The weekend begins with a séance of sorts. An unofficial one, of course. Just the sort of thing that happens when you get a bunch of women together, and someone inevitably starts talking about the Lion’s Gate Portal, and the Aquarius full moon, and how to manifest at midnight.
Say what you will, the manifestation works: the next morning, dawn breaks on a picture-perfect day at Perisher. Bluebird skies, a dusting of fresh snow, temperatures hovering at around minus one, and no wind to speak of.
“The best day of winter so far!” everyone tells us, from the barista to the liftie to the guy serving the schnapps at Sundeck over lunch.
It’s the perfect setting for the first official women’s ski weekend that Perisher has hosted in quite some time; at least a decade, they think, maybe more.
Funnily enough, it’s been revived by a man. Andy Rae, the director of Perisher’s Snow Sports School, has two grown-up daughters and has seen the success of similar women’s programs at resorts such as Falls Creek.
“Initiatives like this need someone to lead them, and it’s something I’m passionate about. I’m surrounded by women, and what they tell me is that it’s a safer environment to learn when surrounded by other women,” he says. “You progress more because you feel more comfortable.”
And comfort is the name of the game at the women’s weekend. It includes two days of on-snow instruction (six hours per day) in small groups, along with a welcome breakfast, lunch each day, and Saturday après where your instructor can deep-dive on video instruction and technique alongside a glass of champagne.
Our particular session has attracted women between the ages of 25 to 50. Some are comfortable skiers, while one hasn’t picked up her skis in ten years. We’re united by the same things: a love of the mountains, a desire to pick up a new skill or two, and the bonus perk of being able to get away from annoying offspring/significant others for the duration of the two days.
“Women are physiologically different to men, so it makes sense that they should be taught differently,” our instructor Veronika says during our welcome breakfast.
“Our centre of gravity is different, our weight distribution is different. The bindings on our skis are mounted differently. My femur is much shorter than the femur of my six-foot-two male trainer, so obviously I’m going to ski a different way.”
On the mountain, no topic is off limits: from perimenopause and how it’s influenced the layers one woman is wearing, to the mansplaining we’ve copped in ski shops, to c-sections and how they impact your skiing (there’s a real need to strengthen your core and your back, we determine, to feel anywhere like the skier you used to be).
Confidence is a massive theme: at one point, someone has a panicky moment on a dodgy, mogul-y bit of the slope, and the instructor coaxes her down while the rest of us kill time doing an impromptu photo shoot. When she makes it down, we all clap and cheer and tell her how great she is, and sing Baby Shark to distract her from the mogul-y bits still coming up.
“You’re so much better than you think you are!” someone is told, more than once. Or: “your turns are so smooth! How do you do that?”
You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a cult (and maybe it is, after the séance) but really, it’s just what happens when a bunch of women get together. Light and shade. Telling love stories on the chairlift while your skis dangle over the snow gums. Deep-diving into how to position your ski stance so that you can ski for longer and keep up with the kids. Talking about how we want to be stronger, not skinnier, so we can ski for a long, long time, and be those 90-year-old ladies still doing their smooth, classy turns down the mountain.
By the afternoon of our second lessons, the jokes about manifestation have become a running bit. The conditions are just so good that it’s easy to believe we might’ve shifted something in the universe to make our experience so top-tier. And it seems other women know there’s something in it too: the August Women’s Weekend sold out so quickly that Perisher’s already added a second date in September, this time also opening it to snowboarders.
The Women’s Weekend is the perfect way to reinvigorate your skiing, to escape from any external pressure and hone in on what you need. Two days is enough time for everyone to not only benefit from group drills for stance improvement but individual feedback. And to forge a bond that’s been witnessed first-hand by the full moon.
From women’s ski program to full winter retreat
If you want to go one step further for a well-rounded women’s weekend, here are our tips…
Bed down at The Man From Snowy River Hotel, which has the most incredible on-mountain location. You’ll be mere steps from your lessons, ski hire, the ski tube, on-mountain IGA and anything else you might need while there.
Worth mentioning are the breakfasts (omelette station = excellent mountain fuel), the deliciously cosy lounge for reading/board games/good weather manifestation, and the three-course dinners that will have you rolling into bed as happy as the proverbial clam. (Also! If you are dragging children along, they have the most excellent kids club that runs every night and lets you eat/drink/recover in some level of peace.)
Opt in for a treatment (or two, or six) at the Snowy Mountain Spa, conveniently located in The Man Hotel (although you don’t have to stay there to book in). They can do everything from massages to facials, blow-drys, lashes, the list goes on… plus a full suite of recovery options; anti-gravity yoga, compression boots, massage chairs, sauna, hydrotherapy, ice baths, which you can access for just $99 for two hours.
They open at six am and close at 10pm, which is perfect for healing those sore muscles first thing or last thing.
Stop by Jindabyne for a spot of shopping and sightseeing. The must-do’s are lunch at Wild Brumby Distillery, a wander through the shops (Design + Detail is a favourite for all things snow-inspired), a photo with the town’s new giant chairlift (right by the lake!) and sampling the premium sourdough and pretzels at Snowy Mill.
Buy your lift pass ahead of arriving, as the Women’s Weekend doesn’t include a lift pass. Make sure you nab one online for the best prices (or get an Epic Australia pass when they go on sale, no longer available for 2026 but they’ll be ready for the women’s weekends in 2027).
How to lock in for a Perisher women’s weekend
The women’s weekend runs one more time for the 2026 season: September 12–13, open to lower-intermediate through advanced skiers and boarders. Six hours of instruction a day, breakfast and lunch included (and that Saturday champagne!) all for $549.
Click here to find out more and sign up for September, or keep an eye out for 2027 season dates.
*Natalia was a guest of Perisher.
