Like many farmers, Ben Mock wants more water.<\/p>\n
But rather than pump it on crops or pour it into troughs, he would spray it through freezing alpine air.<\/p>\n
In the right conditions, he can turn a rocky mountain into a ski field.<\/p>\n
“We see ourselves as snow farmers,” Mr Mock said.<\/p>\n
“With more snowmaking, we’ll be able to open up more terrain, have more snow on the ground and have a longer season as well.”<\/p>\n
Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n
Ben Lomond National Park, about 50 kilometres east of Launceston or 200 km north of Hobart, is home to Australia’s most southern commercial ski field.<\/p>\n
Mr Mock, the director of Ben Lomond Alpine Resort, said the arrival of new snow machines two years ago sent tourism soaring.<\/p>\n
He said sales were up 120 per cent this winter, after jumping 280 per cent in 2024.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Mock says the ski field is “very viable”. (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n
Even on a Monday at the end of the season, skiers like Brian Yu, from Taiwan, were on the slopes.<\/p>\n
“[It’s] beautiful. I love it,” Mr Yu said.<\/p>\n
Brian Yu says the ski slope is “beautiful”. (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n
Dan McKay, from the Rovers Ski Club, had skied “about 170 kilometres” this year.<\/p>\n
“I’m from Hobart, so I come up every Friday and go home every Monday,” he said.<\/p>\n
The mountain’s other commercial operator, Ben Lomond Snow Sports, said visitation had been “unprecedented”.<\/p>\n
“It’s been an awesome year,” operations manager Abel Pickering said.<\/p>\n
Ben Mock says almost 50 staff worked at his business this year.\u00a0 (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n
The boom comes at a critical juncture for the national park, with the state government set to write its first new management plan in almost 30 years.<\/p>\n
Both operators hope it will lead to more snowmaking.<\/p>\n
But others say the practice takes an environmental toll and should be questioned in the face of climate change.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ski field operators at Ben Lomond National Park had a busy winter season. (ABC News: Hayden Smith)<\/p>\n
Snowmaking ‘very viable’<\/p>\n
Despite hosting skiers for almost a century, Ben Lomond has long struggled for recognition among Tasmania’s spectacular national parks.<\/p>\n
Snow-making won’t make ski field viable in face of climate change, report finds<\/a><\/p>\n The economic viability of government money being spent to assist snow-making efforts at Tasmania’s only commercial ski field is questioned in a new report that says climate change must inform investment decisions.<\/p>\n Mr Pickering said he spent most of his childhood never knowing it existed, despite growing up an avid skier and snowboarder in Hobart.<\/p>\n A 2023 state government-commissioned report said unreliable snowfall “challenges the commercial viability of operations”, with suitable snowmaking hours set to halve by 2050.<\/p>\n It recommended against funding snowmaking infrastructure as it would “not provide a positive economic benefit to the Tasmanian economy” due to high costs of power and water, and increasing climate change impacts.<\/p>\n Yet Mr Mock said his company saw immediate pay off after it bought four snow guns the same year.<\/p>\n Ben Lomond National Park is 50 kilometres east of Launceston, Tasmania. (Parks Tasmania: Dan Broun)<\/p>\n “It’s viable. It’s very viable,” he said.<\/p>\n “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.”<\/p>\n Mr Mock plans to invest between $500,000 and $1 million next season, by doubling rental equipment and buying at least two more snow guns.<\/p>\n Each of the commercial operators has four snow guns, to make snow out of cold air and water. (ABC News: Hayden Smith)<\/p>\n Eventually, he would like to install new T-bar lifts, upgrade diesel generators and expand snowmaking onto southern slopes.<\/p>\n Mr Pickering’s company also operates four snow guns and hopes to work them harder in future.<\/p>\n But their plans hinge on securing better access to water through new storage infrastructure, such as tanks, pumps and dams.<\/p>\n Water infrastructure needs approval<\/p>\n The Tasmanian government will consult stakeholders about the new Ben Lomond Management Plan over the coming months.<\/p>\n Many tourists rely on shuttle buses to access the Ben Lomond plateau\u00a0in winter. (Supplied: Dane Liepins)<\/p>\n Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service said the 2023 study would inform the new plan, which advised against funding water or power infrastructure for snowmaking.<\/p>\n Mr Mock hopes the position will shift in light of their success.<\/p>\n “If not, we’re happy to fund that ourselves,” he said.<\/p>\n But any new water storage infrastructure would require sign off from Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service.<\/p>\n Skiers enjoy the tail end of the snow season at Ben Lomond National Park. (ABC News: Hayden Smith)<\/p>\n Tasmanian Parks Minister Nick Duigan said the management plan would consider the future of water storage facilities and the environmental impact.<\/p>\n Concerns about snowmaking<\/p>\n Nick Sawyer is the president of the Tasmanian National Parks Association, a not-for-profit that advocates for the protection of the parks.<\/p>\n He is firmly against the idea of adding more snow machines.<\/p>\n Nick Sawyer doesn’t want snowmaking to expand at Ben Lomond.\u00a0 (ABC News: Kate Nickels)<\/p>\n “It just seems wildly optimistic in the time of global warming to be trying to develop an area that’s only ever been a marginal ski resort into a slightly less marginal ski resort,” he said.<\/p>\n He said the association believed the practice used too much power and water, and would require extra infrastructure.<\/p>\n Ben Lomond National Park is home to the most southerly commercial ski field in the country.\u00a0 (Supplied: Udesh Madhusanka Photography)<\/p>\n Griffith University Professor Catherine Pickering, an alpine ecosystems expert, said some water used for snowmaking would return to the environment when it melted.<\/p>\n But she said up between 7 and 75 per cent could be lost through evaporation and sublimation.<\/p>\n “It depends on things like wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity,” Professor Pickering said, noting the wide variance.<\/p>\n She said taking water from dry alpine areas could also heighten bushfire risk.<\/p>\n Many want to see more investment in hiking trails around Ben Lomond National Park. (Supplied: Glenda Williams)<\/p>\n Professor Pickering said the community should consider the risk of stranded assets, as climate change would put commercial infrastructure in national parks under threat.<\/p>\n She warned this could leave taxpayers liable and pointed to shuttered Great Barrier Reef resorts as an example<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It is going to be an issue with ski resorts and that has been increasingly found overseas,” she said.<\/p>\n Commercial operators at Ben Lomond National Park plan to offer much more rental equipment next season.\u00a0 (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n But Mr Mock said expert predictions around the industry’s future often failed to reflect what he saw on the ground.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n