Well it has been an interesting week or so in the mountains of New Zealand. After an epic start to the season mother nature decided to turn the tables and see how we all cope with a good drenching. The North Island makes headlines with major flooding and the temperatures soar with the North-westerly weather system.

"Luckily the great early season conditions have meant most areas have survived the rain and warm conditions amazingly well."

Not a good look for the ski fields, as locals and ski area managment cringe at the sight of their beloved resorts been transformed from epic to in some cases, very average! The bad conditions have meant that the first two events of the N.Z snowboarding calander have been postponed. The Convert Half Pipe comp at Coronet Peak has been postponed untill next weekend. Up at Mt. Hutt the lack of snow saw Burton postpone their invitational comp last weekend. Keep your eyes peeled because when they do get this event off the ground combined with the opening of the Burton Demo center -- it is a winner.

Cardrona:  Aspiring College takes classes to the snow!

HOW HAS THE SNOW SURVIVED THE RAIN
Luckily the great early season conditions have meant most areas have survived the rain and warm conditions amazingly well. Locals are still reporting great conditions up at the Remarkables with many people venturing off on hiking missions and saying it has not been this good, this early for years. Coronet Peak has been hit very hard buy the rain but thanks to the resilience of man made snow the main M-1 trail is still in great shape. The good news up at the Peak is that as of Sunday night with lowering temperatures they have been able to crank up their impressive snow making system. With the huge capacity of these machines look for things to improve rapidly up at Coronet.

Meanwhile, Cardrona has been enjoying huge early season crowds. With the Half Pipe up and running in perfect shape they are a mecca for boarders in search of early season training. The famous Cardrona boarder X course is also up and running but with the very hard snow conditions, so you have to be careful out there..

The short term forecast does not show any snow on the way but lets keep our fingers crossed and once agin give praise to the snow making crews up and down the country.. Give it HEAPS boys!

— Jamie, BoarderZone.com praying for snow |HAVE YOUR SAY!|