Snow Report 15 July 2014 - Australia & New Zealand

AUSTRALIA

If you haven't been up to the snow yet this year then you should definitely get your skis and boards waxed and get moving! The snow conditions are great across the Australian Alps, with well over a metre of snow on the upper slopes.

Mt Hotham 14.07.14 [Source: Mt Hotham webcam]

After a nice fine spell in recent days with picture perfect conditions, the high cloud came in today ahead of a new front. There is a good chance of some snow today and into tomorrow, but the main storm will arrive Thursday and Friday. This should make for a great top-up of fresh snow just in time for the weekend.

Enjoy!

Mt Hotham

Mt Hotham ski resort opened its final unopened lift, The Orchard, on 1st July. Interestingly this was Hotham's earliest opening of all lifts since the year 2000. A storm late last week has seen Hotham reach up to 125cms snowdepth.

Falls Creek

Falls Creek 14.07.14 [Source: Falls Creek webcam]

Falls Creek now has up to 141cms of snow on its upper slopes and all runs and lifts open across the resort. Its great to be at Falls with everything open and the only decision to make is whether to ski the Summit and The Maze first up, or head over to Ruined Castle first!

Mt Buller

Mt Buller also has all of its 22 lifts open and up to 103cms snowdepth. A great result for Buller, Melbourne's closest ski resort, which suffered in the conditions last year.

Perisher

A massive 44 lifts and all areas open at Perisher makes for days of cruising around all the different areas of Australia's biggest ski resort.

Thredbo

Thredbo 14.07.14 [Source: Thredbo webcam]

There is top to bottom cover across the Thredbo ski resort, with the groomed runs the pick until the new snow falls.

NEW ZEALAND

Last week didn't really deliver for the South Island ski resorts, so many are still to open. Those that have opened have been tried by inclement weather conditions and big crowds on limited trails. To add to the difficulties, heavy rain on Friday closed many skifields on Saturday. Thankfully a cooler change arrived on Sunday bringing colder conditions and some good skiing.

A bit of snow is in the forecast for the next few days in Canterbury, but it should be fine right through to the weekend elsewhere, including around Queenstown and Wanaka. New Zealand will be hoping for a good August and September to get its season back on track.

North Canterbury and Nelson

Rainbow (40/7cms) has done a great job to open for the school holidays. Little Hanmer Springs is yet to open. Near Kaikoura in North Canterbury, Mt Lyford is still waiting for enough snow to open after the last front didn't bring quite enough to start the lifts.

Mt Hutt 15.07.14 [Source: Mt Hutt FB page]

Canterbury

Mt Hutt (50/30cms) scored 15cms of fresh snow yesterday, making the mountain white again and improving the skiing immensely. The Summit and Triple Chairs are both open making for a great vertical drop. Porters (30/10cms) opened on 6th July and is still open thanks to its new snowmaking system. There is limited skiing on the first T-bar only.

The Mackenzie

About 15cms snow fell at Ohau (60/30cms) on Sunday night, making for good conditions across the ski area. Little Roundhill (30cms) has opened some groomed runs for the school holidays thanks to its extensive snowmaking system. Mt Dobson is yet to open but says one more snow fall should get things going.

Wanaka

Treble Cone (49/8cms) has struggled to open, but is now in business after some snow fell on Sunday. Snow cover is very thin at the bottom so skiing and boarding is still limited. Cardrona (45/25cms) received 10-15cms of fresh snow on Sunday helping get all lifts operating. With Treble Cone closed and the school holidays, the resort has been very busy and even had to turn away people when the car parks got full.

Queenstown

At Coronet Peak (45/30cms), thelifts are turning again and snowmaking will be firing with the cooler temperatures across the mountain. The Remarkables (90/40cms) has skiing mainly on the groomed trails with all lifts now open after the snowfall Sunday.