Fresh Snow and Wild Weather in New Zealand

New Zealand, the country where pandemic restrictions have rarely been required, is in the midst of a hit-and-miss 2021 ski season.

On the downside for snow the warmest June on record (after huge snowfalls for some at the end of May) at the start of the season did not see a huge improvement in July.  For the snow travel business economy the hopes of a boom from the creation of the ‘TransTasman travel bubble’ allowing skiers to arrive quarantine free were dashed when Delta variant spikes in Australia led to its closure to at least late September – the end of the ski season.

But things have been looking up at last for snow cover over the past few weeks as we’ve entered August with the biggest snowfalls since May for most. However along with some great powder days which saw unusually large crowds filling ski base carparks midweek, there has been some damage to lifts from severe gales and other severe weather factors closing many areas for a time.

At Whakapapa on Mt Ruapehu on the country’s North Island the resort team had been prepping the Knoll Ridge T bar lift to open when the latest storm hit, bringing with it, the resort reports 200km/hr (125mph) winds and heavy ice build-up, the combination of which brought the cable off the sheaves (wheels) and twist.

“T boxes ended up wrapped around the cable (in some cases, multiple times!) and half of the eleven towers sustained damage,” a resort spokesperson said, adding, “That said, how epic to receive such a good dump of snow to build the T lines and trails up from! The maintenance team has made great progress since the storm passed by Tuesday. The rope has been untwisted (no easy feat!) and the assemblies of sheaves are being repaired.”

If progress is smooth the centre hope the lift will be able to re-open on Monday.