The 25-year-old had failed to return home from a snowboarding session in Perisher and was found in a wooded area without trails late on Wednesday night.

Police said he had been snowboarding with friends when he became separated from them just after 12.30pm on Wednesday.

A search began after he failed to turn up for work at 6pm and NSW Police were contacted by his employer at 10.50pm.

Mr Berger, who was from Arundel on the Gold Coast, was believed to be about two weeks into a three-month adventure.

"After leaving it till the final day I have finally finished packing, it finally started snowing and I can't wait to get there. Perisher bound baby!!" Mr Berger wrote on Facebook on June 15.

Detective Inspector Shane Box said the cause of death was uncertain, but said it had been a snowboarding accident.

"We know he hit an embankment and he was then found in a creek, but our inquiries are continuing," he said.

A post-mortem will be conducted.

A Perisher spokesman said the alpine community was in shock. Perisher chief executive officer Peter Brulisauer said it was a very sad day for the man's family and the community.

"Our condolences go out to the young man's family and friends during this difficult time," he said on Thursday.

Mr Brulisauer said Mr Berger was already a popular member of staff in the first few weeks of the season.

Mr Berger's childhood friend, Richard Douglas, who shared the stage with the Queensland man in a death metal band, Headwound the Pony, said his family and friends were devastated.

''I've always seen him as my own brother," he said. "He was the kind of bloke that would always get you to laugh and I'm grateful for being able to share the stage with him.

"He will be missed dearly by his band, friends and family."

Ben Garden, a guest at the Perisher Valley Hotel where Mr Berger had been working, said his wife and daughter had been touched by their encounters with him and considered him an absolutely lovely guy.

"I was shocked to see his photo this morning, as on Monday afternoon I stood in the sun out the front of the hotel and talked to Gerard for about five minutes about the incredible snow conditions and how he was excited for his afternoons off later in the week when he could go boarding," he said.

"He was an absolutely lovely guy who went out of his way to help us and even insisted on driving us in the over-snow transport back to the skitube that afternoon. Really sad."

Mr Berger was the bassist in Headwound the Pony alongside his 23-year-old brother, Rudi. Fans expressed their condolences and sympathies to the band members on their Facebook page.

“We want to send our deepest sympathies to our mates in Headwound The Pony for the loss of their brother and bassist, Gerard Berger. R.I.P,” read one post.

It is the second death at a ski resort in a little more than a week.

A seven-year-old boy, Haadi Akhtar, died after being buried by snow that came loose from his lodge at Mt Buller in Victoria.

He was found nearly two hours after he went missing, just 40 metres from where he was last seen.

The latest death also comes just hours after a 21-year-old man was found at Perisher with serious head injuries and transferred to Canberra Hospital.

Family or close friends are invited to reflect on or pay tribute to Gerard's life by contacting the Canberra Times via cos@canberratimes.com.au or 02 6280 2211.

- with AAP