Skifields hope for snowfalls to open
TWO Otago skifields hope for winter weather for the rest of the week, to allow them to open for the season.
A lack of snow and warmer-than expected temperatures, have meant both Treble Cone and Snow Farm have been unable to open.
Treble Cone marketing coordinator Meagan Philpot said snowmakers and operations staff were working hard to have the skifield in a condition to open soon.
Snowmakers had been hard at work during the weekend as freezing temperatures allowed snow to be made for 52 hours straight.
The decision to open would be evaluated day by day and staff would continue to monitor the weather forecast, snowmaking conditions and snow base level of the mountain.
All 180 staff members had been trained and were ready for the season to start she said.
On the Pisa Range, Snow Farm did not open as planned on Saturday because a lack of snow meant staff had been unable to groom the main crosscountry trails, learners’ area and snowfun zone.
The skifield hoped to open within the next week.
Across the Cardrona Valley, Cardrona Alpine Resort opened two weeks ago and general manager Bridget Legnavsky said she was stoked.
The number of skiers and snowboarders hitting the slopes had been ‘‘strong’’ and the new chondola skilift had been well received, she said.
‘‘It’s been a really good couple of weeks — people have been raving about it.
‘‘Even though we haven’t had much natural snow we had cold temperatures and no warming events, which is quite unusual for this time of the year.’’
So far about 52 million litres of snow had been made, more than in previous years.
It would probably only require about one more day of snowmaking before the entire ski area was open, she said.