New Zealand ski season begins with low snow, cash woe
Ben McKay |
An Australian influx tipped New Zealand into a record snow season last year, with one million visitors to Southern Lakes skifields.
Operators are hopeful the annual Aussie invasion and other international visitors could give the 2022 record a nudge this year and put COVID-era woes well in the past.
To do so, they’ll have to overcome a scratchy start.
Lifts at several famed South Island skifields started turning this month for another season.
However, poor snow level and dreaded rain forced some operators to U-turn on their opening and wait for better weather.
Help seems to be on its way, with a polar blast forecast to bring buckets of snow this weekend.
“We’re hoping for 30 to 50 centimetres this weekend to supercharge the fields,” NZ Ski chief executive officer Paul Anderson told AAP.
NZ Ski operates the Remarkables and Coronet Peak fields out of Queenstown, and Mt Hutt, west of Christchurch.
Mr Anderson said a multimillion dollar off-season investment in snowmaking was paying dividends.
“It’s really handy for us right now,” he said.
Wanaka-based fields Treble Cone and Cardrona will also welcome powderhounds after this weekend’s big dump.
General manager Laura Hedley said visiting skiers and snowboarders would see the resorts back at their best after COVID-enforced domestic seasons in 2020 and 2021, and a 2022 season hit by skills shortages.
“We’re really seeing bookings from Australia start to bump back up to where they were pre-COVID,” she told AAP.
Cardrona has a major event to look forward to in 2023: the Junior World Park and Pipes Championships, which it is hosting as part of NZ’s Winter Games, starting in late August.
Mr Anderson said there were already plenty of Australians in Queenstown – particularly given it is school holidays in Queensland and Victoria – and many more would come in the next three months.
“Forward bookings are strong. The Aussies are coming, definitely,” he said.
“If the snow arrives as promised we will absolutely hit the ground running. We’re well placed to be up to around that million ski visits for Southern Lakes again.”
University of Otago professor Nicolas Cullen said despite the unseasonably low snow to date, it was typical for operators to need one big storm to get moving.
“There is a strong possibility that the ski season will be good for the South Island, and the North Island normally picks up snow when we have an El Nino situation as well,” he said.
“But it is really fickle.
“There’s quite a bit of variability year to year … it can come down to the direction of a storm and whether it’s moisture-bearing.”
While the South Island prepares to get moving, on the North Island, it’s a different story entirely.
The future of the commercial Whakapapa and Turoa skifields is in jeopardy after operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) entered administration last year, and last week, was liquidated.
The government has propped up the fields with $NZ13 million ($A12 million) and counting as the liquidators seek a buyer.
Three operators have expressed interest, including local Maori.
AAP
