Christmas in July Celebrations at Southern Hemisphere Ski Areas
Christmas in July Celebrations at Southern Hemisphere Ski Areas
Published : 24-Jul-2025 09:13
Ski areas in Australia, New Zealand, South America and Southern Africa are set to celebrate "Christmas in July" on Saturday, 25th July.
According to Wikipedia the phrase "Christmas in July" is thought to have originated from a girls' summer camp in North Carolina called Keystone Camp, which began celebrating Christmas in July in 1933. The camp's co-founder, Fannie Holt, wanted to bring some festive magic to the summer months. The celebration included traditional Christmas elements like decorating a tree, singing carols, exchanging gifts, and even a visit from Santa Claus. The concept gained further traction with the release of the 1940 movie "Christmas in July".
The concept has proved increasingly popular at ski resorts in the southern hemisphere which almost never have snow in mid-summer there in December making a "White Christmas" all but impossible.
Australia's Mt Baw Baw (pictured above) is among Australian resorts planning similar events to Ms Holt's 1933 US summer camp, only with snow. Several other Aussie ski areas have similar plans.
At The Remarkables and Coronet Peak in Queenstown, New Zealand, festive celebrations typically feature Christmas-themed decorations, Santa suits on the slopes, festive music, food and beverages, and even spot prizes for the best-Christmassy-dressed skiers and snowboarders.
In southern Africa, what's believed to be the continent's only still operational ski area Afriski in Lesotho plans to celebrate not just Christmas in July but its 25th birthday on Saturday. It's one of the world's newest ski areas and one of the few established this century.
It's not totally unheard of for snow on the slopes of southern hemisphere ski areas on December 25th too though. Mt Ruapehu has had skiing on surviving snow patches on that date at least once in the past decade and Australian ski areas have used snow farming to preserve snow under cover ready to unveil for a few fun days of sledging, snowman making and snowballing on December 25th too.
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