Almost all of Australia's ski areas are reported to currently be under serious threat from the bush fires currently ravaging the country.
Charlotte Pass, Falls Creek, Hotham, Mount Buller and Mount Stirling Alpine Resorts and their surrounding communities are all under serious threat and in most cases have been evacuated due to the severe danger to life posed by the fires.
Three of the resorts (Mount Buller, Mount Hotham and Mount Stirling) are in the province of Victoria where premier Daniel Andrews has declared the first ever state of disaster. At Falls Creek all guests were advised to leave the resort by 10am Friday January 3rd.
Mt Buller issued this statement earlier today: "There have been two fires burning south east of the resorts for several days. The closest one at Rocky Nob was declared contained last night, which was the greatest concern for the two resorts. The further one at Bluff Creek has not been contained and while unlikely, it could sweep over the ridge towards the resorts with the predicted wind change. Water bombing recommenced for a couple of hours yesterday evening when the smoke cleared a little. A dozer line was put in to protect Bluff Hutt. The Police closed Mt Buller Road yesterday afternoon. Buller Ski Lifts has a team of 10 on mountain and has tested their generators and primed the snowguns so they can be activated if necessary."
In New South Wales the Fire Service has released fire spread prediction map for today, Saturday, January 4, including Perisher, Thredbo and Charlotte Pass where resorts have been running snowmaking systems to pump water on to dryland to help to try to protect it.
Rachael Oakes-Ash of the Australian-based global ski website snowsbest.com is running reports on the developing situation and has a piece on ways to help from afar: https://www.snowsbest.com/australia-bushfire-help/
(Stock image used)