New Zealand Ski Areas Struggle with Borderline Conditions
New Zealand Ski Areas Struggle with Borderline Conditions
Published : 22-Jun-2023 08:14
It's a slow start to the 2023 season in New Zealand due to borderline weather conditions for snow.
The first ski area in the country (and probably the southern hemisphere) to open on 10th June, Mt Hutt, has been forced to close again due to rain and now Treble Cone has decided to delay its planned opening.
However other areas opened on time, albeit with limited terrain, and one, The Remarkables, has managed to add some terrain.
The main issue has been slightly too mild temperatures and when there have been subzero temps skies have been cleared, so snowmaking can sometimes work but not enough.
Mt Hutt issued this statement on Monday, "Over the past 2 days we have received 40mm of rain and our relatively thin snowpack has taken a real hiding. This rain event has followed a warm period of marginal snowmaking temperatures which have significantly reduced the efficacy of our snowmaking system - particularly at lower elevations. We now have insufficient snow coverage in the base area to operate our lifts and will need to stay closed until conditions improve again."
"Treble Cone, being lower elevation at base, does need a bit more snow for opening so we're eagerly refreshing that forecast. The team is as ready as our riders, so we're playing an involuntary waiting game," Treble Cone's General Manager Laura Hedley commented as the resort announced a delay on its planned opening day on Saturday 24th June.
However the mood was more upbeat at The Remarkables (pictured above), which posted on Wednesday,
"We are over the moon to get Curvey Basin open for you all to enjoy. A massive shoutout to our snowmaking and grooming team for making this happen!"
Unfortunately there no great improvement in the weather forecast at present,
"Short term (more accurate) forecasts are not showing too much cooling until the end of the week and the longer range forecasts are also not particularly promising. Rest assured, as soon as the wet bulb temp hits our threshold for snowmaking we will be on-line and given the recent upgrades we have made, our situation could change in just a few days." Mt Hutt's statement concludes.
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