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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Kathryn Lewis

Resorts implement staggered sales to avoid website meltdown

More than 30,000 people were queued for Thredbo Resort lift-passes last week. Picture: Thredbo Resort

After an avalanche of demand had keen snow-goers waiting hours for lift-passes last week, one resort has announced a staged process to avoid a similar meltdown.

Resorts have almost halved capacity on the mountain to meet social distancing requirements this year and all skiers and boarders must pre-purchase passes.

More than 30,000 people were queued for Thredbo Resort's online booking system last week ahead of the return to the ski season next Monday.

Perisher Resort will reopen on June 24 and has implemented online lift-pass sales in two stages.

From 8.30am Monday June 15 tickets for Hotham will be on sale, from 1.30pm that day tickets for Falls Creek will be available and on 8.30am Tuesday June 16 Perisher tickets will be on sale.

From Wednesday, Perisher will provide further information on ticket sales.

"As our products will only be available for advance purchase, we are mindful of the significant load this may create for our IT systems," Perisher said.

People lined up for passes to Thredbo Resort had scarce choice of dates. Every day from the opening of the season on June 22 to July 20 is booked out.

There are only two available days in July and three in August.

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Once they made it through the queue, people were able to access the website for 10 minutes to book their ski lift. But a number of people had faced difficulties once reaching the end of the queue.

Thredbo Resort said it was the biggest onslaught on customers the website had experienced.

"These are unusual times; we've experienced an unprecedented amount of traffic highlighting we are all ready to get back skiing and snowboarding again this season.

"We are working hard to ensure everyone is able to purchase their desired passes, and we appreciate our guests' patience as we accommodate everyone under the new government restrictions."

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