Lack of snow forces cancellation of Australian Interschools Championships

Fragile and limited snow cover at Victoria's Mount Buller’s has forced organisers to cancel the 2023 Australian Interschools Championships.

The decision follows a Buller Ski Lifts’ resort operations having reviewed the medium range weather forecast and current snow conditions both on the event sites and throughout the resort using Snowsat (snowdepth) technologies, drone footage and historical data to model the likely scenarios. As a result, it considered the options of running fewer events, shorter events and all possible event site locations.

In a statement released yesterday by Snow Australia Interschools, organisers revealed “it is evident, given the mild weather forecast for the next seven days that appropriate National Interschool level courses and event sites cannot be built and maintained.”

It added “Snow Australia Interschools did explore the option of relocating the event to another resort however given similar snow conditions across the Australian resorts combined with the short lead times to arrange alternate accommodation and event workforce this was simply not practical.

“It is therefore with profound regret that we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Australian Interschools Snowsport Championships for 2023.

“As previously indicated any event entries, competitor and team manager lift passes that have been paid for will be refunded. Accommodation refund policies are varied and owner/provider specific and as such individuals who have made bookings should contact their provider.”

Snow Australia Interschools added “we would like to thank the Mt Buller resort, the schools and families for their ongoing support and hope that the student athletes and all those involved enjoyed their respective State Championships which were held at Perisher and Mt Buller this week.”

The 2023 Victorian Interschools proved to be a huge success, with near record entries and excellent courses despite the limited snow conditions.

The Australian Interschools Championships was due to run from 5th to 10th September.

Snow Australia Interschools and Mt Buller look forward to your support and to seeing student athletes from all school communities back competing on snow in 2024.

Image: Competitor at the 2017 Australian Interschools Championships. Credit: Karen Benton.