Perisher Valley is a ski resort village in the Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD, approximately 7310 feet....

 of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, in the Snowy River Shire. It is primarily a winter only resort village, although all year round accommodation is available. It is within the Kosciuszko National Park

Kosciuszko National Park

Kosciuszko National Park covers 690,000 hectares and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko for which it is named, and Cabramurra the highest town in Australia...

, and is administered by The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. Access to the Valley is via the Skitube

Skitube Alpine Railway

The Skitube Alpine Railway is an , standard gauge track electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, Australia. It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley.- History :...

 underground railway, or by road. There is an access fee payable to the Park's Service, and motor vehicles are not permitted to stay overnight in the winter months.

At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Perisher Valley had a population of 136 people. In winter, the population is approximately 2,500 guests.

Perisher Valley is one of four villages making up the Perisher

Perisher

Perisher may refer to:* Perisher Ski Resort, formerly known as Perisher Blue, a ski resort in the Australian Snowy Mountains, New South Wales* Perisher Valley, New South Wales, a village within the Perisher ski resort...

 ski resort. It is 1720 metres (5,643 ft) above sea level.

Skiing

The first Kosciuszko Chalet was built at Charlotte Pass in 1930, giving relatively comfortable access to Australia's highest terrain. The growing number of ski enthusiasts heading to Charlotte Pass led to the establishment of a cafe at Smiggin Holes around 1939, where horse drawn sleighs would deliver skiers to be begin the arduous ski to the Kosciusko Chalet. It was the construction of the vast Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme from 1949 that really opened up the Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD, approximately 7310 feet....

 for large scale development of a ski industry and led to the establishment of Thredbo and Perisher as leading Australian resorts. The Construction of Guthega Dam brought skiers to the isolated Guthega district and a rope tow was installed there in 1957.

The last establishment of a major skifield in NSW came with the development of Mount Blue Cow

Blue cow

Blue Cow may refer to:* Blue Cow , a cartoon cow who appears in the UK television programme The Story Makers* Blue Cow, New South Wales, a village in NSW, Australia* The Blue Cow, one of the "blue" public houses and inns in Grantham...

 in the 1980s. In 1987 the Swiss designed Skitube Alpine Railway

Skitube Alpine Railway

The Skitube Alpine Railway is an , standard gauge track electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, Australia. It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley.- History :...

 opened to deliver skiers from Bullocks Flat

Bullocks Flat, New South Wales

Bullocks Flat is a flat portion of the Thredbo Valley adjacent to the Thredbo River, in the New South Wales, Australia.-Skitube:...

, on the Alpine Way

Alpine Way

The Alpine Way is a State highway in New South Wales, Australia.The Alpine Way starts near Jindabyne on the eastern side of the Snowy Mountains. It runs south-west past Thredbo and crosses the crest of the Great Dividing Range at Dead Horse Gap...

, to Perisher Valley and to Blue Cow, which also opened in 1987. The operators of Blue Cow purchased Guthega in 1991, and the new combined resort later merged with Perisher-Smiggins to become the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

. In 2009 Perisher had 48 lifts covering 1,245 hectares and four village base areas: Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega.

Snowy Mountains of Music

Since 2009, Perisher Valley has been the host of the Snowy Mountains of Music Festival, a folk festival created by the same people behind the Illawarra Folk Festival.
The festival runs every year on the Queen's Birthday Weekend

Queen's Official Birthday

The Queen's Official Birthday is the selected day on which the birthday of the monarch of Commonwealth realms is officially celebrated in Commonwealth countries and in Fiji, which is now a republic. It is an invention of the early 20th century...

, which is also the official start of the Ski Season for the Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD, approximately 7310 feet....

. It acts as both a promotional festival for the Australian Snow Season, specifically, Perisher Valley, but also as an outlet for all sorts of Australian and International talent across a diverse range of genres.