WHEN Perisher closes for the 2025 snow season it will be truly the end of an era for Mount Perisher. When visitors strap into skis and snowboards next year there will be a brand new $25 million six seat Doppelmayer detachable chair awaiting.
This coming Sunday, September 15th marks the final day of operation for the Mt Perisher Triple Chair and Perisher will celebrate with a Retro Day with 70's music and entertainment.
Guests this year have known there is change coming, they have been without the double chair all season, removed prior to winter, and certainly have noticed the new top station location for the six-seater chair well above the triple chair.
The concrete construction gives a great indication of what to expect in 2025.
The new Doppelmayr high speed Mt Perisher 6 will breathe new life into the Mount Perisher precinct.
During August, Snowy Mountains Magazine ventured to the top to firstly look at the initial completed works. The large concrete mast will be the mainstay of the new lift top station and Australia's highest lifted point at 2042 metres above sea level.
Walking around and looking at what to expect, it’s exciting, the view for one is exceptional of the Main Range. Once you unload from the 90 degrees south facing top station you can either drop straight down onto Towers run or towards International and Eyre for groomed choices. Traverse further across the ridgeline opens up multiple options to descend into the off-piste area.
The combination of removing over 30 plus towers from the two combined old chairlifts, replaced with just 10 towers on the new chair, means descending around the Towers run will feel more far more spacious.
This season guests have endured some longer queuing on the triple chair, and Perisher management were aware this would occur.
Michael Fearnside, Perisher Operations Director conceded it would have been nice to have the new six-seater this season to alleviate congestion on those busier days.
“A lot of people are probably aware that one chair lift is no longer there, and their skier movements might have been a little bit different, they might have stayed away from the chair on Mount P,” said Michael.
“A lot of enthusiasm, lot of people asking about it. And I think a lot of people can see what it's going to be next year. They've got a level of patience with it, knowing that the chair is going to happen.”
“Everything's on track at this stage. We're pretty happy with where we are at and what we achieved last summer. And we are keenly looking forward to this next summer construction period when all exciting stuff happens.”
The build and construction work transfers now mainly to the Jindabyne based Doppelmayr Australia crew, with the assistance of Perisher.
The new Doppelmayr state of the art chairlift is currently in transit via ship and will arrive in Australia towards the end of the snow season. Late season visitors will see the new components occupying a back portion of the Perisher car park.
Talking through his summer procedure, Doppelmayr Australia General Manager, Shaun Turner said they will start with the new bottom station initially, as its easy access and they won’t be able to get to the top until the snow melts.
“We'll attack bottom station for the first month or two, until the road clears up or gets cleared up and we can get to top. Then we're going to try and do assembly at top station,” said Shaun.
“We already did the foundation for top last year, so we'll see some buildings at the top pretty quick, before Christmas.”
“And then, once we've done the station ropeway equipment assembly up there, we'll actually build the civil work around it. So, it's a little bit accelerated up there, but that gives us a chance to spread out a little bit more. And instead of having all crunch time in April May, we've got a bit more time to do things.”
There is a possibility a few tower foundations may be completed before Christmas, but most of the tower foundation work will be scheduled for January and February.
Having been involved in the design process from the beginning, Shaun commented on the 2025 season saying he likes seeing and bringing a project to completion and will be looking forward to skiing off the new chair himself.
“I think I started around 2006 on that project, so to actually see it built would be amazing. And the value that they'll (people) get when they get up there, it’s not just the (chair) speed, but it's how much more terrain you actually get at the top.”
He commented that once the triple chair is gone, and with the rock removal they have already completed to accommodate the new chair it will be quite open at the top.
“That's going to be a big improvement for Mount P.”
