After a strong early July storm cycle delivering around 37 centimeters (15 inches) of snow in just 48 hours, Perisher Resort, Australia, is poised to spin its first chairlift of the 2026 season: the Village 8 chair on Front Valley. Following 25 centimeters (10 inches) from Thursday into Friday, July 2-3, and another 12 centimeters (5 inches) from Friday into Saturday, July 3-4, webcams today show a resort finally transitioning from a conveyor-and–limited T-bar operation to early chairlift access, with grooming underway and lift status indicating imminent opening. Crowds have started to form at the V8 gates ahead of the season opening.
At present, Perisher has only been operating surface lifts — including the Front Valley Conveyor at the base, Harry & Herman’s Conveyor at Smiggin Holes, and the Sturt and Mitchell T-Bars running only partway up their lines due to limited snow coverage. Pedestrians could take the Perisher Express to the mid-station but no chairlift-accessed skiing was possible — until today. With overnight snowfall combining with sustained cold temperatures, snowmaking has also been ramped up across key Front Valley infrastructure, accelerating base depth where natural coverage alone has been marginal.
Today’s resort update confirmed continued accumulation and improving conditions:
“The snowstorm continues to bring the goods! We’ve had another 12cm, with most of that falling throughout the day yesterday. The cooler temps also meant we were able to fire up the snow guns yesterday and throughout the night, helping to build on what Mother Nature has delivered.”
With mostly sunny conditions forecast today and a top of around 3°C, alongside light winds up to 20km/h, conditions are lining up for what is expected to be the first chairlift operations of the season. Lift queues were already forming on webcams this morning, with early-season snow seekers gathering in anticipation of the first chair turns of 2026.
function sbSubscribe() {
var email = document.getElementById(‘sb-email’).value;
if (!email || !email.includes(‘@’)) {
document.getElementById(‘sb-email’).style.borderColor = ‘#D7424E’;
return;
}
var url = ‘https://snowbrains.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=1f247afab0a546e393c022f9a&id=bcbf6caf6b&f_id=003bf2e0f0’;
var data = new FormData();
data.append(‘EMAIL’, email);
data.append(‘tags’, ‘2188762’);
data.append(‘b_1f247afab0a546e393c022f9a_bcbf6caf6b’, ”);
fetch(url, { method: ‘POST’, body: data, mode: ‘no-cors’ });
document.getElementById(‘sb-form-wrap’).style.display = ‘none’;
document.getElementById(‘sb-success’).style.display = ‘block’;
}
Further lift openings across the resort will depend on continued snow accumulation and snowmaking progress, but early indicators suggest Front Valley is now entering its first true lift-served phase of the season. It is probably the latest start of the V8 in living memory but that does not take away from the enthusiasm that Australia’s ski season is finally underway.
