Here we are less than one week out from the July school holidays in Australia. The lack of natural snowfalls in Southeastern Australia has been a little disappointing.
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| Falls Creek 23 June [Source Falls Creek FB page] |
Fortunately the very cold nights over the last week have helped snowmakers create some magnificent quantities of manmade snow at all the major resorts over the last week. Remarkably this has helped all the ski resorts open at least a run or two against all the odds.
A bit of snow fell on Monday, especially at Perisher and Thredbo. Very little snow is forecast during the next week, so its going to be a while before we really get going.
Mt Hotham
Natural Snow Depth: 9cms
The Big D beginner run that sits all on its own above the road through Hotham Heights opened on the weekend. Nothing else open yet but you'd expect Summit to be the next lift to open at Hotham.
Falls Creek
Natural Snow Depth: 0cms
Beginners can ski up high at Mousetrap, and there is the short, fast ski run down Main Street on offer along with the lovely Wombats Ramble which opened on Monday after some great snowmaking runs.
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| Perisher 23 June [Source: Perisher FB page] |
Mt Buller
Natural Snow Depth: 0cms
Mt Buller's huge snowmaking system has managed to get Bourke Street/Baldy open last week, followed by Wombat/Little Buller, and then Shakey Knees which opened on Sunday. More snow is needed to keep those runs open.
Perisher
Natural Snow Depth: 11cms
Happy Valley and Zalis opened on Sunday, adding to the runs open all around Front Valley. Some good snowfalls on Sunday and Monday (30cms) have boosted the ski area's cover.
Thredbo
Natural Snow Depth: 0-41cms
High Noon and the beginners area at Friday Flat are now open.
NEW ZEALAND
What a dramatic week and weekend in New Zealand. Snowfalls in the South Island last weekend and into seem tame now by comparison with what came later.
A huge storm hit from 19-21st June, affecting the whole country and bringing massive snowfalls across the skifields in the South Island.
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| Mt Lyford 24 June [Source: Mt Lyford FB page] |
Unfortunately, most resorts were unprepared to deal with this amount of snow at this time of year, with operations only just getting going. For some, the sheer amount of snow made it hard to clear roads and conduct safety work for days.
Only Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Cardrona were open on this past weekend as the storm hit harder in Canterbury than in the Southern Lakes.
North Canterbury and Nelson
Rainbow - no news from Rainbow this week following the big storm. Rainbow skifield is due to open on Saturday 6th July. Hanmer Springs says it is looking to open on Saturday 29th June having got a good bit of cover in a few days of snowfalls. Mt Lyford is aiming to get the field open on the 27th or 28th June after receiving around two metres of snow from the storm.
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| Porters [Source: ONENews via Porters FB page] |
Canterbury
Porters was engaged in safety work by helicopter which set off an avalanche which has delayed the planned opening, which was 21st June. Its not clear when Christchurch's closest ski area will open. Mt Hutt got a heap of snow in the weekend snowfalls a week ago ... then even more in the big storm. Over two metres by the end of the week and edging deeper and deeper and closer to three metres by Sunday 23rd June.
Unfortunately Hutt couldn't get open again on the weekend with all the work that has been required to get the skifield prepared. Mt Hutt had to do avalanche control by helicopter ("helibombing") this weekend. Bad news is that an avalanche took out the bottom lift station of the Towers Triple Chairlift on Sunday. The good news is Hutt will open on Tuesday 25th June.
The Mackenzie
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| The new lift at Ohau |
Ohau received 60cms in the weekend storm, followed by a metre of snow and then some great news about the second lift they plan to put in at the end of 2013. Ohau opens on 29th June. Roundhill and Mt Dobson each received a heap of snow in the storms and open in early July.
Wanaka
Treble Cone is opening on 27th June with great cover in the Saddle Basin - around 1.5 metres. Cardrona was one of the only skifields open on the weekend with fantastic cover across the mountain (120/65cms).
Queenstown
At Coronet Peak, the Greengates Chair opened and the Peak now has a solid base for the long season ahead (105/65cms). Close by, across the valley, The Remarkables opened on 22nd June (110/75cms).
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