Accomodation and ski hire businesses on Mount Baw Baw have taken a financial bath following Victoria’s hottest winter on record, which saw the mountain’s snow fields close after 57 days.
Mount Baw Baw Ski Hire owner Trudi Reiter told the Monitor the season - one of the shortest ever - was “absolutely rubbish” for every business on the mountain.
“We didn't make anywhere near enough money during the winter, when we usually can make ends meet,” she said.
What happened: Mount Baw Baw ski season generally runs from late June to October and the mountain gets its best week of snowfall during the third week of August. But the resort shut down lift operations on August 19, cutting short the season by five weeks.
During the same week, all of Victoria’s major alpine resorts - Mount Buller, Mount Hotham and Falls Creek - announced an end to the season.
Marginal matters: Dr Lily O’Neill from the University of Melbourne’s Climate Futures told the Monitor businesses on Australia’s alpine ranges are already operating on tight margins.
“These are expensive businesses to run. They gear themselves up and get ready for what's a short season anyway. When it's four or five weeks shorter than expected, it's absolutely devastating financially.”
Mount Baw Baw Stakeholder Association President, Tom Bauer, told the Monitor 26 businesses on the mountain had lost revenue due to the short season.
He said the businesses made 75 to 90 percent of their income during winter and the lack of snowfall had cost them roughly 30 percent of their yearly income.
A screenshot of a live feed of Hut Roll slope on Mount Baw Baw on September 8.
Reiter predicted her business would record “a massive loss this year”.
O’Neill said the short season also impacted the workers who move to the mountain during winter.
Pricey beds: “They get charged for accommodation whether they're working or not. Quite a few of them have had a dreadful season because they spend so much in rent and they haven't worked much,” she said.
“It's becoming less of an appealing place to come and live and work.”
Taking a wide pan across the industry, Reiter said Baw Baw suffered a greater hit due to its altitude, but that “it was bad for everybody”.
Is this the new normal?
The Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) June forecast for below average snowfall for many of Australia’s alpine regions, and both maximum and minimum temperatures above average, came to pass.
Victoria recorded its warmest winter on record with temperatures 1.4C above the 1961–1990 average.
Adjunct Professor at Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Dr Andrew Watkins, told the Monitor although an El Niño weather event had brought significantly warmer temperatures and drier conditions to Australia, the real driver on the ski fields was climate change.
“The sooner we stabilise our emissions, the sooner we stabilise our temperatures.”