to bring your up your car on the mountain.

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It feels cold enough out here in the desert in the mornings for snow. I agree with SPOOK its far too expensive to ski in Australia if you have to travel more than a few miles. Id like to patronise Aussie resorts but its Japan for me.

PS I hope you have a good season Ausi Ski Bum.

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I was up at Falls Creek today putting supplies into the apartment before the roads close (after next weekend cars can not enter the town as we ski on the roads). Was nice to see a cover of snow but unfortunatly it was raining.

 

As for resort entry, the fee covers the cost of parking, ski patrol and services in the town such as sewage etc. It is a lot cheaper to get a season pass if you are a regular visitor. Carparking is also expensive as there is very little flat land, It costs over $40,000 to build a single parking space at Falls Creek.

 

Food on the mountain is way to expensive we never eat at the places on the snow, we always ski back to the apartment and ski out again afterwards. I really enjoyed the variet and quality of food on mountain at Niseko, put Australian resorts to shame.

 

But that all said I bought new boots today and some for my son and we have all the ski's and food in the apartment so bring on the snow.

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ASB I really hope you guys get a good one this year. Although I probably won't ski at an Aussie ski resort again I still love the Aussie backcountry. Feathertop, Bogong and the Main Range still hold some of my greatest skiing memories even when compared to my skiing here in Hokkaido.

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Austrailia being the hottest driest continent on Earth is luck to have snow at all however the area it does snow in is only about 0.1% of the total country.

 

There are two areas about 100km apart. One is in the state of Victoria where the three main resorts are Buller, Hotham and Falls Creek, they range in size from 250 hectares to 450 hectares.

 

In New South Wales you have Thredbo, Perisher and the smaller Selwyn. The biggest is Perisher which is over 1200 hectares.

 

Snow in Australia is a lot heavier than Japan. we rarely get powder or the huge dumps of snow you get but in an average year we get around 4 metres of snow that creates a 1 to 2 metre base, last year without snowmakin we would have skied only a few weeks and thats why our resorts have millions of dollars invested in Snowmaking, the resort I know best has over $10 million invested in snowmaking.

 

Our runs are pretty short and we dont have a lot of height in the runs either. many are less than 1km long and drop only 150 to 300 metres.

 

Our temperatures are not very cold so we only get snow on the peaks of our highest hills (mountains) and they are only 1500 to 1850 metres high.

 

My apartments in Falls Creek are above the snow line and the streets are covered in snow in the town so we ski from the door to the lifts and back. Its very unique.

 

Our seasonm is from now until the end of September however June and September are marginal with the main season being just July and August.

 

If you have only ever skied in Japan you would find our resorts very limited, you would however enjoy them if your in the country for a holiday in our winder s you would see a very different side of Australia.

 

But its snow and its our snow so we love it.

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 Originally Posted By: BagOfCrisps
Hey Go Native, I find that last comment curious - you saying it is better than up there in Niseko?


I wouldn't say backcountry in Aus is better than here it's just very different. Things that are great about backcountry in Aus are temps are not too cold (rarely below -15 on the Main range and rarely below -10 in Vic), whereas here in Niseko those kind of temps are pretty normal. Aus backcountry rarely has major avalanche concerns whereas here you have to be a lot more aware. And the snowgums in Aus (those that haven't been destroyed by fires in recent years) are really beautiful and unique. Also if you camp out backcountry in Niseko you may find your tent getting completely buried overnight, this is not so much a problem in Aus. Aus backcountry is awesome but it's pretty amazing here too.
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