Perisher Blue
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Perisher Blue is one of Australia's largest skiing resorts. It is located in the Snowy Mountains in the southeastern corner of New South Wales, about 600 kilometres southwest of Sydney.
The resort is an amalgamation of the Perisher, Smiggins Holes, Blue Cow and Guthega skifields and many lifts. The base elevation is about 1,640 metres above sea level and the summit elevation at the top of Mount Perisher is 2,054 metres. The resort is accessible by road and by the Skitube, Australia's only underground rack-railway. The main skiing period is in July and August, with the official season running from the second weekend in June to the first weekend of October. Perisher Blue belongs to one of Australia's richest men, Kerry Packer.
Perisher Blue consists of 50 lifts. One eight seater (built in 2003), two high-speed Quad detachable chairlifts, four fixed-grip Quad chairlifts, two Triple chairlifts, three Double chairlifts, 21 T-Bars, four J-bars, four ski carpets, and eight other types of skiier moving devices.
There are four villages that comprise the Perisher Blue resort:
- Perisher Valley, New South Wales, Elevation 1,720 m
- Smiggin Holes, New South Wales, Elevation 1,680 m
- Guthega, New South Wales, Elevation 1,640 m
- Blue Cow, New South Wales, Elevation 1,890 m
The run difficulties are graded, 22% beginner, 60% intermediate and 18% advanced.
The resort covers 12 km² and has 148 snow guns covering 4 km². Snow making usually commences in the last week of May.
Weather
Temperature
Taken at Perisher Valley, New South Wales, 36.40°S 148.41°E.
Average minimum
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
°C 5.6 5.4 3.9 1.0 -1.0 -3.6 -5.2 -4.2 -2.3 0.4 2.3 4.1 0.3
Average maximum
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
°C 18.1 18.0 15.3 11.0 7.4 3.5 2.1 2.8 5.2 9.4 13.2 15.1 9.7
Snow
Measurments taken at Spencer's Creek (approx 2 km from Perisher Valley), as these are the only reliable historical readings. Natural depths in the ski resort are similar. All depths in cm.
Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Season -------------------------------------------------------------- Mean 45.3 107.3 164.3 178.0 108.3 120.6 Std. dev. 42.3 60.0 64.1 68.6 72.2 54.3 Median 35.9 100.2 153.4 171.0 85.4 110.6 Range 188.0 212.6 281.7 252.7 260.9 202.8