Is there actually any snow? What it’s really like on the mountains this year

OpinionTravel writerJuly 29, 2026 — 5:00amThere’s a thing people say this year in Australia when you tell them you’re going to the snow. “Oh yeah. Is there any?”Is there any snow? Because if you’ve been following the news, if you have even the smallest interest in ski holidays and mountains in our great country, you would probably have seen that things aren’t all that great in Australian resorts right now.Falls Creek. Snow depth this year is about half of the average, but that doesn’t mean there’s no fun to be had.El Nino is here, which has led to lower-than-average snowfall across resorts in Victoria and NSW. Climate change is also playing its part, with later-than-usual openings and higher-than-usual temperatures: Falls Creek and Mount Hotham in Victoria, and Thredbo in NSW recorded their hottest ever July temperatures.Reading the news and even looking at some non-official social media posts, it’s all doom and gloom at the mountains this year. Slushy snow, big patches of grass, long queues for terrible conditions.Except someone forgot to tell my kids that because they’re having the time of their lives.Sign up for the Traveller newsletterThe latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now.I’ve spent the past week in two Victorian ski resorts, Falls Creek and Mount Hotham (both owned by Vail Resorts, which sponsored the cost of my visits), to understand what it’s really like at the snow this year. Is it as bad as the news reports and even the weather reports would have you believe? Or is there more to the story?This is not an easy country to live in if you love the snow. Conditions are variable, even in the good years.Before last week, my kids had never seen snow. In their mind, snow was this mythical thing, something you see in American movies and cartoons, something associated with Christmas and yet not at all associated with our own experience of Christmas.Do my kids care about El Nino? They do not. As far as they’re concerned, this is as good as snow gets. This is the ultimate.They got to Falls Creek and there was snow everywhere – snow up there on the mountain, white and crisp, and snow down here in the car park, dirty and icy and shoved into a pile. Whatever. It’s snow. Let’s throw it at each other.The writer and family at the snow.Ben GroundwaterThere were icicles hanging off the railings on our veranda on the first evening. The kids sat in the hot tub and then jumped out to break icicles off and bring them back into the water and watch them melt. This went on for easily an hour.And then the next day they got suited up in the gear they had been so excited to buy, even weeks ago, and went on what was close to the most fun experience of their lives: the chairlift. You forget, as a regular skier or snowboarder, that it doesn’t have to be all about the powder days and the vertical to enjoy yourself. Actually, just riding on a chairlift is really cool if you’ve never done it before.My kids had ski lessons. They built a snowman. They learned “pizza and chips” – the shapes you make with your skis to stop and start – and then they sat down with their new buddies at Snow Club and ate pizza and chips. I don’t know if you have any five-year-olds in your life right now, but if you do, you will understand that this is a perfect day. No notes.My partner Jess has never skied before, and she got to ski. She got to learn pizza and chips as well, and then – being completely honest here – we adults sat down at the Cloud 9 restaurant at the top of Falls Creek and also ate pizza and chips.I’ve been lucky to do plenty of skiing and snowboarding around the world in my life, so I know good conditions from bad conditions. (I’ve also spent a lot of time in Australian ski resorts, so I definitely know good conditions from bad conditions.)This is not an easy country to live in if you love the snow. Conditions are variable, even in the good years. I always say that during every season in Australia there are at least two weeks when conditions are world-class – you just have no idea when those two weeks will be. Maybe June. Maybe September. Who knows?Mount Hotham officially opened its winter season this year on June 6; by June 30 its base of natural snow was still zero centimetres. As in, none. That natural base is now 43cm, but that’s about half of its 34-year average for this time of year. It’s tough out there.And yet that favourite adage among skiers and snowboarders remains true: a bad day at the snow is better than a good day at work.There’s still plenty of fun to be had out there, and plenty of people having it. The snow guns are blasting, topping up the natural snow with man-made. Most of the terrain is open. There are wide groomers to cruise down, and off-piste sections to explore. The terrain parks are functional; people are probably falling over on them as you read these words. Your family can still create winter memories, shared experiences that will become part of family lore.Australian ski fields are not as good as Japan or North America, but they’re also a lot closer and you don’t have to fly there, which certainly helps if you have a vested interest in combating climate change. And they’re open now.Is there snow here? Yes. And for some people – particularly little people – that’s all you need to know.The writer visited Falls Creek and Mount Hotham as a guest of Vail Resorts. More:Ski holidaysOpinionFor subscribersFalls CreekTravel tipsMount HothamBen Groundwater is a Sydney-based travel writer, columnist, broadcaster, author and occasional tour guide with more than 25 years’ experience in media, and a lifetime of experience traversing the globe. He specialises in food and wine – writing about it, as well as consuming it – and at any given moment in time Ben is probably thinking about either ramen in Tokyo, pintxos in San Sebastian, or carbonara in Rome. Follow him on Instagram @bengroundwaterConnect via email.From our partners