Winter looks good in New Zealand
Monday June 8, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Across New Zealand in the past week buildings have been damaged, travel plans disrupted, power lines have been brought down and roads made impassible by falling trees.  Airports have closed and ferry sailings between the North and South island cancelled.

Farm animals have had to be moved. Schools and businesses closed.

High winds, rain and gales have been lashing most of the country.  TV news bulletins are leading on the story and this weekend there are 18 severe weather warnings in place.

Up in the mountains though it’s chucking it down with snow and people are licking their lips with glee. Some are out making their first turns of what people are hoping will be an epic winter.

Looking good in Mt HuttThis weekend Mt Hutt is due to open after frantic efforts have been made to get the resort open. We have already reported on it here and it's the first time in 10 years the resort has opened in May.

Coronet Peak ski area, scheduled to open on Saturday June 6th, has received 1m of snow in four days.

Across the valley at The Remarkables, 1.5m has fallen over the last fortnight.

“It’s the best start to the season anybody can remember for many years,” the resort manager, Ross Lawrence, has told local media. The resort is set to open on June 20th.

The first resort to open was the humble Manganui skifield, where 50 people turned out to use the learner’s tow and the one T-bar that opened.  The resort now has a base of 50cm.

The bashers are hard at workThe North Island’s other two skifields, Turoa and Whakapapa, on Mt Ruapehu, will open on June 20th and June 27th respectively.

In Central Otago, both Cardrona and Treble Cone are looking to open around June 27th and Coronet Peak and The Remarkables in Queenstown will open their slopes June 6th and June 20th respectively.

But of course just because the lifts aren’t open doesn’t mean people aren’t out there skiing and snowboarding.  Many people have simply been walking up and they report the conditions to be superb.

However, the authorities are cautioning people against this for fear of avalanches.

The Mountain Safety Council said skiers, snowboarders and climbers keen to enjoy the new snow were at risk of being caught.

The avalanche bulletins are not yet being published for people to get the necessary information on snow conditions while the rescue services are not up and running either.

The risk at the moment is “considerable” – the equivalent of 3 on the European scale.

That means natural avalanches were possible, human triggered avalanches were probable, and backcountry skiing and travel should only be carried out by experienced people able to evaluate avalanche hazards.

It's winter!So how unusual is it to have this sort of weather at this time of year?

"Cold snaps are not unusual but for it to stick with us so long is strange," says Philip Duncan of Weatherwatch. "We had such a warm April but we've been robbed of autumn. We're having July weather in the middle of May, when the coldest time of this year is still to come."

Though the weather is undoubtedly causing severe problems for many people, those skiers and snowboarders in New Zealand or people from the Northern Hemisphere heading out their shortly are dancing for joy.

On the other side of the world resorts are closing earlier than planned as the snow melts.

PlanetSKI has a team of reporters across the Southern Hemisphere in New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and Chile.  Once the resorts open we will let you know how it all goes down under.

If you haven’t seen this video below of Cerro Catedrale in Argentina that we made last summer then check it out or take a look at the blogs from our content editor, James Cove, who was in The Andes last year.

It'll give you a flavour of what it's like in the Southern hemisphere.

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