Industry News
Two more major Australian ski resorts are packing it in early. Falls Creek in Victoria and Charlotte Pass Snow Resort in New South Wales have both announced that this weekend will mark the end of their 2026 winter seasons — Falls Creek closing lifts on Sunday, September 6, and Charlotte Pass wrapping up one day earlier, on Saturday, September 5. Both resorts normally aim to stay open until the end of September or early October. This year, that means Falls Creek and Charlotte Pass are shutting their lifts roughly four weeks ahead of schedule. In Northern Hemisphere terms, this is akin to closing in the first week of March and reflects what some resorts in America’s West saw just six months ago.
Falls Creek broke the news in a video posted to social media from Alexander “Zanna” Stevenson of the resort’s lift experience team: “Due to the recent weather and snow conditions, the season will be wrapping up a little earlier than expected, with the last day of lift operations on Sunday, September 6,” Stevenson said. “It’s not quite the season that we were hoping for, but there’s still time to enjoy some final laps with us. Main Street and Home Runs are still open, and Panorama Park will stay open for as long as the conditions allow.” She thanked the community and staff for “some incredible moments along the way” throughout the 2026 winter.
Charlotte Pass, Australia’s highest-elevation ski village, delivered the news with a similarly bittersweet tone: “With a heavy heart, Charlotte Pass will stop its lifts on Saturday, 5 September, bringing an incredible season to a close,” the resort wrote. “Despite the challenges Mother Nature threw at us, it’s been a season to remember! Get your final turns in before the weekend and we’ll see you in 2027!”
Falls Creek and Charlotte Pass aren’t isolated cases — they’re the latest entries in what’s shaping up as one of the toughest seasons in recent Australian ski history. Selwyn Snow Resort was the first major casualty, closing on August 21 after a bout of heavy rain stripped away much of its remaining snow cover, with the resort’s mountain team saying they’d “worked tirelessly to give us every possible chance of reopening” before conceding to the conditions. Hotham announced it was closing this weekend earlier this week.
By August 24, the country’s two largest resorts were already showing the strain: Thredbo had just 19 of its 53 slopes open, while Perisher — Australia’s biggest ski resort — was running only 39 of its 100-plus runs.
The underlying numbers back up what resorts have been reporting anecdotally all season. Snow depth records at Spencers Creek, the benchmark measurement site for the Snowy Mountains dating back to 1954, show 2026’s Peak Season Average running roughly 45% below the 73-year historical average — making it the fifth-worst season on record, and the worst in the last two decades.
Falls Creek, located in Victoria’s Alpine National Park about 350 km northeast of Melbourne, is one of Australia’s largest and most integrated ski areas, with 450 hectares of terrain spread across roughly 90 runs and served by 15 lifts. Its terrain mix — about 80% beginner and intermediate — has long made it a favorite for families and cruisers, while Rocky Valley Lake supplies the water for its snowmaking system, which has been leaned on heavily in lean seasons like this one.
Charlotte Pass holds a different distinction: at 1,755 meters, its village sits at the highest base elevation of any ski resort in Australia, and it remains accessible only by over-snow transport during winter — no road access once the season is underway. The resort’s roots run deep, with the original Kosciuszko Chalet built there in 1930, making it one of the birthplaces of organized skiing in the Snowy Mountains. Despite its elevation advantage — typically a buffer against the kind of rain-driven conditions that plagued lower resorts this year — even Charlotte Pass wasn’t able to outlast a season this difficult.
With Selwyn, Falls Creek, and Charlotte Pass all done for the year, attention now turns to whether Australia’s remaining resorts — Mount Buller, Perisher, and Thredbo, all still projecting closures in early October — can hold on for their full scheduled runs. Given how the season has gone so far and the state of the snowpack, nothing is guaranteed.
For all Australian fans of Charlotte Pass and Falls Creek, it’s a call to come out and celebrate the last few days of their home resorts in what has been a tough season for the Australian Snowy Mountains.
What about Hotham???
“With Selwyn, Falls Creek, and Charlotte Pass all done for the year, attention now turns to whether Australia’s remaining resorts — Mount Buller, Perisher, and Thredbo, all still projecting closures in early October — can hold on for their full scheduled runs.”