Thredbo Ski Resort

Of the Australian ski resorts, Thredbo is the best all-rounder. Thredbo Ski Resort is also rather cosmopolitan, and a place to ski Australia in style. The Thredbo Village has some rather chic bars and restaurants, the skiing and snowboarding is pretty good by Australian ski resort standards, and you have all the ingredients for a trendy spot for the Sydney-siders and Canberrans. Yet Thredbo isn’t just for the exclusive partygoers wearing spiffy outfits. It also attracts hard core ski and snowboard bums and has a traditional ski culture as well as family friendliness.

Pros and Cons of Thredbo Resort

Pros 

• Thredbo is rather sophisticated for an Australian ski resort.
• Thredbo has a nice village with a range of restaurants, bars and shops.
• The Thredbo Ski Resort has a good cross section of terrain, and it’s particularly great for intermediate riders with some fall line runs that are long by Australian standards.
• Thredbo has very good lift infrastructure for an Australian ski resort.

Cons

• Be prepared to open your wallet wide. Most skiing in Australia is expensive, and Thredbo is no exception.
• If you compare Thredbo to Perisher, it has some steeps but not much in the way of true expert terrain compared to Mt Hotham or even Mt Buller in Victoria.

Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective

• The base elevation is very low so Thredbo has nice long runs, but the snow towards the end of the runs may be thin or sloppy, but then snow conditions at any of the Aussie ski resorts can be incredibly variable.  
• Much of the Thredbo accommodation provides the convenience of being able to drive your car close to the door, but there is very little ski-in ski-out accommodation, and none if you want to stay in the thick of the après action in Thredbo Village.
• It’s partly accessible off the Ikon Pass, and season passes (especially if combined with an Ikon Pass) are rather costly which probably contributes to Thredbo not being quite as crowded as Perisher.

Thredbo Ski and Snowboard Terrain

Thredbo Resort proudly has the longest vertical drop of the Aussie ski resorts and at 672 metres, the vertical is almost double that of Perisher (and about a quarter of Chamonix France and Zermatt Switzerland!). The vertical is a blessing for those that adore long thigh burning runs. The Crackenback Supertrail (now just called Supertrail) is 3.7km long and great for lots of speedy turns, and if you get the Crackenback waxed you can go even faster!

The 480 hectares of Thredbo skiing terrain provides a reasonably good mix of slopes for all ability levels, although it has a bias to intermediate riders with groomed cruisers and some steep-ish blues. The trail stats are beginner 16%, intermediate 67%, and advanced 17%. Friday Flat is aptly named and includes a dedicated beginners’ area where novices can plough into each other undisturbed.

Thredbo Ski Resort has a variety of black runs, as well as some good off-piste style riding in Golf Course Bowl. The trail map doesn’t differentiate between single and double black diamond terrain, possibly because none of the black runs are worthy of being awarded another diamond.

And even though the resort claims to have the steepest overall ski terrain in Australia (which isn’t saying much), the expert terrain isn’t a patch on that found at Mt Hotham. However like its Victorian counterpart, Thredbo does excel in the backcountry stakes. Thredbo Ski Resort also has a few terrain parks for different abilities.

Thredbo Snow

Like all the other Australian ski resorts, Thredbo is not renowned for its snow quantity or quality, and the latter can include heavy powder, slurpee-like snow or Thredbo threadbare cover. Thredbo Resort has a few claims to fame in Australia: the highest lifted terrain which is via a T-bar at 2,037 metres (Perisher has the highest chair lift at 2,034m); the lowest base area on the mainland at 1,365 metres; and the longest vertical. Thankfully Thredbo’s other claim to fame is having some of the most snowmaking facilities in the southern hemisphere. Snowmaking covers 15% of the terrain, and top to bottom skiing and snowboarding is generally possible but not always pretty.

Thredbo skiing can be a lot of fun, but it comes as no great surprise that a lot of Aussies go skiing in Japan during their summer to get a powder fix.

Where is Thredbo NSW?

The Thredbo Ski Resort and associated Thredbo Village at the base of the slopes is located within the Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains.

Thredbo is 492km southwest of Sydney (5 to 6.5 hour drive), 213km southwest of Canberra, and 546km northeast of Melbourne. Most visitors drive in from the east and the access road is relatively easy, in part because it’s not at high elevation.

Thredbo Accommodation

There are lots of options for Thredbo accommodation including hotels, catered lodges, apartments and chalets. Much of the on-mountain accommodation at Thredbo is tailored to upscale budgets.

Thredbo Accommodation Listings

Lake Crackenback Resort is 16.5km to the northeast of Thredbo and provides lovely studios, apartments and chalets. Lake Crackenback is also well positioned to visit Perisher because the SkiTube station is next to the resort.

Another option is to stay down in the town of Jindabyne and drive up each day.

Ski Resort Facilities

Thredbo Village has various amenities and shops. There are plenty of restaurants and bars, including après ski pubs and dignified wine and cocktail bars. On the slopes there are also various eateries including the Eagles Nest, the highest restaurant in Australia.

Whilst snow play is not really feasible, Thredbo is somewhat family friendly and has a well developed ski school.

Thredbo or Perisher?

Why ski Thredbo vs Perisher? Perisher Ski Resort is great for families who want to stay in their lodge in the evenings and those who enjoy mostly mellow slopes. Perisher has much more terrain, with a predominant theme of meandering short intermediate runs that are ideal for low to mid intermediate riders. Thredbo skiing includes some steeper fall line long groomers ideal for strong intermediates, some proper black runs, and overall it has more diversity of terrain and is more picturesque.

Both Thredbo and Perisher attract the crowds, although Perisher is more crowded in part due to the inexpensive Epic Pass, whereas the Thredbo season pass is very expensive.

In comparing Thredbo and Perisher with respect to the villages, Perisher doesn’t really have a village, but rather a large collection of ski lodges that are not in close proximity to each other. The “Perisher Village” has very limited options for evening dining or drinking. It sits above the snow line, so it’s ideal for those that want the full snow experience and activities such as cross country skiing. It takes a lot of effort for most overnight visitors to travel to their lodge (Skitube then oversnow transport) compared to Thredbo.

You can stroll around Thredbo Village and it’s more vibrant with its shops, après ski scene, and some nightlife. The Thredbo Village is typically not snow covered and it doesn’t cater for snow play or tobogganing.

You can also see our Australian ski resort ratings to see how we’ve rated the two resorts on various factors.