Now that’s a phrase you don’t hear often ‘Australian alps’. Yes, it’s true: Australia, the home of arid deserts, perfect beaches and the odd rainforest also boasts its own range of ski-able mountains. Two ranges in fact, however, unfortunately there was only enough on the weekend for me to visit the NSW set.
On Friday afternoon my wife, myself and another couple took the afternoon off work to drive south 6.5 hours (theoretically, 8.5 when you take a wrong turn) drive to Jindabyne: gateway to the Snowy Mountains. We arrived late and basically hit the hay immediately to maximise energy levels for a full day’s skiing the following day.
Jyndabyne, The Gateway
From afar, Jindabyne appears to be another sleepy town in inland NSW. But get up close and Jindabyne immediately presents itself as an adventure town and there are no two ways about it. In the winter it is filled with ski bunnies using it as a base for their daily commute to either Thredbo or Perisher ski resorts.
Every second shop is either selling snow gear or hiring snow gear. (We hired ours from a petrol station). Jindabyne is situated on a hill above beautiful Lake Jindabyne (or the ‘old town’ that was permanently flooded to make way for a large dam) at the foothills of the Snowy Mountains.
I expect that there are actually few people born and bred in Jindabyne, as most people seem to flock there just for winter or for a season of their life in which they’ll spend a few years skiing/snowboarding in the winter and wakeboarding, hiking or mountain biking in the summer. Sounds like a pretty good life actually.
The Lodge
By some stroke of luck I stumbled across Mad Moose’s Guest House as I was preparing to book some other dodgy bunk bed room (complete with heater and a collapsable wall). The place was an absolute godsend and possibly the best value in Jindabyne.
At $300 a night, we had 4 people in a warm, comfortable, self-contained room with a gorgeous view of Lake Jindabyne. This also included in amazing home-cooked big (BIG) breakfast, which we all struggled to finish.
I would say the place is worth it just for that because not only was it delicious but also super convenient. They also have a deal to get 20% off ski hire so the value just continues. Next time I stay in Jindabyne this is absolutely the first place I will check.
The Mountain
Saturday morning, after picking up our lift passes and joining the masses on the 30 minute drive to the ski fields we were met with the most beautiful day for skiing. Not the best snow-making day but I guess we just had to settle for blue skies and clear views from Australia’s highest lifted point.
Being the only experienced skier in our little group I was coming and going between Friday Flat (the aptly named beginner area) and the rest of mountain constantly. This was surprisingly fine, because when you’re on the mountain, all you’re doing is going up and down and across so wherever you’re headed, you’ll be on a good run.
Thredbo is not a huge ski resort by any means. I’ve been to a few and it is by far the smallest with only 14 lifts. One can easily ski from one side to the other a few times in a day, which I did. With that said though, there is no shortage of challenging pistes with good snow cover for skiers of all abilities.
Thredbo also boasts Australia’s longest run, which is an absolute riot. I’m a reasonably fast skier and it took me 20 minutes to ski from top to bottom. That’s with a few breaks of course, it’s damn hard work!
After a huge day skiing and exploring the mountain we headed back to Jindabyne for a big night on the town. Well, even if I wanted that to be true, there is no way our bodies would have allowed it.
We had dinner at the Banjo Patterson Inn because I wanted to try the Kosciuszko Pale Ale. For a craft beer it was actually very bland. I opted for a more palatable Squires Hop Thief after that to get some flavour into me. A big day, the second beer, and half of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was more than enough to knock me out by about 9:45.
The following day the weather was much less clear, but with this came thick snow flakes falling from the sky. The type you can actually catch on your tongue and feel it land. This provided a much needed cover for some of the runs that had become a bit icy with the sun of the last 3 or 4 days. Especially through the afternoon, as the wind blew snow over the peak from the other side of the mountain, the snow cover improved, giving the areas up near The Basin and Crackenback some real nice powder. It was an afternoon that just did not want to end. 8 hours and a traffic jam on the Hume Highway later we made it back ready to start a new week.
It was a huge weekend to drive 8 hours each way but completely worth it. The ratio of my love for skiing to the frequency that I ski is about 100:1 so all this weekend has done is inspire me to come back next year for longer. Much, much longer.
I had no idea you could ski in Australia. Wow !