For many of us, one of the most annoying things about winter is that it doesn’t last long enough!
Last winter was a particular case in point; as if the usual four months from mid-December to mid-April at most resorts wasn’t bad enough, last winter didn’t really get started until January in many areas as the snow came late, cutting the ski season to little more than three months.
Of course you can find ski areas open in to May and glacier areas where you can ski all year round (see our separate advice on summer snow 2016!); you can even ski indoors on machine-made snow anytime, but it’s not quite the same.
So how about that dream trip this year? Down to the southern hemisphere? The ski season tends to start in June and last until September or October. There are about 100 ski areas to choose south of the equator (compared to more than 5,000 on the northern side), so it’s a lot more special to be skiing at one of them in July or August. Some instructors never really see summer as they just follow winter around the planet.
Credit – Mark Lasseter of Southamericaski
You have four continents (that’s one more than in the northern hemisphere), in fact maybe five (some say New Zealand is on its own mostly submerged continent of Zealandia), and six countries to choose from when picking your destination.
Here’s all you need to know:
AFRICA
You may be able to count all the ski areas in Africa on the fingers of your two hands, but it is the only continent with lift-served ski areas in both northern and southern hemispheres.
In our summer you can ski at small areas in South Africa and Lesotho, both heavily reliant on snowmaking – so much snow that they can go all winter without seeing any natural snowfall – but equally both sometimes seeing big snowstorms and fresh powder (up to a metre in 36 hours has been reported).
Credit – Ski Portillo
Tiffindell in South Africa’s North Eastern Cape was created back in 1993 when some innovative young men who had studied snowmaking in the USA returned home to set the centre up. Afriski in Lesotho is newer but on a similar scale.
The ski season in southern Africa is usually earlier than the rest of the hemisphere’s resorts. Both areas usually open at the end of May or start of June and close for the season at the end of August or the start of September.
AUSTRALIA
Australia is home to a few more than a dozen ski areas – all located in New South Wales or Victoria, along with a couple of fairly basic ski hills down on the island of Tasmania.
Snow cover is usually better than you might expect from Australia’s hot, dry reputation, and in an average to good season bases often reach around the metre mark after a month or so and stay there throughout the winter.
You can usually ski from early June to late September here. In fact, all the main ski areas open for the Queen’s Birthday weekend celebrations in Australia at the start of June, regardless of whether there’s any snow.
Credit – Ski Portillo and Adam Clark
The big-name resorts here include Mt Hotham, Falls Creek, Thredbo and Perisher. The latter, which is the country’s biggest by several measures including uplift with a world-class 47 lifts, was purchased last year by the mighty American Vail Resorts group, which owns around a dozen resorts including big-name centres in Colorado, California and Utah, clearly seeing the possibilities to grow destination business from Australia.
ANTARCTICA
Can you ski Antarctica? Well, there are plenty of snow-covered mountains and indeed icebergs to hike up if you can get there … and find a rental shop.
Some companies occasionally offer Antarctic ski touring trips for a high price tag, and there are reported to be a few simple rope tows operational at several Antarctic bases for use by resident scientists.
The only known permanent drag lift was set up in 1988 at Villa Las Estrellas, one of only two civilian communities on the continent, by the Chilean Ski Federation. The 200m Doppelmayr drag lift had a vertical rise of 60m. It’s not known if it still operates.
SOUTH AMERICA
South America is home to nearly 50 ski areas of various sizes, the vast majority in the Andes mountains, divided between Argentina and Chile. Around half a dozen of these aim to offer the type of resort experience you might experience north of the equator.
Credit – Mark Lasseter of Southamericaski
Three ski areas close to Chile’s capital, Santiago, including famous Valle Nevado, originally built by the French and looking very like something they’d have built in the Alps around the same time as Avoriaz or Les Arcs, promote themselves as the Les 3 Valleés of the southern hemisphere.
Across the border in Argentina the ski area of Catedral near Bariloche is home to gondolas and six-seater chairlifts among its 40-odd lifts. It was the first ski area built in Argentina, some 80 years ago, and is South America’s largest.
As with Japan and Utah in the northern hemisphere, Chile seems to have the edge when it comes to powder. Of course you can never be certain from one season to the next, but Portillo certainly has a reputation as the southern hemisphere’s powder Mecca while resorts like Las Leñas in Argentina can be great and, in terms of terrain within its boundaries (not all lift-accessible), it can claim to be the biggest in the southern hemisphere, but getting a good snowfall seems much more problematic.
Credit – Morten Anderson
There are many other interesting choices too. Cerro Castor was created quite recently down near Tierra del Fuego at the very southern end of the continent, using quad chairlifts imported from Andorra. Sadly, the world’s former highest ski area, a single tow lift more than 5,000m up above Bolivia, was an early victim of climate change, and the snowfield where it used to operate melted away a few years ago, handing the highest ski area title to Asia and China.
ZEALANDIA (sometimes known as Oceania)
New Zealand is often the ultimate goal for serious skiers and boarders from Blighty. Along with some superb terrain and excellent heli-skiing, there’s that Lord of the Rings approved scenery.
There are more than two dozen ski areas here, although a sizeable proportion are “club fields” run by local enthusiasts. Of the bigger areas, Mt Ruapehu on the North Island combines the centres of Whakapapa and Turoa and, as well as being the country’s largest centre and one of the three biggest south of the equator, also often has the southern hemisphere’s longest ski season, through to “Snow-vember” some years.
Credit – Ski Portillo
There’s a concentration of ski areas around the self-styled year-round adventure capital of the southern hemisphere too: Queenstown. Choose from Cardrona, Coronet Peak and The Remarkables.
Other famous names include Mt Hutt – and Treble Cone, which is one of the most famous in the skiing world for its steep skiing and its spectacular views.
So there you have it, a quick tour of the best ski resorts in the southern hemisphere. Now you know them all, your only problem, just the same as in the northern winter, is deciding which one to head to first.
Info
Afriski: afriski.net
Cardrona: cardrona.com
Catedral: catedralaltapatagonia.com
Cerro Castor: cerrocastor.com
Coronet Peak: nzski.com
Falls Creek: skifalls.com.au
Las Leñas: laslenas.com
Mt Hotham: hotham.com.au
Mt Hutt: nzski.com
Perisher: perisher.com.au
Portillo: skiportillo.com
The Remarkables: nzski.com
Ruapehu: mtruapehu.com
Thredbo: thredbo.com.au
Tiffindell: skisouthafrica.co.za
Treble Cone: treblecone.com
Valle Nevado: vallenevado.com/en/
