Right at the end of April we had a storm come thru delivering snow to CP and all the other higher Mtns. As always the town chatter picked up that skiing and riding wasn't too far away. The old saying goes the snow in May never stays and the old hands didn't miss a beat with autumn chores still to be done, ducks to be blasted out of the sky and the odd bit of trout fishing still left in the season. By May 20th with the snow still sitting at CP (some melt but not much) and the report of snow coming an even more heightened sense of awareness has picked up along the bush telegraph.
For a change the forecasters even got it almost right -- the snow materialized. A lot of snow. Yesterday morning CP was saying 40cms ---- not bad. It looked like the weather was lifting and while I was sitting plucking some ducks contemplating that in 2 weeks the mountain will be open, the storm rolled back on us. It started raining in the valley and only being around 4 deg C you know it is snowing in the hills. The precip keep on going and now it is 10am the next day and it is still snowing. It looks like CP might have picked up another good amount, maybe looking around a total of 75+ cms for the storm.
The chatter is all go today, the Whakatipu ski sale is on and every one is talking it up except the old guys The snow in May never stays they are saying quietly in the background but already there are packs of jibbers hiking to the top of the Peak, riding down acting like mini groomers, packing down that virgin new season snow into a firm base.
It's getting near the end of May now and it's certainly been a long time since the Peak has had this much snow towards the end of May. Maybe just maybe, this time May's snow might stay and we will start the season with a terrific base.
In the mean time I have got more autumn chores to finish, some more ducks to pluck and one more fishing mission left to do. The snow in May never says, hmmmm, we'll see.
