For those of us who simply cannot be fucked getting up in the middle of the night to drive all the way down to the Snowy Mountains, find somewhere to stay, put chains on the car tyres, and all that other snow-time stuff, this is the news for you. Western Sydney just got the big tick of approval to be home to Australia’s first indoor snow and ski resort.
Fuck yeah, love to be able to get some fresh pow time without having to think about packing all of my clothes in the back of the car and driving for hours to get into that big white business.
Expected to open beside the Nepean River in Penrith in winter 2024, Winter Sports World is a whopping $300 million venue that includes a 300-metre ski run for advanced snow-bunnies, a 120-room luxe 4.5-star hotel, an Olympic-sized ice skating rink, ice climbing, snow play (!!!) and restaurants and cafés for that all-important après-ski energy.
According to the development’s website, Winter Sports World is projected to be a space where people with any experience on the slopes can visit for a bit of snow time, from first-timers who want to learn, to Winter Olympians who want to train for sports like alpine skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, snowboarding, and curling – arguably the best snow sport of all.
Plus it looks super futuristic on the outside, like some kind of Men In Black headquarters shit.
Apparently the new Sydney ski resort in the middle of the western suburbs will have ‘year round perfect real snow’ which is an impressive feat in and of itself. How are they going to get snow into the place when it’s a baking 45º outside in the middle of summer? Go and shake a cloud? Who knows, but I love the commitment to the bit.
But the one thing I hope this brings with it are all the skiers who dress up in costumes and conga-line down the slopes. It’s quite possibly one of the funniest things to see someone in a huge Big Bird costume just yeeting down the hill with someone in a mullet wig screaming behind them.
