Perisher Valley, commonly called Perisher, is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

formed below Mount Perisher, a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

that is located in the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera syste ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Located in the

Snowy Monaro Regional Council The Snowy Monaro Regional Council is a local government area located in the Snowy Mountains and Monaro regions of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 through a forced merger of the Bombala, Cooma-Monaro and Snow ...

, the valley is the site of one of four resort bases of the

Perisher Ski Resort Perisher Ski Resort (known as Perisher Blue until 2009) is the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere. Located in the Australian Snowy Mountains, the resort is an amalgamation of four villages (Perisher Valley, Smiggin Holes, Guthega, an ...

, which also comprises

Guthega Guthega is an alpine village and the site for a hydro electric dam located in the Kosciuszko National Park, on the upper reaches of the Snowy River, on the western face of Mount Blue Cow, Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The vil ...

, Blue Cow and

Smiggin Holes Smiggin Holes is a village in the ski resort area of Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is primarily a winter-only resort village. It is within the Kosciuszko National Park, and is administere ...

. It is located within the

Kosciuszko National Park The Kosciuszko National Park ( ) is a national park and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, for which it is named, and Cabramurra, New South Wales, Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Its borders contain a mix o ...

between

Jindabyne Jindabyne () is a town in south-east New South Wales, Australia that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains, in Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is a popular holiday destination year round, especially in winter. This is due to its p ...

and Charlotte Pass on the

Kosciuszko Road Kosciuszko Road is a road in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia which runs from , to the ski resort of in Kosciuszko National Park. Route Kosciuszko Road branches from Snowy Mountains Highway in Pine Valley, nearly 7km west of ...

. Access to the valley is via the Skitube Alpine Railway or by road. Although it is primarily a winter only resort village, year round accommodations are available, including tours, and bush walks. At the , Perisher Valley had a population of 99 people. In winter, the population is approximately 2,500 due to guests.

Climate

Perisher has either a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''Dfc'') or a

subpolar oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

(

: ''Cfc''), depending on whether the or isotherm is used, with cool summers and cold winters, although the higher peaks have a

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. It is classified as ET according to the Köppen climate classification. It is a climate which at least one month has an average temperature high enough ...

(''ET''). As expected of a ski resort there is a

snowpack Snowpack is an accumulation of snow that compresses with time and melts seasonally, often at high elevation or high latitude. Snowpacks are an important water resource that feed streams and rivers as they melt, sometimes leading to flooding. Snow ...

lasting for several months of the year, sometimes into early summer, however not as long-lasting as equivalent elevations over the western side of the range due to its sheltered location. Snow can be expected to fall on 60.2 days of the year on average.

Snow depth

Snow depth measurements are taken by

Snowy Hydro Snowy Hydro Limited is an electricity generation and retailing company in Australia that owns, manages, and maintains the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme that consists of nine hydro-electric power stations and sixteen large dams connected ...

at Spencers Creek, approximately west of Perisher Valley. Spencers Creek Average Depths

History

The

region is thought to have had Aboriginal occupation for some twenty thousand years. Large scale intertribal gatherings were held in the High Country during summer for collective feasting on the

Bogong moth The bogong moth (''Agrotis infusa'') is a temperate species of Nocturnal, night-flying moth, notable for its biannual long-distance seasonal Lepidoptera migration, migrations towards and from the Australian Alps, similar to the diurnal monarch ...

. This practice continued until around 1865. European explorers entered the district from 1835, and in 1840, Edmund Strzelecki ascended Mount Kosciuszko and named it after a Polish patriot. High country stockmen followed who used the Snowy Mountains for grazing during the summer months.

Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author, widely considered one of the greatest writers of Australia's colonial period. Born in rural New South Wales, Paterson worke ...

's famous poem '' The Man From Snowy River'' recalls this era. The cattle graziers have left a legacy of mountain huts scattered across the area. A story, which may be apocryphal, credits James Spencer, who settled in the area in the 1840s with saying 'What a perisher' when caught in a storm, giving origin to the Perisher area. The

in which Perisher is situated came into existence as the National Chase Snowy Mountains on 5 December 1906. In 1944 this became the Kosciuszko State Park, and then the Kosciuszko National Park in 1967. The development of

Skiing in Australia Skiing in Australia takes place in the Australian Alps in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as well as in the mountains of the island state Tasmania, during the Southern Hemisphere winter. Skiing ...

began at Kiandra in the Northern Snowy Mountains around 1861, but in the 20th century, the focus of

Skiing in New South Wales Skiing in New South Wales takes place in the high country of the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales during the Southern Hemisphere winter. Skiing in Australia began at the Australian gold rushes, goldrush town of Kiandra, New South Wales around ...

shifted towards the Mount Kosciuszko region. The first Kosciuszko Chalet was built at Charlotte Pass in 1930, giving relatively comfortable access to Australia's highest terrain. The growing number of ski enthusiasts heading to Charlotte Pass led to the establishment of a cafe at

, near Perisher Valley, around 1939, where horse-drawn sleighs would deliver skiers to be begin the arduous ski to the Kosciusko Chalet. It was the construction of the vast

Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme The Snowy Mountains Scheme, also known as the Snowy Hydro or the Snowy scheme, is a hydroelectricity and irrigation in Australia, irrigation complex in south-east Australia. Near the border of New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

from 1949 that really opened up the

for large scale development of a ski industry and led to the establishment of

Thredbo Thredbo is a village and ski resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately south of Sydney, accessible by the Alpine Way via Cooma, Berridale and Jindabyne. The village is built in the valley of the Th ...

and Perisher as leading Australian resorts.
The Construction of

Dam brought skiers to the isolated Guthega district and a rope tow was installed there in 1957. SnowMobileSnowys

As the number of skiers increased, services, facilities and means of access were improved, and Perisher's first lodges were constructed. Telemark and the Snow Revellers Club being completed in 1952. In the winter of 1953 the first oversnow transport operated to Perisher Valley. It was greeted by the inhabitants with cheers and celebrations. In 1958, Svere Kaaten, another pioneer of the mountains, built a sophisticated rope tow at North Perisher. Ken Murray, an old friend of Svere's built another rope tow and Perisher's first T-bar. Development continued and Mount Perisher Double Chair was opened in 1962. After the opening of the first chairlift, T-bar expansion and rope tows, the Perisher area thrived. Murray Publishers Pty Limited was taken over by Australian Consolidated Press in 1972 and Kosciuszko Alpine Resorts was formed. Murray Publishers then traded under the name of Perisher Ski Resort which incorporated the resorts of Perisher and Smiggins. In 1995, Murray Publishers Pty Limited and the Alpine Australia Group Pty Limited merged to form Perisher Blue Pty Limited. The last establishment of a major skifield in NSW came with the development of Blue Cow Mountain, Mount Blue Cow in the 1980s. In 1987 the Swiss designed Skitube Alpine Railway opened to deliver skiers from

Bullocks Flat Bullocks Flat (or Bullock's Flat) is a flat portion of the Thredbo Valley adjacent to the Thredbo River, in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. Skitube The flat is the site of the lower terminus of the Skitube Alpine Rail ...

, on the

Alpine Way Alpine Way is a rural road located in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The road connects in the east to the New South Wales- Victorian border in the west, crossing the Murray River near Bringenbrong and Upper Towong. ...

, to Perisher Valley and to Blue Cow, which also opened in 1987. The operators of Blue Cow purchased Guthega in 1991, and the new combined resort later merged with Perisher-Smiggins to become the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2009 Perisher had 48 lifts covering 1,245 hectares and four village base areas: Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega.

Snowy Mountains of Music

Since 2009, Perisher Valley has been the host of the Snowy Mountains of Music Festival, a folk festival created by the same people behind the Illawarra Folk Festival. The festival runs every year on the Queen's Birthday Weekend, which is also the official start of the Ski Season for the

. It acts as both a promotional festival for the Australian Snow Season, specifically, Perisher Valley, but also as an outlet for all sorts of Australian and International talent across a diverse range of genres.

Resort statistics

Perisher Valley is situated at above sea level. The summit of Mount Perisher above the village reaches of altitude. The highest lifted point is the Mt Perisher Six chairlift at 2,042m. According to statistics posted on the Perisher website in 2012, the recognised natural snow line in the region is at and over the previous 15 years, the average maximum snow depth throughout the Resort had been about . Average minimum temperature during winter was stated as . As of 2025, the four resort bases of the Perisher Ski Resort contain a skiable area of and are serviced by 45 lifts, making Perisher the largest Australian ski resort.

Gallery

File:Perisher Olympic Ski Trail.JPG, Olympic Ski Trail, leading to Perisher Valley from Back Perisher Mountain Image:creek_in_perisher.jpg, A creek in Perisher Image:snow_plow_machine.jpg , A

snow grooming Snow grooming is the process of manipulating snow for recreational uses with a tractor, snowmobile, piste caterpillar, truck or snowcat towing specialized equipment. The process is used to maintain ski hills, cross-country ski trails and snow ...

machine in Perisher Image:snow_toboggan_snowy_mountains.jpg, Toboggan field at Perisher File:Perisher and Blue Cow, Back Mt Perisher, July 2012.jpg, Looking towards Blue Cow from Perisher

References

{{Coord, 36, 24, S, 148, 25, E, type:city_region:AU-NSW, display=title Ski areas and resorts in New South Wales Towns in New South Wales Snowy Mountains Mountains of New South Wales Snowy Monaro Regional Council