THREDBO will replace its Gunbarrel quad chairlift for winter 2028 with a new six-seat Doppelmayr D-line chair and install more snowmaking at Friday Flat for the 2027 snow season.
In an exclusive interview with Snowy Mountains Magazine this week, Thredbo General Manager Stuart Diver said the resort has been working on the new chairlift for some time and is excited by what lies ahead.
“The funding has been approved from the EVT level, which is fantastic, and also for another all-weather snowmaking unit on Friday Flat for next winter as well, which will be really exciting,” said Mr Diver.
The Gunbarrel chair will be replaced by a new six-seat Doppelmayr chairlift along the same alignment. The chair, designed for Australian conditions, will be the same design as the recent Mt Perisher six-seat chairlift.
It is expected that the price range for the new six-seat chairlift will be in the vicinity of $35 million.
When asked when the chair would be installed, Mr Diver said, “Hopefully installation for winter 28”, which will be subject to final approval by the NSW Department of Planning.
“We hopefully get some preliminary works done this summer, and then pre-27, and then have full installation and operational for winter 28. So super exciting.”
“We are pushing forward with all of the planning that needs to be done for that installation for winter 28.”
FRIDAY FLAT SNOWMAKING
Thredbo unveiled its new Friday Flat snow factory this season, which proved to be a game changer for that area of the resort. Friday Flat has been open from day one of the season. This summer Thredbo will install a second snow factory with bigger capacity.
“If you saw Friday Flat at the beginning, in a very obviously limited snowmaking year, we had about four cat widths wide. I want Friday Flat to be side to side, and I want every part of Friday Flat to be open,” said Mr Diver.
“So that's all the carpets, the beginner bowl, the Freddies for Thredboland and Giddy Up and the Burrow. So with this new unit, which is almost double the capacity of the unit that's currently down there, we will be able to cover Friday Flat in its entirety in half a metre of snow pre-opening without any other snowmaking or any natural snow.”
Part of the resort's master plan is to upgrade snowmaking and replace lifts, with Mr Diver saying the snowmaking strategy is multi-pronged. The resort will upgrade the pump house to improve efficiency and capacity, add more pipeline on the mountain, and acquire additional fan guns to complement the upgrades.
“The other really big part of that is the all-weather snowmaking units. The plan was always to put two on Friday Flat, consolidate Friday Flat, and then we'll move up to the Cruiser area, look at areas on High Noon and possibly even some of those thinner areas on the Supertrail.
Part of their initial long-term plan was to replace the Snowgums double chair with a six-seat chair. But this plan has been revised, and the next chairlift to be replaced after Gunbarrel will be the Kosciuszko Express.
“We've prioritised Gunbarrel over Snowgums. We're looking for a really good solution to the Kosciuszko Express replacement, which obviously has to have the ability to operate in much higher winds, given the propensity for wind hold days.”
40 YEARS OWNERSHIP
It's very encouraging that parent company, EVT Limited, has continued to invest in Thredbo Resort. The resort is set to celebrate 40 years under EVT ownership next year.
At the Welcome to Winter function on the June long weekend, invited guests heard from owner Alan Rydge, who always attends. Mr Rydge said it had been 40 years since he first set foot in Thredbo, concluding the deal the following year on what he described as a journey.
At the time, he noted it was a surprising commitment for the company, but it was based on a decision that there was a future for snowmaking in Australia.
The master plan for the resort at the time proposed a combination of snowmaking and lift development to produce a world-class resort. It turned out to be a rewarding journey, despite the challenges along the way.
Mr Rydge thanked the Thredbo team for their work and asked the attendees where the resort goes from here, before saying that if they wish to remain the best, they have to commit.
