Sunday, December 28, 2008

don't we wish

"The mountains around Lake Tahoe received about 2 feet (more than half a metre) of snow, bringing totals at some resorts in the past two weeks to 3 metres."

Oh don't we wish we had snow reports like that in queenstown !

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

It's white at our place !

It's snowing. As we speak. Big white luverly flakes laying on the ground all around our house. We love it.

Coronet peak staff must have gone to sleep after a busy night with the mountain lit up like fairy lights. See if you can count how many ... every light is a snow machine blasting artificial in to the ether ....



Here is there online snow report at 8:00am in the morning of the 24th

Last Update - Mon, 23 Jun 08, 4:10 PM
Status - Closed
Last Fall - 5 cm, 08 Jun 2008

Now this is on the biggest snow storm of the season when mortal snowfers like you and me have been up since 6am hankering to get the low down on the snow down.

Oh me oh my.

Monday, June 23, 2008

We start again

They are blowing snow on The Peak

We start again.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Antarctic depression ready to pounce


New Zealand Herald
12:14PM Friday June 20, 2008

A large Antarctic depression is roaring away in the Southern Ocean and is set to pounce on New Zealand around Sunday. It's a two prong attack with firstly another area of low pressure forming in the Tasman Sea. The second part to this system is a particularly cold south westerly kicking in on Monday in the far south.

At the time I wrote this story (Friday morning) the system was looking set to dump snow across Southland, Otago, Canterbury and Central Plateau. Some predictions I've seen show snow falling over Christchurch.


And snow-forecast.com has this to say

A strong SW flow will develop from Sunday. This will bring widespread snow to low levels early next week. Update (Thurs 19th Jun, 2am NZ time): The promising forecast for NZ is unchanged. Some heavy falls next week.

Hmmmm we will see I guess .....

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sun, rain shut down ski resorts


BY SUE FEA - The Southland Times | Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Unseasonally warm temperatures and rain late last week has temporarily disrupted a bumper start to the ski season in the Southern Lakes but help is on the way with a snow storm forecast for this weekend.

Coronet Peak has been closed until further notice because of the "recent rain, warm temperatures and the consequent loss of snow", NZSki chief executive James Coddington said.......


Good news is the new swimming pool in Queenstown so you can while away your worries doing some laps rather than tear out the frustrations on the slopes.

Better news is our good friends at snow-forecast.com have a perrrty little picture




look at the temperature plummet ! look at the snow forecast!

now if you are used to northern hemisphere metre dumps you would snigger at these figures .... but for a hard up southerner this is white and wunderful

so what all you serious snowfers need to do is pray. hard. dont care what book you read or which way you face pray. for snow.

Click here for the Coronet Peak snow-forecast website

Monday, June 16, 2008

oh dear .........



Peak Report .....

Status: Closed

Due to recent rain and warm temperatures and consequent loss of snow we are closed until we get cold temperatures to make more snow and/or more natural snow falls. Our snowmakers are ready to go and we will be working to reopen at the earliest opportunity.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Opening Day !!!!! - Nottttttttttttttttt

Everyone got excited and it was looking like the biggest opening day in over 17 years ...... then huey had his way .... oh la la

Pete's first post

Welcome to the 2008 season.
This is a very short report as the Peak doesn't open until Saturday and I
won't get a ski until tomorrow morning during training What I can tell you
is that we have more snow here than I ever remember over the past 17
seasons. We also have had some good snowmaking conditions and the 203 new
Alpina Guns have all been fired up.
The new Base building is quite something. How Arrow International managed
to pull the old building down and build this amazing facility is incredible.
$34m has been spent this season. There is no doubt that the old Mt Cook Co
days are well and truly over. The whole thinking up here has changed.
We are open here at Joel and the code for the internal door is the same as
last year.
Catering will not start until later in the Month.
please call if you intend coming up.
See you all soon.
Pete

Sunday, February 24, 2008

it seems that the best we can hope for is for an average season. ...

Oh dear ... lets hope our friends at snow-forecast.com are wrong

"There is no doubt that the hot New Zealand Summer weather will return in just a few days, but already we can make some predictions for the coming ski season. If the present strong La Nina is still there in June, and that's what we expect, we can expect a below average start to the NZ 2008 ski season. Also, since there is currently no expectation of a strong El Nino developing in time, we can already say that a very good ski season is unlikely. At this stage, it seems that the best we can hope for is for an average season."

Hindcasts and ... 9 Day Forecasts ...wot will be next ?

Well those of you whom have been following my snow missives will know that I have been a long time supporter of the fine service provided by the folks at snow-forecast.com. Continually pushing the forecasting envelope so you can figure out the best way to get a proper powder fix .... so you just got to love there latest upgrade ... Hindcasts indeed ... and 9 days in the future ... heck you will even have time to ask the boss for time off rather than just playing hookie


Hindcasts and ... 9 Day Forecasts ...

"Last week we announced our new hindcast service for members and hope you found it as useful as we do for checking what weather has just passed and hence what the conditions are likely to be.

We are pleased to announce that the next major upgrade is just a few days away – 9 day forecasts for subscribers. We have been validating the usefulness of longer range forecasts for six months. Indeed, any longer range predictions in the last 30 weekly editorials have been based on these models. Lately, we have become increasingly confident that improvements to computer models (and computer hardware) means that longer range forecasts will prove generally useful. Just as important, we are now satisfied that we can now reliably support the extra computation required and still deliver timely updates every 6 hours. Of course, 9 day forecasts are much more speculative than 6 day ones. Nonetheless, as long as they are understood to provide just the outline of what to expect, they are much better than nothing. At the same time as we enable the 9 day forecasts for members, we will allow all users, including non-members, to freely access the 6 day forecasts."

>==

Early Bird Sales Period closes 5 March 2008 - nzski.com

Here is the official blurb from nzski ....

Early Bird Sales Period closes 5 March 2008.

The NZSKIPASS is $899 for an adult, $799 student $599 youth (7-17) and senior (65 – 74). Offers unlimited skiing and riding for the 2008 season at Coronet Peak, Mt Hutt, The Remarkables and Ohau. Other ski area benefits include discounts at Leading Mountain Resorts of the World, Aspen Snowmass and other NZ ski area partners. First Tracks is an optional extra.

The QUEENSTOWN PASS is $699 for an adult, $599 student, $399 youth and senior. This offers unlimited skiing and riding for the 2008 season at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Ohau plus a 50% discount on day passes at Mt Hutt. Other ski area benefits include discounts at Leading Mountain Resorts of the World, Aspen Snowmass and other NZ ski area partners. First Tracks is an optional extra.

The FIRST TRACKS extension to the nzskipass and the Queenstown pass is on offer for $195. Available only at Coronet Peak, the extension offers an early morning snow experience between 8 and 9am as conditions and operational requirements allow. The extension is designed for those who want the earliest possible access to untracked powder or freshly groomed runs.

The MT HUTT PASS is $579 for an adult, $479 student, $329 youth and senior. This offers unlimited skiing and riding for the 2008 season at Mt Hutt and Ohau plus a 50% discount on day passes at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables. Other ski area benefits include discounts at Aspen Snowmass and other NZ ski area partners.

The MT HUTT MIDWEEK PASS is $299 for an adult, $199 student, $179 youth and senior. This offers unlimited skiing and riding Monday – Friday only at Mt Hutt and Ohau. On weekends at Mt Hutt and at any time at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables the pass holder is entitled to a Frequent Card discount on day lift tickets. This pass offers some midweek skiing/riding discounts at other NZ ski areas.

Children aged six and under, and Super Seniors 75+ years at all three ski areas will receive a free day lift pass. For convenience we can produce a season pass to enable the holder to proceed direct to lift and avoid ticket window visits on a daily basis, for a nominal $35 application and card issue fee.