15th June 2022
There have been huge falls of snow in Australia so far this season, but less so in New Zealand. Not any more as up to 1m has fallen in places. It comes as things get back to normal after Covid-19 with hopes high for a bumper ski season ahead. NEW
The last two seasons in New Zealand and Australia have been disrupted by Covid-19 restrictions and hopes are high for a good winter following the excellent start.
The significant levels of snow in New Zealand come ahead of the planned opening of many ski resorts for this weekend.
Due to all the snow the resort of Coronet Peak on the South Island is opening a day early on Thursday 16th June.
“Coronet Peak will be opening a day early!” said the resort earlier this week as the snow continued to fall.
“We’ve got the whole team on deck and with several more days of stormy weather we are looking forward to an epic opening.”
Mt. Hutt had to cancel its planned opening for last Friday and will now open this Friday, June 17th.
It now says there is the most snow it has “seen in the base area on an opening.”
Here is an update from the resort on Monday:
Very interesting conditions up here – almost the polar opposite of our opening last season.
The wind has stripped snow off the upper mountain and it has all ended up down low.
At this stage we plan to open with the Nor’west Express and both conveyor lifts.
The Triple (from the bottom) is also a strong contender for our opening day.
More details to follow as our groomers get out and about.
Very strong winds are forecast again tomorrow which will make the access road impassable so our crews will be back up here for the big dig out and final preparations on Wed and Thurs.
The Remarkables is sticking to opening on Saturday 18th.
Treble Cone on the South Island has also seen the fresh snow and is scheduled to open as planned on June 25th.
“This storm has provided us with a tonne of snow and is quite possibly the biggest storm we’ve seen in 20 years’” said the resort.
“We’re seeing about 120-150cm of snow on the roof of the base building currently.”
Australia is seeing its best opening conditions in decades and resorts are now open as we reported earlier:
Thredbo, Australia. Image © PlanetSKI
And lets not forget the island of Tasmania off the south east coast of Australia.
Its largest ski field, Ben Lomond, normally opens in July but it has already fired up its lifts.
“We had a lot of work to do over the last couple of days to get us open,” said Ben Mock from Ben Lomond Ski Lifts to local media.
“It was so stressful but then we got the tick and it was just a sigh of relief.
“It certainly sets us up for the winter season. The snow that has fallen is a great base for us to start on and there is more on the forecast.”
Here at PlanetSKI we’ll keep you posted as the resorts in New Zealand open and the season Down Under gets underway.
Do check back…
Skiing in New Zealand. Image © PlanetSKI.
This article was originally published by Planetski.eu. Read the original article here.
