Resort Bases Pass 2m Mark As Huge Snowfalls Continue in New Zealand

Bases have been building fast in New Zealand as huge snowfalls have continued to bring deep snow to the country.

It’s looking good for the rest of the season at most of the country’s ski areas now but in the short term the extreme weather has closed many areas with travel made hazardous, power outages, operational difficulties and high avalanche risk amongst the issues being faced.

When areas are open they are very busy as this is one of New Zealand’s peak school holiday periods and some areas have had to close to new arrivals at times as their slopes reach capacity.

Mt Dobson (pictured yesterday, video today) is one of the areas that now has more than 2.1m of snow lying following a multi-day snow storm that left road crews having to clear at least 1.2m of fresh snow off access roads and other staff needing to dig out infrastructure on the ski slopes so the runs can be accessed.

Snowfall of 25-60cm in 24 hours has been reported by NZ ski areas over the last few days and Mt Hutt now has a 2.2m base, the country’s deepest. Turoa on the North Island is up to 1.7m.

There’s no real end to the current conditions in suite.  Most areas will see a few days lull before the next wave of heavy-snow is due to arrive mid-week.  Temperatures should remain below zero at most too (dropping to double digits below freezing at night).