For regular skiers, we forget how daunting the first time on snow can be. So many decisions to make and the order of doing things is important, it can make or break a fun trip and can blow out the costs. Tickets, lessons, renting gear and where to go when you hit the slope, it’s all a process as Molly Maskew and her family discovered recently at Perisher.
When 11-year-old Molly Maskew moved from England to Sydney in 2019, skiing wasn’t part of her world. But this year, invited by a crew of local friends and their families from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Molly saw snow for the first time and took her first turns at Perisher Resort.
The First Decision
Her friends gave her one piece of advice straight up, start with lessons and they need to be booked in advance to secure a spot in a class. The choices can be down to your budget, private lessons are always more expensive, like any sport or activity you get a private lesson in. And group lessons can be more fun than solo but the instructor is teaching the class and not just you so the progress is not as fast, but then again that’s up to your ability, motivation and persistence.
You can choose a half day or full day lesson, depending on how you want to spend your day. Molly’s friends urged her to choose just a half day so they could build snowmen at lunch and muck about with her on the slopes in the afternoons. Perisher offers first-timer lessons both at Smiggins and at Perisher itself. Molly’s group were skiing Perisher that day, so she joined the lesson at that location so it was easier to meet up afterwards.
“I saw a guy walking around in tight ski pants and wondered how he kept warm,” Molly laughs.
Getting Around Perisher
There are plenty of options depending on your budget, your confidence driving in snow conditions or where you are staying on holiday. Catching the bus from Jindabyne is easy (between June and October) and there’s plenty of parking at The Station, where the bus starts and you’ll need to book ahead. Catching the Skitube (train) is also easy and there’s heaps of parking at the Bullocks Flat terminal. Parking at Smiggins? A free shuttle runs straight to Perisher and vice versa. Make sure you wear walking shoes with good grip, or apres boots, and stash anything extra in a backpack at ski school. Depending on your arrival time in the car parks at Perisher or Smiggins, parking spots fill up quickly. If you want to sleep in and turn up later in the day, expect to walk a bit further to the Perisher centre. That’s up to you.
Tickets and Lift Passes at Perisher
When it comes to lift passes, the best value is to book online at least two weeks in advance. If you’re skiing with season pass holders (Epic Australia Pass) and you don’t have one yourself, ask an Epic Australia Pass holder to Bring a Mate discount code with you. They get up to 10 passes to share with friends each season. First-timer bundles are also available, which include lessons, rentals, and lift tickets.
Where to Get Rental Gear at Perisher
Molly’s family chose a first-timer bundle of rental equipment, picking up skis and boots from the lower level of the Perisher Centre. The perk of renting on-site, especially if you’ve never seen snow before or it’s been awhile, is that it’s easy to swap over gear because of sizing or fit. The trick is to arrive with plenty of time before your class as trying on gear takes time. “We were glad to arrive early just as it opened, a queue developed quickly behind us,” says her mum, Lorraine. Her advice? “If staying in Jindabyne, I’d suggest renting gear in town. It saves worrying about queues, although we were lucky this time.”
Learning to Ski at Perisher
The classes are a mix of ages “The slopes looked very fun. I was worried I would be the only 11-year-old in the class, but then other kids my age joined,” Molly says. On day one, Molly’s group learned the basics; pizza wedge on the flat, then a tiny slope, before moving to the magic carpet. “We learned how to make a pizza, then did runs by ourselves, then laps over and over again.”
By day two, Molly was already turning down the hill with good progression. “The instructor put red poles in the snow and we did a game of who could do the most turns without hitting one. I had a few falls, I wasn’t very good at stopping but it was fun.”
Some of her friends booked private lessons and progressed a little faster. “I’d definitely recommend that if you can, or a semi-private,” says Lorraine.
After lunch sessions were spent with Molly’s friend group, the girls mucked around on snow having a blast and doing (ski or snowboard) laps at Blue Cow on the run underneath the Blue Cow Resort Centre. This was quite a leap in progression after only two mornings in lessons but the girls took care helping her ski carefully down and the lifties were patient teaching her to get on and get off. “I didn’t know how to get off the chairlift and didn’t realise you had to turn a little bit.”
Molly’s Perisher Highlights
Her favourite lift at Perisher? The J-bar at Smiggins. “My friend taught me how to hockey stop and told me turning helps you go slower,” she says. She was also impressed by the jumps on Perisher’s Front Valley, “In the movies you see the jumps, but in real life they are a lot bigger”.
Next year, Molly will be keeping up with her friends wherever they ski. She can’t wait to go back for more. Epic Australia passes are on sale and will get you skiing Perisher, Hotham and Falls in Australia and out into the world in 80 different snow resorts.
