Snow Report 26 June 2012 - Australia & New Zealand

AUSTRALIA


Mt Hotham

Snow Depth: 69-82cms
Mt Hotham has opened the wonderful Heavenly Valley area after the weekend's fantastic snowstorm bringing a good deal of terrain online before the school holidays. The Drift area will also be open for this weekend and another decent snowfall would open the Orchard area. Good place to be, considering we're still in June.

Mt Hotham [Source: Mt Hotham Facebook Page]

Falls Creek
Snow Depth: 57cms
Falls Creek has managed to open up more intermediate runs after the storm, including all of the back (Sun Valley) to Ruined Castle Chair except for Lakeside Poma. This is a good deal of intermediate terrain. Another good snowfall would also open the advanced runs on the Summit.


Mt Buller
Snow Depth: 22-60cms
The storm meant Buller was able to open intermediate skiing around Wombat and Summit Chairs and quickly get some good skiing quickly available after the slow start. More snowfalls this weekend could open Standard and Howqua.


NEW ZEALAND


Mt Lyford
Snow Depth: 75-90cms


Porters
Snow Depth: 30-70cms
Porters is now open, but has had to close a few times already due to the heavy winds over the last week.

Mt Hutt
Snow Depth: 95-100cms
More snow for Mt Hutt in the past 24 hours continues the good, early start, but wild weather has limited open days.

Cardrona [Source: Cardrona Facebook page]

Ohau
Snow Depth: 70-100cms


Treble Cone
Snow Depth: 75-80cms
Suddenly a storm, and suddenly Treble Cone has a heap of snow and will open in a few days.


Cardrona

Snow Depth: 65cms
Cardrona has opened the Captains area (by far the most fun area at this ski area) this week, and is considering Valley View after the storm, so everything is on track.


Coronet Peak
Snow Depth: 45-65cms
A foot of snow yesterday adding to the great snowmaking has boosted Queenstown's Coronet Peak.


The Remarkables
Snow Depth: 45-55cms

Snow Report 19 June 2012 - Australia & New Zealand

AUSTRALIA


Mt Hotham

Mt Hotham [Source: Mt Hotham Facebook page]

Snow Depth: 30-35cms
OPEN. Mt Hotham has done well to build on its opening weekend with some natural and artificial snow to open the Village loop, a series of connected runs that make for a good ride. More snow from this weekend will see a good deal of terrain open.


Falls Creek
Snow Depth: 19-30cms
OPEN. Falls has capitalised on cool temperatures to keep open its beginner runs and Main Street. Like Hotham, the coming weeks will open up all of Falls Creek's intermediate runs and some advanced skiing.


Mt Buller
Snow Depth: 1-11cms
Buller missed out for opening weekend but will open more and more lifts and runs with the coming storms and fronts that will hit over the next couple of weeks.


NEW ZEALAND


Mt Lyford
Snow Depth: 65-90cms
OPEN. Great, early start for Lyford, right up in the north of the South Island near Kaikoura.


Porters
Snow Depth: 20-50cms
Thanks to some snowmaking to boost the natural snow from the recent Canterbury region storm, Porters will be able to open on Friday 22 June.

Ohau 19 June [Source: Ohau Facebook page]

Mt Hutt
Snow Depth: 70cms
OPEN. After a great early start - one of its best in ten years - Mt Hutt continues to lead the way in the South Island, opening the Towers Triple Chair this week to give access to the fantastic International area thanks to the new snowmaking down at the lowest part of the ski area.


Ohau
Snow Depth: 30-50cms
Lovely little Ohau is due to open on Saturday 23 June.


Treble Cone
Snow Depth: 15-30cms
Treble Cone has missed out on early snow due to the unfavourable wind direction of the recent falls. Not set to open until the 28 June, I am pretty sure it will catch up with the others once winter is under way as it typically starts later and gets better snow in mid-season.


Cardrona

Cardrona 19 June [Source: Cardrona Facebook page]

Snow Depth: 35-60cms
Due to open on Friday 22 June with enough cover for some good skiing.


Coronet Peak
Snow Depth: 30-40cms
OPEN. Coronet Peak have done well to open early thanks to their massive snowmaking system across the mountain. Many of the main runs from top to bottom are groomed and open despite a lack of natural snow so far.


The Remarkables
Snow Depth: 20-30cms
OPEN. Not much snow at the Remarks yet but ... remarkably ... they are open with limited skiing.

Ski Season 2012 - What's Open

AUSTRALIA

At this time of year, early snow as reported in my previous post needs a follow-up or it doesn't stay. A storm between 2-5 June provided a lot of rain but thankfully it eventually turned to snow. Apart from Mt Buller and Selwyn Snowfields, which sadly missed out, all Victorian and New South Wales ski resorts got a good snowfall from the storm, enough to open a few lifts and runs this coming long weekend.

Mt Hotham

Lifts - Big D, Summit Trainer and Upper Playground.
Runs - One learners run, two beginners runs, and an easy intermediate run (Sun Run).

Falls Creek

Lifts - Falls Express Chairlift, Towers Chairlift and Mousetrap Poma.
Runs - One learners run, one beginners run, and one intermediate run (Main Street).

Mt Buller

No announcements of openings yet, but not enough snow.


Perisher

Lifts - Village Eight Express, Perisher Express Quad to Mid Station, Happy Valley T-bar, Mitchell T-Bar, Tom Thumb J-bar, Scott J-bar.

Thredbo

Lifts - Friday Flat and Cruiser areas for riding. Easy Does It, Snow Runners, Cruiser Chairlift for riding. Gunbarrel and Merritts for access to Cruiser.

NEW ZEALAND

Mt Hutt [Source: Mt Hutt Facebook page]

New Zealand South Island skifields missed out on the first storm that Australia received at the end of May, but to some extent caught up with the second one earlier this week. The skifields in Canterbury and further north fared best, several scoring more than half a metre in the storm. New Zealand skifields usually open a little later, but here are this weekend's openings and the scheduled later openings.


Coronet Peak - OPEN - Didn't get so much in the storm, but topped up enough to open this weekend thanks to its massive snowmaking system.

The Remarkables - CLOSED (Opening 16th June) - Needs a bit more snow than Coronet Peak to open because of the rocky terrain.

Porters [Source: Porters website]

Cardrona - CLOSED (Opening 22nd June) - Queenstown and Wanaka didn't score as much snow as the centre and north of the South Island in the recent storm.

Treble Cone - CLOSED (Opening 28th June)

Ohau - CLOSED (Opening 23rd June) - Ohau received 25cms in the storm earlier this week.

Mt Hutt - OPEN - Received 60-70cms of new snow over Tuesday and Wednesday.

Porters - CLOSED (Opening 22nd June) - The closest skifield to Christchurch also received 70cms of snow in the storm.

Mt Lyford - CLOSED (Opening 22nd June) - received a whopping 75cms of snow in the storm.