2008 Ski Season

[sthguy]

There never can be 'too much snow'
Think of the glaciers

[southernthrash]

When steeps get flattened out, there is too much snow. Haven't been to Lyford, but given they run on T-bars and rope tows, they are probably getting sick of clearing lift lines!

[NZstorm]

I see Whakapapa now has 3.28m base! Mt Hutt 2.60m and Coronet 1.15m.

[GSVNoFixedAbode]

This one dropped my jaw tonight. From the TV3 weather section, one of their images to start the snowy report:


That's a LOT of snow to nearly bury the chairlift!! 8o

[Ice Maiden]

WOW thats an amazing amount of snow, was this at Whakapapa?

[jamie]

WOW thats an amazing amount of snow, was this at Whakapapa?

I think so. Have a look at http://www.mtruapehu.com/winter/latest-news/ and this has a few pics of how deep it is. I watched the video snow report the other day and they had to use the CATs to get up the mountain...even snow mobiles were no good . Its just crazy to see the chair lifts nearly burried. Im heading down next time its fine enough and they have managed to dig themselfs out of the crazy amount of snow.

[tgsnoopy]

Either someone forgot to lift the end of the chair up before the snowfall or it was one heck of a dump. I wonder which it was?

The end of some chairlifts are designed to be raised or lowered to suit the snow base at the time of operation. At the end of the day you are suppost to lift them higher than anticipated snowfall overnight. I see both Whakapapa and Turoa are over the 3m snow base, maybe that's higher than they were designed to be raised.

In any case, bag's not being the one to dig out and de ice that chairlift.

[Inny Binny]

Turoa now has 4.55m!?!

[Razor]

Turoa now has 4.55m!?!

Looking at the next weeks weather it'll be over 5 metres soon!

[Ryan Thomas]

Wow, is most of it stable? You could build a house!

[carrot]

That is high

from: http://www.mtruapehu.com/winter/latest-news/


Biggest Snow Base in History

It's official! Turoa now has the biggest snow base in the history of commercial skiing in New Zealand. The snow stake at 2000m above sea level officially measures 455cm's this morning. We are now wondering where it might all end up. Whakapapa is also entering record territory at 350cm's, which is the most since 1994. Ok enough is enough, just blue skies now please.

[Namytnap]

That is high

from: http://www.mtruapehu.com/winter/latest-news/


Biggest Snow Base in History

It's official! Turoa now has the biggest snow base in the history of commercial skiing in New Zealand. The snow stake at 2000m above sea level officially measures 455cm's this morning. We are now wondering where it might all end up. Whakapapa is also entering record territory at 350cm's, which is the most since 1994. Ok enough is enough, just blue skies now please.

Splendid news rather than wondering where it may end up it might just be the "beginning" of the Whakapapa glacier.

[tgsnoopy]

Splendid news rather than wondering where it may end up it might just be the "beginning" of the Whakapapa glacier.

Now that's more in tune with current global temperature trends, a new glacier

[Gary McConnochie]

Splendid news rather than wondering where it may end up it might just be the "beginning" of the Whakapapa glacier.

Now that's more in tune with current global temperature trends, a new glacier

I like it

[tgsnoopy]

Of course the Whakapapa glacier has already been there for a very long time.

[jamie]

Im heading down for a day trip tomorrow . Leaving Auckland nice and early. Im making the most of being on holiday, having a season pass, HUGE 8o snow base and fine weather. Got 2 weeks of holidays so am going to be going as much as possible in that time.

Just need one more snow storm and Turoa will hit the 5m mark and Whakapapa will get close to 4m. Turoa is currently at 475cm (after having to extend the measuring stick) andWhakapapa is at 350cm

[jamie]

Far out what a great day i had at Turoa today . Sun shining, no wind and boarding with sunnies and a t-shirt.

In 6 weeks there has been shuch a change in the layout of the ski field. I couldnt belive how flat it was up there. It looked more like a alpine ski field without the trees....large open flat areas of snow with no rocks. Gully/valley things that were there 6 weeks ago are not there anymore....now filled in with snow.

[Dean.]

Gary seems very quiet this winter???

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Gary seems very quiet this winter???

He has resigned from the forum, thats why

JohnGaul
NZTS

[carrot]

Turoa just reached a 5 metre base last night .
Ski season still going strong.

[southernthrash]

Lucky bastards up North! Unfortunately 2 weeks of temps hitting 20 degrees plus in the Wakatipu basin and positive double figures up on the hill have brought an early end to the season at Coronet Peak, closing on Saturday. Although the potential is there for a fair bit more snow next week... Remarkables and Cardrona still oging strong. Will be interesting to see how well home basin at TC holds up over the next wee while.

[Nev]

'Coronet closes two weeks early' - Otago Daily Times
By James Beech on Mon, 22 Sep 2008

Winds of 100kmh and rain forced Coronet Peak managers to cancel the celebratory party that was to mark the end of a successful ski season yesterday. ...chief executive James Coddington said the weather deteriorated after 7am and made the chairlifts unusable. The decision to close was made before 8am and only a few skiers had made the trek up the peak by that point, he said... Coronet Peak was affected by a power cut yesterday morning but the resort had back-up generators, he said. ...

Newmans Holidays and Ski Express marketing and product manager Jason Williams, of Melbourne, said Coronet's closure would not affect too many clients. "There's only 50 to 60 customers travelling to Queenstown from now until the traditional closing date of early October. "I'd assume they'll ski The Remarkables. "It's obviously disappointing and a little confusing for customers why [Coronet] should close when they're still reporting a 75cm base and a last snowfall of 3cm on their website [on Friday]." ...

(full story)

[southernthrash]

And Coronet Peak is set to reopen tomorrow, due to the amount of snow that fell over the weekend (35cm) and the snowy forecast for the rest of the week. Good on them! The Wakatipu Basin was certainly looking very "July-ish" yesterday.

[Gary McConnochie]

I heard on the TV 1 news tonight that apparently snow fell to "ground level" in the Queenstown area on the weekend. Where do they get these reporters??

[spwill]

I heard on the TV 1 news tonight that apparently snow fell to "ground level" in the Queenstown area on the weekend. Where do they get these reporters??

Snow did fall to low levels in the Qtwn area but I dont think it settled in the township.The likes of Arrowtown had snow lying.