Thredbo MTB Guide: Cannonball, Flow & Australia's Only Lift Park

Australia's only chairlift-served bike park sits high in Kosciuszko National Park, where a 600-metre vertical drop, 40-plus kilometres of gravity trails and a southern-hemisphere summer keep wheels spinning while Europe is buried in snow.

By the IMPT Travel desk · Published 2026-05-30

At the top of the Kosciuszko Express chairlift, 1,930 metres above the Murray catchment, the Snowy Mountains drop away in long ridges of snow gum and granite. From here, Cannonball Downhill plunges 600 vertical metres in 3.3 kilometres to the valley floor, an off-camber, gap-jumped, wall-ride-laced descent that is the only trail of its kind on the continent. Thredbo is Australia's sole chairlift-accessed bike park, and Cannonball is its calling card.

The signature trail: Cannonball, and a quieter alternative

Cannonball Downhill is graded black and built for racing. It carries the RockShox Australian Open Downhill each February, doubles as a round of the AusCycling DH National Series, and has produced winning runs from riders including Troy Brosnan. Most visitors who try it walk sections on the first lap and ride more of it on the third.

For riders who want the same lift but a softer landing, the blue-graded Kosciuszko Flow Trail runs roughly 4.5 kilometres from the chairlift summit to the village, a machine-built ribbon of berms, rollers and tabletop jumps that has become the park's most-ridden descent. The black-graded All-Mountain Trail is the longest gravity line at around 10 kilometres, with a mid-route entry via the Gunbarrel Express for those who prefer to skip the rocky upper reaches.

How the bike park is structured

Four lifts move bikes up the mountain: the Kosciuszko Express chairlift to the summit, the Gunbarrel Express on the lower flanks, the Merritts Gondola, and the Cruiser Chairlift serving the learner zone. Together they open more than 40 kilometres of lift-served gravity trails plus a linked cross-country network.

• Green: Upper and Lower Easy Rider, Sidewinder (3.2 km), Woodys, Pipeline Path
• Blue: Kosciuszko Flow, Ricochet, Grasshopper, Dream Catcher, Paparazzi
• Black: Cannonball Downhill, All-Mountain, Panorama (3.8 km)

Two pump tracks, the Boost Mobile Jumps Park and the Flip Skills Park sit in the village, which makes Thredbo unusually well-suited to mixed-ability groups. A progressive MTB School operates daily through the season.

Season window and shoulder timing

Thredbo's bike-park season runs from late November to late April, the inverse of the northern-hemisphere calendar. The 2026-27 lift season is published from 21 November 2026 to 26 April 2027. Scenic lift access for hikers and lighter cycling extends longer, from early October through to mid-June.

The headline week is the Cannonball MTB Festival, scheduled 10-14 February 2026, which packs in the Specialized All-Mountain Enduro, the Maxxis Dual Slalom, the Fox Flow Motion Cup, the Oakley Pump Track Challenge, the invitation-only Deity Whip Wars and the Australian Open Downhill. Trails are busy but in race-prep condition.

For quieter laps, late November opening weekend and the March-April shoulder offer cooler temperatures, drier dirt and short lift queues. Mid-summer (late December to mid-January) can deliver alpine heat above 30 degrees and afternoon thunderstorms, which close the upper lifts without warning.

Getting there without flying

Thredbo sits roughly 500 kilometres south of Sydney and 200 kilometres south-west of Canberra inside Kosciuszko National Park. Canberra Airport is the closest major hub; Snowy Mountains Airport at Cooma is closer still but has limited routes.

• Greyhound runs a direct seasonal coach from Sydney, Sydney Airport, Canberra and Canberra Airport, dropping riders at Thredbo Alpine Apartments in the village.
• FlixBus operates Sydney and Canberra services through the alpine season.
• Snowy Mountains Shuttles and Snowlink provide daily transfers from Jindabyne, the nearest town with broader accommodation.

For travellers stitching a longer Australian trip together, the Canberra-to-Cooma drive is a scenic three hours through the Monaro tablelands; the further leg into the park climbs steadily along the Alpine Way. Driving up from the coast cuts car-rental days against a bus connection, but coach transport remains the lowest-footprint option for solo riders willing to hire bikes in the village.

Where to base, briefly

The village itself sits at the foot of the lifts, so staying in Thredbo means walking, not driving, to the chairlift each morning. Rooms inside the village book out for Cannonball week and Australian school holidays. Jindabyne, 35 kilometres east on Lake Jindabyne, has more inventory, cheaper rates and the shuttle network noted above. Crackenback, midway between the two, offers self-catered apartments and direct trail access to the Thredbo Valley Track.

Sustainability notes

Thredbo's MTB infrastructure sits inside Kosciuszko National Park, and trail work is constrained by NSW National Parks consent conditions. Riders are asked to stay on marked lines, particularly above the treeline where alpine vegetation recovers slowly. Choosing rail or coach access from Sydney or Canberra over a domestic flight to Cooma materially cuts the trip's carbon footprint, and the bike park's gravity-trail network means battery-assisted shuttles are unnecessary for most visitors.

Australian downhill racer Kye A'Hern rides a clean POV lap of Thredbo's Cannonball Downhill, the park's 3.3-kilometre signature descent.