Thredbo Mountain Bike Park
Overview
Thredbo Mountain Bike Park is Australia's premier lift-access alpine MTB destination, on the slopes of Mt Kosciuszko in NSW's Snowy Mountains [DB description]. The 2025/26 summer season ran ~Nov 15, 2025 to late April 2026, serviced by four chairlifts (Kosciuszko Chairlift, Merritts Gondola, Gunbarrel, Cruiser) and offers riders a full day of laps with multi-discipline trails — flow, gravity, freeride and beginner. The 2026/27 season runs 21 Nov 2026 – 26 Apr 2027. A new double-black race-grade DH line (Merritts → Friday Flat) is under construction and opens in early 2027, not with the season.
Highlights for the 2025/26 season included new trails Slayground (intermediate jumps from Cruiser chairlift), Ricochet (rebuilt to drop directly from Gunbarrel), an upper extension of Grasshopper, and Home Run (new lower section past the Alpine Coaster). Thredbo hosts the iconic Cannonball Festival and Australian Open Downhill competitions and is operated by EVT (formerly Event Hospitality and Entertainment).
Location & Access
- Address: Friday Drive, Thredbo NSW 2625
- Region: Snowy Mountains / Kosciuszko
- Drive times: ~6 hr from Sydney (480 km via Hume + Monaro highways); 2.5 hr from Canberra
- Public transport: Snowliner / Greyhound coaches Sydney–Cooma–Thredbo in winter; very limited green-season service — most riders self-drive
- Parking: Paid kerbside parking in Thredbo village; multi-day passes available
- Coords: -36.5044, 148.307
Best Season & Conditions
- Peak riding season: Mid-November to late April
- 2025/26 season: opened ~Nov 15, 2025; closed ~late April 2026 (just ended at time of research)
- Daily uplift hours: 9am–4pm chairlift operation
- Wet-weather impact: Trails generally hold up well; some closures after major rain to protect surfaces
- Fire-danger / TFB: Total Fire Ban days may close lower-altitude tracks
- Snow / alpine season: June–October — full ski operation; MTB closed
- 2026/27 season: 21 Nov 2026 – 26 Apr 2027 (confirmed on the operator's summer season MTB lift T&Cs ); pre-season Gravity Pass available on $49 deposit. Day-pass pricing for 2026/27 is not published out of season — check the operator before quoting any figure.
Managing Body & Trail Builders
- Operator: Thredbo Alpine Resort, owned by EVT Limited (formerly Event Hospitality and Entertainment) — already in DB
- Trail builders: Thredbo trail crew + external contractors (World Trail involvement on multiple builds)
- Volunteer / dig days: Limited — professional trail crew operation
- Donations / membership: Annual Summer Season Pass available; winter members can bundle MTB
History & Background
- Cannonball Festival is one of the oldest mass-participation gravity events in Australia, drawing riders from around the world
- Australian Open Downhill — long-running national race regularly held at Thredbo
- The park has been continuously expanded through the 2010s and 2020s with state and operator investment
- 2023 UCI Enduro World Cup: Thredbo did NOT host (Maydena did); Thredbo is the gravity / DH lift-park sister destination to enduro-focused Maydena
- Thredbo's village is not on a private resort site like Buller — it's a long-standing alpine settlement with its own retail, restaurants, and accommodation independent of the lift operator
Recent News & Updates (last 12 months)
- 2025/26 season opened Nov 15, 2025 with three new trails (Slayground, Ricochet upper, Grasshopper extension) and new lower section Home Run
- 2026/27 season pricing — unpublished out of season. Thredbo does not publish an MTB day-pass price outside the operating season; any day-pass figure must be checked against the operator at time of writing. (An earlier ~
08 advance / ~
45 window / "35% saving" set of figures recorded here was unsourced and internally inconsistent — see Update log 2026-07-29 — and has been removed rather than replaced.)
- New trail for Nov 2026 — exactly one new trail opens with the 2026/27 season: an intermediate ~50-jump line running from the Cruiser area down to the Merritts Gondola mid-station
- Brand-new double-black race-grade DH line (Merritts → Friday Flat) — under construction, opens early 2027, not with the November 2026 season opening
- 2025/26 season ended late April 2026; 2026/27 season runs 21 Nov 2026 – 26 Apr 2027 — Gravity Pass on pre-sale via $49 deposit
- 2026 winter season now active (June–October ski operation)