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There are concerns significant snowfall which ski resorts in Kosciuszko National Park are hoping for might not be enough to save the season.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast warm conditions for the alpine area in the coming week with cold fronts to arrive later, bringing a light amount of snow.
Selwyn Ski Resort, which is the lowest lying resort in the park, has closed its doors for the season unless more snow arrived.
It only reopened last year after being destroyed in the 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires.
Meanwhile, lift operations have been scheduled to close at Perisher's Smiggin Holes and Guthega slopes on Sunday.
Selwyn Ski Resort assistant manager Abi Spackman said her fingers were crossed for ideal conditions, hoping to soon reopen the business if a decent amount of snow fell.
Abi Spackman says the resort is hoping to reopen by the weekend. (Supplied: Selwyn Snow Resort)
"It's just not worthwhile for the guests to come here at the moment with the little snow that we do have," Ms Spackman said.
"We're just so grateful that we got to open for as long as we have and hopefully, we get a little bit longer."
She said the season had been fruitful, with the opening of advanced runs operating for the first time in five years.
"It's been a much better season than last year; we've had lots of snow. It's been big dumps," Ms Spackman said.
The resort has notified customers booked within the next week and offered refunds.
Snow is melting at Smiggin Holes resort. (Supplied: Grant Loxton)
Season fades
In a statement posted online, Perisher said recent rain, wind and warmer temperatures had forced it to wrap up ski lift operations in Guthega and Smiggin Holes this Sunday.
The alpine peaks have received a few dumps of snow in June and July but not consistently, leaving snow levels low, according to Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Gabrielle Woodhouse.
"We have been seeing some quite warm conditions [but for the coming week] we're going to see a number of cold fronts that are going to be moving through," Ms Woodhouse said.
"It's really going to be a few centimetres, maybe getting up towards 10 centimetres, which is a decent amount, but nothing like a massive dump of snow."
Too much snow last season hindered the rebuild of Selwyn Snow Resort. (Facebook: Selwyn Ski Resort)
According to the CSIRO, snow depth levels in Kosciuszko National Park have been on a downward trend over the past 70 years.
Snowy Hydro recordings show snow depth at Spencers Creek this time five years ago was twice as high – having fallen to 101 centimetres since it was measured at 220cm in 2019.
"For the Climate Outlook in particular, we do see that warming trend and what we have been seeing for quite a number of years now is a slow decrease in the snow depths throughout the winter months on Kosciuszko," Ms Woodhouse said.
What have the slopes been like?
Mountain Watch editor Reggae Ellis said there had been significant snow melt across all resorts in Perisher.
"We've had consistent moderate to strong north-west winds and they're warm winds as well that act like a hair dryer on the snow and it's really hit the snow pack over the last 10 to 14 days," Mr Ellis said.
"I skied Sunday morning; it feels more like the 24th of September rather than the 24th of August."
The Blue Calf T-Bar lift in Guthega as of Monday. (Supplied: Chris Coucouvinis)
But Mr Ellis said it was not all bad.
"The forecast looks better for the rest of the season than any forecast we had, at this time last year," he said.
Visitors look elsewhere
New South Wales Central Coast resident Rodney Duck said he was going to go to the Selwyn Resort this weekend with his family until he heard the news of its closure.
Rodney Duck visits the Snowy Mountains most years. (Supplied: Rodney Duck)
"It was actually looking promising, I was looking forward to coming back," Mr Duck said.
"You do get a couple of years when it's bad, and then you'll have a mad season.
"But then you get a year like this and last year and it makes you start thinking 'maybe we should go overseas'."