Southern Hemisphere Weekly Roundup #245

Southern Hemisphere Ski Season Heats Up with Fresh Snow and Early Openings

• Australia's 2024 ski season has begun, though with limited terrain, while fresh snow and colder temperatures are expected to improve conditions soon.
• New Zealand's ski season kicks off this weekend, with significant snowfall forecasted to create ideal conditions for opening day.
• Argentina and Chile lead in South America with early season openings and heavy snowfalls, providing excellent skiing conditions, particularly in Chile.

World Overview

As we move deeper into June, more of the southern hemisphere’s ski areas are opening for their 2024 seasons. There are now at least one center open in all five countries which currently have ski areas operational south of the equator. Chile continues to lead the way with the most centers open early, after the big May snowfalls there, but Argentina’s largest resort by ski lift capacity, Catedral near Bariloche, opened at the weekend. After a quieter few weeks, another big snowstorm has arrived in the region this week. Australia’s ski season also got underway on Saturday, albeit with not a lot able to open yet, and Lesotho’s Afriski got fresh snowfall last week, which allowed it to fully open its slopes for what is believed to be the first time since August 2022. There’s also one small bit of snow already open at a single resort on the North Island in New Zealand, but the season proper is due to kick off there very shortly, this coming weekend. Although we’re into meteorological summertime, the northern hemisphere is fighting back, kind of! The number of ski areas open in the Alps may be countable on one hand at the moment, but more centers are set to open for summer skiing than close in June, and there’s been fresh snowfall in Scandinavia and over in the Rockies over the past seven days. 

Southern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere Intro

Southern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere Intro The ski season has now started in all parts of the southern hemisphere with ski lifts, just about. Australian centers opened for their 2024 winter on Saturday, although only a few had limited snowsports on offer. New Zealand’s 2024 season doesn’t really get underway until this coming weekend, but one area has again had a small amount of skiable terrain open early. There’s a good snowfall and cold temperatures forecast for the country this week, which could be very nicely timed if it delivers as forecast models predict. South America continues to be in pole position though, with most Chilean areas already open and Argentina’s largest center by uplift joining them last weekend, with more centers there set to follow this coming Saturday. Another huge snowfall is currently underway as another major storm system moves across from the Pacific. Finally, in southern Africa, Lesotho’s Afriski completed its first full-length ski run since the end of its 2022 season. So every southern hemisphere ski nation now has its 2024 season underway to some extent, several weeks early in South America's case.

Australia Report

Australia’s 2024 season is underway but sadly with very little available to ski and ride on opening day last Saturday. Mt Buller’s (0/25cm / 0/10”) investment in all-weather snowmaking machinery paid off on Saturday as it was able to offer the most skiing and riding on Australia’s opening weekend. Mt Baw Baw also has a TechnoAlpin SnowFactory all-weather snowmaking machine (Buller has five) and so was able to open limited terrain from day one too. There’d been some natural snowfall and conventional snowmaking attempts when temperatures were low enough elsewhere, but most other centers didn’t have enough snow to open any ski runs. Perisher (0/10cm / 0/4”) did manage a short slope in their beginner area served by its carpet lift, and there was similar limited terrain available at Thredbo (0/10cm / 0/4”) and Mt Baw Baw. None has more than a kilometer of slopes open though, most just a few hundred meters, with Mt Buller the most. Since the start of the week, temperatures have finally dropped, and there have been some natural snowfalls along with snow guns firing up again, so those resorts not yet able to offer any skiing hope now to be able to open something soon. The four already open are looking to rapidly expand what they have available. “It’s great to see the resort covered in white,” said Field Marketing Manager Betony Pitcher at Falls Creek, which reported 10cm (4”) of fresh snow on Tuesday but is yet to open any runs. She continued, "It's been snowing all morning and reminding us what a magical place it is on the mountain when it snows! We have more snowfall, cold temperatures and snowmaking forecast for this week, and we're all getting excited for the ski and board season ahead." Perisher had reported more than 30cm (a foot) of fresh snowfall by Wednesday morning, with more snow forecast and snowmaking working around the clock too.

Australia Forecast

The snowy weather looks set to peter out midweek, but it should be much colder than it has been, despite sunny skies, with overnight lows down as far as -8°C and daytime highs only a few degrees above freezing, so great snowmaking conditions.

New Zealand Report

New Zealand’s 2024 season is due to get underway properly this coming weekend with four centers – Coronet Peak, Mt Hutt, Cardrona, and The Remarkables lined up to open. It's difficult to know until then just how much terrain will be open, with some areas warning "probably, not a lot" …but there appears to be more snow on the ground than Australia had a week ago, and unlike Australia's pre-season week, it has been cold and snowing with more in the forecast for most areas. Hopefully, there'll be greater amounts of terrain open from day one. On the North Island, Whakapapa’s Happy Valley area has had a small amount of snow space open already and, after it had to close again due to warm temperatures, reported snowmaking back underway by the latter half of last week. 

New Zealand Forecast

A cold and snowy end to the week is forecast with the potential for some significant snowfall accumulations (20-40cm / 8-16") that could prove the ideal backdrop to the season start. Overnight lows around -5°C, daytime highs only a degree or two above freezing. Looking drier and sunnier at the weekend.

Argentina Report

Argentina’s ski season is underway with the country’s largest resort, Catedral near Bariloche (which had already been the first in the southern hemisphere to open, briefly, in mid-May after a huge snowfall) opening a fortnight early last weekend. The huge snowfalls are back here and across Argentina's snowfields this week. However, so far, Catedral has only opened a small proportion – about 10% / 12km / 7 miles of its terrain. At least two more leading Argentinian ski areas, Cerro Bayo and Chapelco, plan to open this coming weekend, starting their season a week earlier than planned thanks to all that early snowfall. 

Argentina Forecast

The latest snowstorm looks set to continue for the remainder of this week and into the next at some resorts. Temperatures remain close to freezing in the daytime and well below overnight.

Chile Report

Chile continues to boast the most ski areas open in the southern hemisphere (or the world) with most of the country’s centers having opened early for the 2024 season over the past few weekends thanks to the big pre-season snowfalls in much of the region. Those heavy snowfalls have resumed this week, with some centers expected to receive more than a meter (40”) of fresh snowfall in total by the coming weekend. Most are so far only open at weekends until the full season begins at the end of next week, but El Colorado (60/95cm / 24/38”), Corralco (40/110cm / 16/44”), and Lagunillas (40/80cm / 16/32”) are open daily already. Corralco has the deepest snow in the country so far, and El Colorado continues to have the most terrain reported open of anywhere in the world at present with about 80% of its slopes, meaning over 40km (25 miles) of runs available. Portillo (60/140cm / 24/56”), which has been opening from Fridays to Sundays at present but will open daily from Saturday, currently says its access roads are closed by the snowfall and that it has had nearly 2 meters (80”) of pre-season snowfall so far. 

Chile Forecast

Temperatures are expected to drop further by the end of the week, with -10°C or below likely overnight by the weekend. Some very heavy snowfall is expected through the next 48 hours, with some centres potentially seeing 60cm (2 feet) of snowfall in 24 hours on Thursday/Friday before skies clear at the weekend while temperatures stay low.

Southern Africa Report

After something of a false dawn as the season officially started on June 1st, there is now a complete full-length ski run at Afriski (15/15cm / 6/6”) for the first time since August 2022. Cold weather for snowmaking, coupled with repeat snowstorms last week, has made everything much more wintry and ready for skiers.

Southern Africa Forecast

There's no snowfall on the horizon, but temperatures are looking good for snowmaking overnight with lows of -8°C in the forecast. Daytime highs will reach around +9°C in the near-constant sunshine, but the snow should withstand the warmest spells and can be topped up at night if required.