Checkpoint and ice delay skiers
Traffic backlogs due to poor weather and police drink-driving checks caused huge delays for skiers in Canterbury and Otago over the weekend.
Traffic heading to The Remarkables in Queenstown was at a virtual stand-still for 3.5 kilometres on State Highway 6 about 8am on Saturday due to black ice closing the skifield access road.
Manager Ross Lawrence said yesterday was a slower day, with about a quarter of the number of skiers back up the hill.
He put this down to yesterday being a ‘‘changeover day’’ for skiers, and expected the second week of school holidays to lift numbers again.
On Saturday, grit meant to be distributed on the road by a grit truck had frozen and would not run through the truck. A grader struggled to get up the road.
The delay held up early morning skiers between 7.30am and 9am.
The fields were fully operational by 9.30am, but some people had given up on getting there, with capacity reaching only 70 to 75%.
There was black ice right up to the car park on Saturday and even the grader was sliding, Lawrence said.
Yesterday everything was working as it should, he said.
Mt Hutt near Christchurch also had issues with a traffic jam early on Saturday.
One ski instructor, who did not want to be named, said she was furious after being 90 minutes late for work due to a police drinkdriving checkpoint that left traffic queued back towards Methven.
Mt Hutt area manager James McKenzie said it was not uncommon for police to run breathtesting operations in the area in winter, and he had been breathtested four or five times this season.
‘‘The alpine roads are a pretty serious proposition, and we fully support their work.’’
McKenzie said police also did vehicle checks, but had assured the business they would let people through faster if it was creating too much delay for skiers.
Police were unable to comment about the checks.
McKenzie said Mt Hutt’s car park reached capacity about 8.15am on Saturday, and the day was ‘‘the best day of winter so far’’.
The roads to Cardrona, Treble Cone and Coronet Peak ski areas were all open over the weekend.
Yesterday, the Queenstown Lakes District Council warned motorists that the Crown Range Rd was ‘‘heavily gritted’’ because of ice after snow fell on the road overnight Friday. The Lindis Pass was also heavily gritted because of ice.
Southern skifields expected more snow to fall overnight.