Coronet opens for Saturday as cold and snow arrive early

Coronet Peak will hold a preseason open day on Saturday to match rival ski field Cardrona.

Competition is heating up between the ski fields near Queenstown and Wanaka but it is the cold temperatures and early snow that has encouraged them to hold one-off openings at the weekend, ahead of the scheduled June 16 official openings.

On Monday, Cardrona announced its pre-season teaser, a limited opening on Saturday and Sunday.

Now NZSki-owned has decided it will open some chairlifts on Saturday.

Coronet Peak ski field manager Nigel Kerr said it would be good to open two weeks ahead of schedule.

‘‘We managed to scratch enough staff between Remarkables and Coronet to open on Saturday for a day.’’

His mountain was a ‘‘different beast’’ to Cardrona, he said.

‘‘There’s a lot more mountain here than there is at Cardrona,’’ he said.

The Express and Meadows chairlifts and two learners’ slopes have bases of between 40cm and 80cm and will open on the day.

Remarkables ski field manager Ross Lawrence said that ski field’s planned opening on June 9 could not come soon enough.

The ski field already had a 50cm snow base but would not open earlier as staff were busy training, he said.

Ski patrol and road patrol staff were undergoing training this week while the remainder of the 320 staff start tomorrow, he said. ‘‘We want to get the product right. We’ve got the snow but we want to be properly prepared. We are not in a position to just flip the switch and go.’’