Perisher Valley - Culture and History

It has been claimed that the Perisher valley was named by James Spencer, who had settled in the area in the 1840s, when he was caught in a storm. His comment 'What a perisher' is probably apocryphal but it is a reasonable account of both the weather and the location. The first ski lodges in the valley opened in 1951 and by 1957 there were a number of ski clubs operating. Since then it has continued to grow so that today it is widely regarded as the premier ski spot in the Snowy Mountains. Unlike Thredbo it is not a 12 months of the year resort and looks a little like a ghost town during the summer months.