The Selwyn Snow Resort in New South Wales has quietly opened early for the 2019 Australian ski season and in so doing has also become the first in the Southern Hemisphere to do so.
The small family-run ski area opened without fanfare today, more than a week earlier than its planned opening day and 24 hours before the country's biggest ski area, Vail-Resorts owned Perisher, opens tomorrow.
A third Australian area, Mt Buller, will open on Saturday. Both it and Selwyn are running their lifts for free through this unexpected early opening weekend.
Australian resorts had been due to open for the season in just over a week's time on 8th June but an unusually heavy snowstorm this week, that has brought up to 65cm snowfalls to the country's ski slopes, has lead the three resorts to open early. The snow is due to ease off over the weekend but it currently looks like more will arrive next week.
Elsewhere New Zealand's Cardrona and Whakapapa ski areas are due to open on Saturday for the season, they were the first of the scheduled southern hemisphere resorts to open for 2019. The snow has just started to accumulate there.
It is also snowing in the Andes with resorts due to start opening there on June 8th. Finally, ski areas will start opening in southern Africa in Lesotho and South Africa in a week's time on June 6th.