NZ South Island ready for the best season ever

Wed 20 May 09

Sam Lee of Snow Park NZ said they have the biggest base they'd ever seen at this time of year. Enough said.

Lake Wanaka in New Zealand and its four international ski areas are enjoying a remarkable amount of early season snow with heavy falls reaching well below the base areas of all four resorts.

Treble Cone 18th May 09
Photo: EveNZ

Treble Cone has over one metre at mid mountain and staff had to contend with thigh deep snow in the car park after the most recent storms. Groomers are starting to pack down the snow on trail and snowmaking will resume next week in preparation for the scheduled 27 June opening.

Cardrona Alpine Resort has also experienced heavy snowfalls over the last 48 hours with the estimated snowbase at just under a metre. Blizzard conditions and snowdrifts of up to two metres have made accessing Cardrona difficult for staff and avalanche risk is said to be extremely high. Cardrona hasn’t experienced early snowfalls of this magnitude since 1995.

Sam Lee of Snow Park NZ said they have the biggest base they’d ever seen at this time of year. “This give us a great head start and snow making will be even more effective allowing us to open all facilities as scheduled on 4 July.”

Treble Cone 18th May 09
Photo: EveNZ

Lake Wanaka Tourism general manager, James Helmore, said town was buzzing in anticipation of an excellent season.

“It looks like mid-winter now and it’s only May,” he said. “Having so much snow this early provides a hugely positive start to the season which helps everybody, from retailers to the ski fields themselves. There are lots of people just itching to get up the mountain and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of keen skiers and riders getting in some early season touring over the next few days!”

For further information and webcams, visit www.lakewanaka.co.nz

Wanaka to host 2010 FIS Junior World Championships
Snow Sports New Zealand announced today that all three Wanaka-area ski fields will share the spotlight for this August’s 2010 FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships -14Feb10
New chairlift & expanded terrain at Cardrona
Cardrona's lift-serviced vertical will increase by 250 metres and the ski area will grow to a total size of 345 hectares -29Jan10
White & Jiayu take halfpipe title at the NZ Games
High winds created even higher drama today for the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup Halfpipe final, part of 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games -26Aug09
Shaun White Confirmed for Winter Games NZ
Hot on the heels of the NZ open, the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup Halfpipe kicks off Wednesday 26 August at Cardrona as part of the NZ Winter Games, and Shaun White has confirmed his participation along with numerous other top names -21Aug09
NZ Open 2009, the WSG review
Our NZ reporter Sarah Mulholland was out at the open last week for the slopestyle finals. Read the report and checkout these amazing shots. -19Aug09