Blue skies, cold temperatures and big snow dumps in recent months have helped turn around a sluggish start for Australia's main ski resorts.
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Andrew Zdenkowski and his granddaughter Pip, 10, were some of those taking advantage of the perfect conditions to build an igloo together at Perisher on Thursday.
On his last trip to the snow 40 years ago, Mr Zdenkowski built an igloo with his own son, Pip's father. He said the return visit was just as memorable.
"I had a beautiful time – it was gorgeous, it was really delightful," he said. "The weather was absolutely perfect, I couldn't have asked for a better day."
The season at Perisher and Thredbo started promisingly this year, with dumps in early June. But the natural snow didn't continue through the rest of the month, although low temperatures made for good snow-making conditions.
Thredbo communications manager Susie Diver said the situation turned around in mid-July, when 150 centimetres fell at the resort, and in August, which has so far recorded 60 centimetres.
"It was a bit slow to start, but it's just been going so well since then," Ms Diver said.
"This August has been a fantastic August in the resort: we've had really cold temperatures, solid snowfalls and lots of blue sky."
"Numbers-wise has been great as well, we've been pretty lucky."
Australian Paralympian Tori Pendergast was training at Perisher on Thursday and was also happy that the snowfall had picked up.
"This season is turning out to be really good," she said. "Last year we had a pretty good season, the one before that was a bit of a shocker."
The alpine skier competed at the Sochi Winter Olympics and the World Championships in March, and is keen to make the most of the rest of the season. She
described the weather as "like a dream".
Another snowgoer enjoying the weather was year 6 student Rachel Norman, from central Queensland, who played in the snow for the first time on Thursday.
"It's really fluffy and fun to play in," the Marian State School student said.
But meteorologists are warning that the conditions, which produced a record-breaking dump from July 11 to 17, are unlikely to get better as winter draws to an end.
Weatherzone meteorologist Tristan Meyers said a gradual melting of the snow was likely, particularly given that a significant rainfall event is forecast over the next week.
"Over the next sort of two weeks, there doesn't look to be too many significant snow events," he said.
"What we might see is a gradual melt of the snow, particularly over the coming week and this weekend."
