If you are a great fan of skiing, do surely explore the ski runs of the Thredbo village in Australia, which are the longest ones during the winter. The Thredbo ski resort of the village resides in the Snowy Mountains of the New South Wales, particularly, in the valley of the Thredbo River ensuring some of the most breathtaking views. Besides skiing in winter, Thredbo is also a famous destination for hiking, rock climbing, abseiling, cross-country cycling, and its music festival during summer.

Set in the Kosciuszko National Park and designed as per a European skiing town, Thredbo Ski Resort offers the steepest terrain of all the ski resorts in Australia and the highest elevated point at 2037 m AHD. The town itself is located on the low altitude at 1365 m at the foot of the Crackenback Valley due to which the resort’s lower half is not permanently cover with the snow because of the prevailing higher temperatures. So, the average snowfall in the village is 2.04 m. Therefore, at night, when the temperature is below zero degree Celsius, the activity of snow making is one of the interesting must do things here.

Thredbo offers 14 lifts (3 hi-speed quads, 1 quad, 5 t-bars, 3 double chairs, and 2 snow runners). It boasts more than 50 ski runs and has a standard 3-colour grade system of which green is for beginners, blue for the intermediate, and black diamond for the advanced. The longest run starts atop the Karel’s T-Bar to Friday Flat, which is 5.9 km long and is made up of many trails. This is also the home of the highest access point and you can also expect for back country ski tours to Mt Kosciuszko. Looking for the longest single run? Well, that is the Crackenback Supertrail regarded as the longest run in the continent. The top elevation is 2037 m, while the base elevation is 1365 m. The total skiable area is 480 ha.

Season

June to September

Highlights/Activities

• Terrain Parks
  The Wombat World on Friday Flat for the small ones with bumps, fun boxes, and arches; the Easy Rider Park for beginners to intermediates with few jumps and boxes; T-bar at the base of the Cruiser chairlift, Intermediate park with many rails, boxes, big jumps, and a picnic table situated on the High Noon, Advanced Park for experienced skiers and boarders with large jumps, rails, and a wall ride situated on Antons; and Ridercross reachable from Sponars T-Bar & Exhibition.

• Thredbo Monster Bagjump
  This is the newest attraction to fly as high as possible. The huge bag is 20 x 20 m air filled cushion boasting a durable bomb proof cover placed behind a kicker for intermediate and advanced riders to push their jumps, spins, and flips with no danger. With 100 percent safety assured by the Bagjump, the intermediate and above skiers and boarders should not miss this opportunity to increase their riding level. A precondition to this is that all participants must obtain their wings by taking part in the Bagjump Induction Clinic organized by the Thredbo Snow Sports School for $40. And then, the fees for the jumps vary $40 to $275.

• Snowmaking/Grooming
  This ensures snow throughout the year as much as possible. Thredbo Ski Resort offers this great activity on its 65 hectares of trail and using a three stage automated process. This is done mainly at night to cover the lower half of the mountain and any other high traffic areas with snow. The automated areas are the Supertrail from the top of Snowgums Chair, Friday Flat, High Noon, the Cruiser area’s Walkabout and Ballroom, Sundowner, Lovers Leap bypass, World Cup, Friday Flat, Rossi Racecourse, and Lower True Blue.
• Mountain Biking
  Try out its stretches of cross country single track and fire trail around the village, the Thredbo golf course, and other trails connecting Thredbo to its adjacent villages. This is where you will also encounter the famous downhill track, the Cannonball Run accessed via the Kosciusko Express Quad-Chairlift up to Eagles Nest after which the course descends backwards to the bottom of the chairlift, some 600 m below. Offering 4.2 km of fast single track, rock gardens, a wall-ride, tight switchbacks, multiple drops, and several jumps, this is among the longest downhill trail on which several races take place in summer such as national rounds and the National Interschools Mountain Biking Competition. The Thredbo Mountain-cross (MTNX) is one more famous one on Friday Flat offering a start gate, multiple doubles, rollers, berms, moguls, gaps, step-downs and step-ups.

• Thredbo Leisure Centre
  Situated at 5 minutes walk from the Village Square, the Thredbo Leisure Centre is where you can push up high, tune your muscles, take a fitness class, swim in the Olympic sized pool, enjoy all favorite games in a huge hall, and climb a wall. For the kids and youngsters, attractions are Mission Inflatable, the blow up barrier course, and the notorious waterslide.

• The Gunbarrel Express is a removable quad chairlift that runs from the Friday Flat beginners’ area to a point on the Traverse trail between the Central Spur and the Merritts Spur. Crossing over other lifts, namely the Easy Does, this chairlift is ideal for accessing many runs and is also suitable to reach the Woodridge and Friday Flat lodges along with the car park areas. Two runs, The Glades and Pegasus, are located below its higher part whose lower half is steeper with many hidden obstacles such as a creek.
• Ski in the Buff event draws many visitors, which is organized on the third weekend in August every year in which a group of people ski down High Noon naked to gather money for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Flight and Shuttle Services

Aeropelican offers daily flight services from Sydney to Snowy Mountains Airport. From Canberra, Qantas and Virgin Blue service is comfortable to reach Thredbo. From the Snowy Mountains, the shuttle service to Thredbo is offered by the Snowy Mountains Airport Shuttles. In the village, a free shuttle bus service connects the Valley Terminal, Friday Flat and many ski lodges.

Distance/Time from Cities

• 500 km from Sydney
• 2.5 hours drive from Canberra

Accommodations

• Thredbo Alpine Hotel

• Rydges Hotels ACT for a Ski Stopover
• Winterhaus
• House of Ullr
• Alpenhorn
• The River Inn
• Bernti’s Mountain Inn
• The Denman