By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, April 6 (Reuters) - When self-confessed snowboarding addict Risma Utami planned ski trips from her adopted hometown of Sydney, conspicuously absent from the wishlist of destinations were the fields in the nearby Snowy Mountains.
"Europe, Japan and New Zealand are cheaper, you have better quality snow there, more challenging slopes, great accommodation, less waiting time at the lift and more skiing," the 29-year old said.
With climate change threatening Australia's already meagre alpine skiing resources, the Snowy Mountains might not seem an obvious choice for the first international foray by U.S. ski giant Vail Resorts Inc, which last week agreed to pay $136 million for Perisher Ski Resort.
Perisher is Australia's largest and most popular ski resort, but in a country better known for deserts and beaches, it faces some significant natural hurdles.
The summit of Mt Perisher, at just over 2,000 metres (6,500 ft), is nearly 900 metres (2,950 ft) below the base of Vail's Breckenridge, one of the almost dozen U.S resorts it owns.
Perisher's annual snowfall has varied between a healthy 384 cm (12-1/2 ft) and a woeful 7 cm (3 ins) over the past five years, according to snow sports website OnTheSnow.com, forcing the resort to increasingly rely on artificial snowmaking.
But for Vail, the deal was as much about attracting more well-travelled and well-heeled skiers from Down Under to its U.S. resorts as getting its hands on Perisher's limited, albeit profitable, assets - particularly as climate change bites.
"Mountains in the northern hemisphere are generally more luxurious, bigger, better mountains than those in the southern hemisphere," Vail chairman Rob Katz told Reuters after the deal, which will offer Perisher season pass holders access to Vail's North American resorts.
"In Australia, for somebody looking at Perisher and saying 'should I buy a pass?' on worries maybe the season won't be that good this year, they now know they can also ski in the United States for free."
HOTTER AND DRIER
The challenge facing the Australian ski industry are only expected to rise as the climate becomes hotter and drier. Since the 1950s, the Snowy Mountains' snowpack has fallen by about a third and is expected to decrease by half or more before the end of this century, according to top Australian science body CSIRO.
With uncertain snow conditions, smaller mountains and hefty lift prices, many Australians already choose to ski in places such as Niseko in Japan, New Zealand's Queenstown or Whistler in Canada. Colorado, Vail's home state, is also popular.