Skifields deep in snow for school holidays

Skiers (from left) Andy and Graeme Oxley, Meg Taylor and John Pawson from Wanaka at Cardrona.

Skiers, snowboarders and school kids rejoice - skifields around the country are laden with snow for the beginning of the school holidays tomorrow.

Fresh powder has fallen at skifields in the South Island this week and the MetService is predicting more snow both there and in the North Island next week.

The latest falls add to already healthy coverings on mountains nationwide.

The North Island's Mt Ruapehu was blanketed in snow down to the Chateau hotel last week, and now has an 80cm base at its Whakapapa skifield and 1.4m at Turoa.

Nearly all lifts at Whakapapa are open and the deep base at Turoa has allowed lifts that normally stay closed until mid-July to operate.

Mt Ruapehu marketing manager Mike Smith said 1500 to 2000 skiers and snowboarders a day had taken to the slopes at each skifield since Sunday, and more were expected in the holidays.

Many have also flocked to South Island fields, including Mt Hutt, which opened on June 10 and yesterday had a 1.3m base.

On Sunday, the road up the Canterbury mountain had to be closed after the carpark reached its capacity of about 1000 vehicles.

All lifts on Mt Hutt are already open and, despite its having the second-largest snowmaking capacity in the South Island after Coronet Peak, full-scale snowmaking has not been necessary yet.

"The natural snowfalls have been absolutely phenomenal," said Duncan Smith, managing director of Mt Hutt, Coronet Peak and the Remarkables.

He said Coronet Peak, near Queenstown, was also having a superb start to the season.

"It's the best June conditions since 1994."

An 80cm base had attracted large numbers of snow-lovers from Otago and Southland, and visitors from overseas, particularly Australia, were arriving earlier than usual.

At Coronet, tussocky terrain allows the skifield to operate on a 20-30cm base.

The Remarkables also had an 80cm base on the upper mountain and Mr Smith said a little more snow would allow all lifts to open.

He was confident the season would be good at all three skifields.

"Obviously there's weather dependency always, but historically if we have a good snow base by the end of June, we have a good season."

The busy beginning meant extra staff would probably be hired to add to the 350 at Mt Hutt, 400 at Coronet and 250 at the Remarkables.

Treble Cone, near Wanaka, and Cardrona, between Wanaka and Queenstown, also reported a great season beginning.

"It's probably one of the most outstanding in a decade," said Cardrona marketing manager Bruce McGechan.

He said all lifts were open and a half-pipe on the skifield's terrain park was expected to be ready for the holidays.

At least six rails in the terrain park were up and running.

Treble Cone's terrain park, which has eight rails and two big jumps, was also open.

Earthworks were built over summer to create the park, which in the past was made by bulldozing snow into formations.

This delayed opening until later in the season when there was enough snow, whereas the new terrain now needs only a covering to become functional.

Marketing manager Anna Yeates said new programmes had been introduced at Treble Cone for the school holidays, and parents could drop kids off in the morning for the day.

The MetService said big dumps of snow were difficult to predict but rain and cool southerlies, which combined to make snow, were likely to bring falls to skifields around the country beginning on Sunday.

Conditions for snowmaking were also reported to be prime by the skifields.

Snowmaking needs temperatures of zero or below and no wind.

Snow depth at the big fields

Whakapapa 80cm
Turoa 140cm
Mt Hutt 130cm
Treble Cone 30cm
Cardrona 30cm
Coronet Peak 55cm
Remarkables 65cm

* Source: www.snowreports.co.nz