Ski fields ready for big season

Lucien Gorden gets a taste of this season's snow at Cardrona, near Wanaka in the South Island. Photo / Supplied

Expectation is high among skiers and snowboarders as bumper snowfalls signal the ski season is almost here.

At Mt Ruapehu, marketing manager Mike Smith said it had gone "from nothing to a nice white mountain" in a couple of weeks after a mild, dry autumn, and things were looking good for the opening of Turoa and Whakapapa skifields this month.

Cooler temperatures had also enabled snow-making to start this week on the mountain, which made the natural snow a "bit of a bonus".

Mr Smith said 24,000 season passes had been sold, and the mountain's web camera traffic was "going through the roof", indicating that people were keen to hit the snow.

At Whakapapa, a lot of rebuilding work was done over summer after the Knoll Ridge Cafe and groomer shed were destroyed in an arson attack last year.

"It's going to be open about mid to late July ... but we have still got our temporary cafe facilities that we built last year."

A new two-lane bridge on the Ohakune mountain road to Turoa ski area would help end the bottlenecks of past seasons, Mr Smith said.

In the South Island, Coronet Peak, Mt Hutt and the Remarkables have also benefited from recent storms.

"It dumped a lot of wet snow, which is fantastic for forming a good base," said NZSki chief executive James Coddington, who represents the three skifields.

"And we have been fortunate enough to have had some cold weather, which allows us to make snow on top of that."

Mt Hutt had a base of a metre of snow, and the other fields also had good foundations.

Coronet Peak will open a new chairlift this season with "family friendly" features such as automatic safety bars and a loading carpet.

But the biggest innovation in the south this season would be the introduction of technology that enables skiers and snowboarders to store their ski movements on a smart card, and later view that information or share it with others online.