Industry News
Australia’s most northern snow resort, Selwyn, announced today that they will reopen for tobogganing tomorrow, August 12, 2023. The resort was forced to close almost two weeks ago after an unseasonably warm late July period, that saw its snow cover eroded.
Selwyn has been having a tough few years after burning to the ground during the 2019/20 bushfires. Then Covid struck and a reopening was not on the cards. After rebuilding the resort entirely, Selwyn was slated to reopen last year, but an early May snowfall left the resort inaccessible to the maintenance crew to finish critical electrical work. Finally this year Selwyn was ready to reopen but the Australian ski season has so far been plagued with late natural snowfall and above average temperatures in July that eroded the snow cover, forcing the resort to close on July 30, 2023.
Selwyn is located 2.5 hours south west of Australia’s capital Canberra at an altitude of 1,492 m (4,895 ft) and reaches a top elevation of 1,614 ft (5,295 ft). The northern location combined with relatively low altitude means that the resort can have trouble maintaining a good natural snow cover.
Thankfully the Snow Gods smiled on Australian resorts this week and Selwyn saw around 5cm (2 inches) of snowfall yesterday. The resort’s mountain operations  team were running the brand new TechnoAlpin snow cannons all night and conditions are looking favourable for more snowmaking tonight, so the resort has announced its plans to reopen tomorrow.
The resort will only open for tobogganing tomorrow, however Selwyn mountain operations will continue to assess the conditions for skiing and snowboarding in the near future.
An all day Toboggan Pass at Selwyn is AUD25 (USD 16), granting foot passenger access to the New Chum Double Chair and use of the resort’s dedicated tobogganing area on New Chum. Toboggans are included in the access pass. Tobogganing will be in operation between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
