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| New Zealand has been thrust into full on
winter. Persistant snow since last Friday has caused havoc
in the lower part of the South Island. Road closures,
schools shut, and thousands of dead sheep reminding locals
that Mother Nature is the boss. |
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Queenstown locals have
been the first in the Southern Hemisphere to frolic in
the snow with many excited missions taking place. Back
to the old school ..boot packing it to the top of local
hills for what has been reported as "Wicked Snow"
We will let the photos speak for themselves, all taken
around Queenstown over the last few days. More on the
way!
CORONET PEAK SETS SNOWMAKING RECORD AS COLD SNAP BITES
Coronet Peak ski area broke an all-time record last night
(Wed/Thurs May 22/23) for the amount of water pumped through
its extensive snowmaking system.
In temperatures that dropped to a bitter cold minus 9.5C,
the snowmaking team cranked the system to the max to pump
through 2200 gallons of water per minute over a five-hour
period, before high winds forced the shutdown of snowmaking
guns on the upper part of the mountain. Up to 25cm of
natural snow has also fallen at the Queenstown ski area
over the past three days and manager Andy Chapman said
the mountain was looking "an absolute picture".
The ski area has up to 55 snowmaking guns focused on the
main M1 trail from top to bottom of the mountain, the
Big Easy novice run and the beginners area. Mr Chapman
said they would concentrate on building up the base on
those runs, hoping to open on Queen's Birthday weekend. |
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| Up to 25cm of natural snow has also fallen
at the Queenstown ski area over the past three days and
manager Andy Chapman said the mountain was looking an
absolute picture! |
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Although warmer temperatures meant the
snowmaking system shut down for a few hours today (Weds),
snowmaking started again late afternoon and was expected
to carry on all night. More cold fronts and snow are in
the forecast for tomorrow (Thurs).
Mr Chapman said the ski area was further ahead in terms
of snow cover than this time last year. "The snow's
very timely as our first intake of staff arrive for training
next week," he said.
Across the valley, The Remarkables ski area has received
over 35cm of snow in the past few days. Ski area manager
Hamish McCrostie said the mountain was starting to look
white. "We've got wind blown snow which is starting
to fill up the gullies," he said.
The snowmaking team is due to start work at The Remarkables
next week, working on the beginners area, the Alta Green
novice run and the Tubing Park. "They'll be looking
to help bed down the light natural snow on those trails
with machine snow," he said. The Remarkables is aiming
to open at the end of June.
Canterbury's Mt Hutt ski area has received light dustings
of snow during the week and has been making snow when
weather conditions permit. Ski area manager David Wilson
said they were expecting colder temperatures later in
the week to bring more natural snow and enable more snowmaking.
Mt Hutt is also aiming for an early June opening. |
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