Thredbo

Thredbo is a year-round holiday destination with some of the country’s longest and steepest trails, and housing the Australian Institute of Sport’s Alpine Training Centre since October 1996. Thredbo has the largest snow making system in the southern hemisphere and Australia’s highest peak, Mt Kosciusko (2228m), is accessible in summer on a 4 – 6 hour walk (round trip).

When the Thredbo ski resort in New South Wales opened in 1957 it was the realisation of the dreams of Tony Sponar, a Czech hydrographer who, having seen the area, felt sure that it was the ideal site for an alpine-style ski resort. Sponar’s choice has come to more than fulfill his dreams; continuous investment has seen the resort grow steadily and today Thredbo is probably the top ski resort in Australia. It certainly has the country’s highest lift point at 2037m, the greatest vertical drop of 672m, the longest ski run at 5.9km and the largest snowmaking facility in the southern hemisphere (although the south facing resort has a pretty good natural snow record).

Not content to take their natural and ski resources for granted, from the very start, local entrepreneurs have gone all out to attract sportsmen and tourists and Thredbo regularly plays host to prestigious events of all kinds, from world cup skiing and snowboarding to international jazz and blues festivals. The investment in the resort continues apace; the most recent addition is the Australian Institute of Sport /Thredbo Alpine Training Centre (AIS), a world-class, multi-purpose training facility with state-of-the-art facilities available for use by elite and not-so-elite athletes. Indeed, Australia’s Olympic team was resident at Thredbo for much of the run-up to the Sydney Games.