Extract from ABC News
- In short: One staff member at a Tasmanian ski field says "we haven't had a good season in a number of years now … it's getting a lot harder"
- What's next? A climate researcher says Australia is "seeing increasingly unreliable snow" and warns the "really big snow years … will become increasingly rare"
It is the peak of the ski season, but bare mountains with small white patches are all the eye can see on Ben Lomond in Tasmania.
The record high temperatures this winter have resulted in the lack of snow all over Australia, with the mainland alpine resorts pumping snow machines to cover ski runs.
The main mountain for skiing in Tasmania hasn't operated ski lifts for weeks, despite it being peak season.
Manager of the Ben Lomond Ski Lifts, Ben Mock, said it was the worst snow cover he had seen in 40 years.
"I haven't seen a season like this in quite a long time," he said.
"We've had quite a bit of rain, which has taken out our snow pack all over the mountain.
"We're not alone, the mainland resorts are suffering as well."
Thredbo, Perisher and Falls Creek have all recorded higher temperatures and less snowfall.
David Jones, senior climate researcher at the Bureau of Meteorology, said the situation tracked with what scientists had been saying for decades.
"The ACT and lots of Victoria, south-east and south New South Wales had their warmest July on record," Dr Jones said.
"Years like 2023 are going to become more frequent and more common, and in future it will actually be even warmer.
"Generally speaking, one degree will raise a snow line by 150 metres, perhaps a little bit higher.
"We will continue to get snow … but what we're seeing is increasingly unreliable snow across Australia."
Dr Jones said the "really big snow years, or better snow years like last year, they're going to become increasingly rare".
Snow-makers can only do so much
Ski resorts across Australia are increasingly relying on snow-making machines to maintain the length of the ski season.
General manager of Ben Lomond Snow Sports, John Marshall, owns the snow machines at the base of the summit.
Mr Marshall said temperatures below -2.5 degrees with low humidity were needed to produce snow.
"We don't always get those conditions, so it doesn't always work perfectly," Mr Marshall said.
In July, the average minimum temperature on Ben Lomond was 1.8 degrees higher, bringing the average temperature to 0.3 degrees, making it increasingly difficult to use the snow machines.
Higher up the mountain, Mr Mock invested half a million dollars to put four bigger snow machines on the mountain — and said they helped the start of the season in June.
"They have made a massive difference, we have been able to trade longer, have our lifts open for longer, for at least another two to three weeks than what we would have had with natural snow," Mr Mock said.
"Over the last couple of weeks, it has dramatically reduced.
"We have been surviving on people coming up on day trips and having a look at the surroundings."
Mr Mock's view is "it's a lot like farming, that's how I view things with the ski industry".
"We might have a great year with some crops for the farms, and other years we might not."
'I think climate change is going to take skiing away'
The other mountain in Tasmania for skiing hasn't opened all season.
Described as the most natural and cheapest ski field in Australia, Mount Mawson is a volunteer-run operation.
A two-hour drive from Hobart, it is a popular weekend skiing destination for southern Tasmania.
Karen Davis, a volunteer with the Southern Tasmania Ski Association, has been skiing on Mount Mawson since the 1960s.
Her parents helped build the ski field 60 years ago and she remembers a time when the mountain in Mount Field National Park was full of snow.
"We would be up here every single weekend skiing and it was fabulous," she said.
"It's been significantly different this year."
Ms Davis fears that the mountain she grew up on is being forever changed.
"I think climate change is going to take skiing away from us," she said.
"We can't make snow because we have no access to running water or electricity."
The Southern Tasmanian Ski Association relies on selling ski-lift tickets to provide the money to pay for insurance and maintenance of the field.
"It's very hard because the insurance costs are very high and that's where most of the money goes that we earn on selling the tickets," Ms Davis said.
For the first time in the association's 60-year history, they have created a donation portal online to help with costs.
"We haven't had a good season in a number of years now … it's getting a lot harder, it's not fabulous."
According to data collated by former CSIRO scientist Simon Allen, the snowfall on Mount Mawson has almost halved since the 1960s.
Mr Allen said his graphs "really do tell the story".
Ms Davis said the community of volunteers at Mount Mawson had hope for the future, knowing that snow seasons vary — but fear the opportunity for future generations to be able to ski on the mountain may be lost.
"It's not going to be something that our children's children are necessarily going to be able to experience," she said.
"Unless they are in a location that is higher than where we are … or have access to places that actually can make snow."
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