Aussie skiers are in for the deal of a lifetime, after US snowfield giant Vail purchased the Perisher resorts in the NSW Snowy Mountains.
Vail, which owns fields across the US, announced the agreement last week to purchase the resorts of Perisher Valley, Smiggin Holes, Blue Cow and Guthega for a cool AU$176 million.
The best part of the deal is that anyone who holds a $749 Perisher’s Freedom Pass, will get unlimited access to Vail’s US resorts, which include Breckenridge and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, Park City and Canyons in Utah and Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in Lake Tahoe.
Vail clearly wants Aussies over at their US resorts, with CEO Rob Katz saying in a statement, “Australia is one of the most important international markets for ski resorts across the Northern Hemisphere, generating an estimated more than 1 million skier visits annually to resorts in North America, Japan and Europe.”
With snowfalls at Aussie resorts famously unpredictable – Perisher has had falls ranging from 7 cm to 384 cm in the last five years – Vail has seen an opportunity to tap into the growing and lucrative market of Aussies who want a reliable snow season with less chance of interference by global warming.
“Mountains in the northern hemisphere are generally more luxurious, bigger, better mountains than those in the southern hemisphere,” Katz told Reuters.
“In Australia, for somebody looking at Perisher and saying ‘should I buy a pass?’ on worries maybe the season won’t be that good this year, they now know they can also ski in the United States for free.”
The US ski season runs from November to April – time to start planning.
