Hutt gets another 100cms and Coronet Peak gets 7cms

Wow!!! Mt Hutt is really getting blasted with another huge dump dropping 1m of snow in 48 hrs so when they get it open the skiing will be awesome up there (there is more snow on the way early next week for Mt hutt too).

Queenstown mostly missed out but we did pick up 7cms at the bottom of Coronet Peak and about 10 at the top so this morning the skiing was great with freshies for all - Coronet Peak is amazing how so little snow really makes it go off. Fog and flat light from about midday on but the snow stayed in good nick.

Get to Canterbury for this weekend as a wee fine break hits before the next storm rolls in or if you can't do that hit Coronet Peak - it is skiing well!

Remember to visit the R&R Sport boys if you need any gear. Make sure you are up to speed with the back country advisory thru www.avalanche.net.nz - make sure you have all the right safety gear and don't go alone. Rip it up and have fun.

While the rest of the country gets blasted.......

Coronet Peak just got foogy this morning and windy later on. Good thing was the snow is in great nick for skiing - no big, fat face shots ... unfortunatly. The last 5 days have delivered wee dustings each day that have made it good chalky and grippy snow. Backbowls is probably worth a ski after tonight as the wind may have transported some fresh into it? We may receive some snow out of this but unlike the rest of the country will mostly miss out. Mt Hutt is going to win again snow wise with the potential of a another 50+ cms! At least we get to ski while Mt Hutt stays shut - don't get me wrong I would mind the snow either but at least we get to be out on what we do have mostly down here. I think the heli ski operators would be keen to get some more and see the systems switch back to the West rather than this E/SE crap.

90 cms snow at Mt Hutt

Nearly 1m of snow at Mt Hutt so after they manage to clear the 3-4m snow drifts from the road and get access to the ski area there should be some pretty amazing skiing. At present Mt Hutt is on hold until midday which I think is optomistic and they will probably not get any skiing facilities open until tomorrow.

A shorter drive than getting to Mt Hutt is going to Ohau where they have picked up 35 fresh and will be skiing pretty well although I would be very wary of hidden obstacles!

Only 1-2 cms of fresh at Coronet Peak yesterday and hard icy base on the lower thrid of the mountain but the top 2/3rds were skiing pretty well.

I didn't get my first tracks because there were some icing issues on the lift! I find it stunning coming from the North Island and working at Whakapapa for 10 years that a tiny sliver of ice stop them opening a lift here. They could do to send some staff to Mt Ruapehu and learn how to deal with real ice, that would sort the problems out!

The heli ski operations will be happy as they have picked up 30 - 40 cms of new snow in the higher and more western terrain so as soon as the get a flying day it will be all on.

Have a great day out there!

Huge dump at Mt Hutt

At Mt Hutt they have got 60cms and still snowing and all closed up while they re-open the road. It wouldn't surprise me if they end up with near on a meter. The skiing at Coronet Peak to day will be good with some fresh overnight maybe 10cms using my imagination but enough to head up early for first tracks and a breakfast laid on by nzski to say thanks to staff over the school holidays. I will come back with a report later today. In the meantime head to Mt Hutt - they will get it open but if its by the weekend the place will be nuts and you would want to be on the Mt Hutt mtn road by no later than 0730 otherwise you might miss out!

Fog and Flat light at Coronet Peak

Today at Coronet Peak the visibility was nil, zero, non-existant - a complete white out and unfortunately not due to blizzard conditions although it did snow for a bit. The forecast is for some snow tonight down to low levels (600m and lowering to 500m tomorrow). It looks like we won't miss out but we wont get too much either - maybe Mt Hutt and the North Island ski fields will be the winners - my bet is if you want some fresh to go skiing on/in and have the flexibility head to Mt Hutt.

There is some possibility of some more decent snow next week for us so keep your fingers crossed that a) I am wrong and we will get absolutely hammered out of this storm and b)the snow gods love Queenstown!