Mt Hutt Ski Area due to open

Mt Hutt Ski Area is likely to open within the next 24 hours. Mountain manager Ross Lawrence said yesterday: "It is all we could wish for up here at the moment. There's a blizzard. It's dropping snow and there's a reasonable amount of wind so the snow is dropping in the right places."

Mt Hutt had been due to open on June 7. "We won't be too far off track if this weather keeps up now," said Mr Lawrence.