Skifields held up by warm weather

Two quotes from the article below

"It's far from winter - the temperatures are very autumn-like. "

You bet we are all wondering around in shorts .....

and

"encouraged by recent snowfalls down to 500m in Victoria and New South Wales. "

Yeah for the ozzzies !! Not !!


Skifields held up by warm weather

The unseasonably warm weather which marked the 2011 autumn has continued into the first month of winter, frustrating Southern Lakes skifield operators as they gear up for the start of the 2011 season.

Coronet Peak had to scrap its plans to open over Queen's Birthday weekend, as mild temperatures meant it could not even use its snowguns to provide artificial snow for skiers and boarders.

"It's incredibly disappointing for the tourists, our season pass holders and our staff," NZSki general manager James Coddington said yesterday.

Wanaka's four skifields also do not have a snow base.

Between 10cm and 15cm fell at Treble Cone and Cardrona in mid-May, but the old adage "snow in May never stays" proved true.

Queenstown meteorologist David Crow said 2011 had been the second warmest autumn in 135 years of recording keeping, "which spells a very, very late Indian summer".

The warmest May was in 2007, to be broken by a late June cold snap.

NZSki operates Queenstown's Coronet Peak and Remarkables ski areas as well as Methven's Mt Hutt - all of which are bereft of the white stuff.

"It's far from winter - the temperatures are very autumn-like. It's incredibly unusual but as skifield operators the weather is one thing we can't control," Mr Coddington said.

However, he has been encouraged by recent snowfalls down to 500m in Victoria and New South Wales....

Read the full article here...

Let the snow making begin

28 May and the snow making cranks up.

Boy we need it. Warm weather and brown mountains aren't conducive to the prospect of playing in the snow

Oh my god we are getting pelted !

Oh my god we are getting pelted ! Haaaalllpppppppppppp.

Check out this forecast run by our good friends in the earth sciences department of Victoria university - MetVuw.com




Now that's a piece of weather artwork sweeping across the country ....

Book mark this page to get a one click forecast with Surface wind, MSLP ( mean sea level pressure ) and rainfall

http://www.metvuw.com/forecast/forecast1.php?type=rain®ion=nz&tim=12

Icing on the cake

The proverbial icing on the cake.

Now huey you can get really in to winter and start dumping some serious white stuff .

Pleaze.

4th of June - I'll Be There - How About You ?

4th of June

Put it in your diary

I'll be there

Will you ?

Oh Yummy

"The Remarkables skifield reported 10cm of fresh snow this morning. "

Oh Yummy

Snow on the Peak

Snow on the hills and its early April. Looking good.

Whoze got their season pass then? My godson got a Treble Cone student season pass for $400. That's not bad going !

agggh hahahahahaha - pleasantly surprised - NOT

Last season, NZSki hiked the pass by $100 to $799. It is now almost three-times what it was when first introduced in 2001 for $299.





Prior to unveiling 2011 prices ( 30 December 1010 ) NZSki chief executive James Coddington told a local meeting that residents would be “pleasantly surprised”, while marketing boss Craig Douglas said the change "wasn’t major".

Wot a joke.

"Pleasantly surprised" - NOT

"Wasn't major" - NOT

Let's be honest they just want to make more money $$$$$$

Like any sensible sustainable business.

Trouble is the suckers are the loyal local customers.

Here are some more comments

WHY IT ISN'T GOOD VALUE
To be honest, it's a bit redundant even continuing this argument as NZ Ski's statement shows that they really don't give a stuff what people think, and that they clearly consider anyone who disagrees with their viewpoint is selfish, unappreciative and possibly even too stupid to understand how complex running a skifield is.

However, just for the record here are a number of reasons why $889 represents poor value for money for me personally (though no doubt I'm being single-minded and selfish).

- skiing the Remarkables is like skiing Bulgaria in 1992. The Shadow and Sugar lifts are old and slow, frequently stop, breakdown or cannot be operated in a breath of wind. The runs are short and mostly uninteresting. If you want to ski anything good you mostly have to hike to it. Frankly, you would have to pay me to ski the Remarkables.

Because of the above I'd be paying $889 to ski Coronet alone. Coronet is a nice mountain which I like a lot. However, it does not represent good value because.....

- In June the Greengates lift does not open except at weekends, even when there is sufficient snow to do so. Therefore, a fairly decent chunk of the mountain is unavailable.

- The same pretty much applies to Rocky Gully.

- Too many times areas of the mountain are closed off for training or races. This can last all day and has been a constant source of frustration as these runs of course tend to be the best areas. Coronet, whilst nice, is not large enough to sustain so much closure of good runs and still provide a good day.

But I guess my biggest problem with NZ Ski is that they have sucked all the fun out of skiing their mountains. I can't think of skiing their mountains without becoming angry. They also clearly think that they and they alone have driven growth in Queenstown over the last 10 years and that we'd all be lost and unemployed without them. Well, hello, there are 8 months of the year with no skiing and yet we seem to manage. How can that be....?


and whooze been to japan lately ??

NZS bosses talked about the growth of the Aussie market. They are at huge risk of losing that business to Japan. Day tickets at Niseko is a little over $55 , foods much cheaper and vastly superior to NZS offerings, and its all natural snow.
I and most of my friends have given away skiing in NZ and Aus in favour of the Japan pow.
Apart from airfares ,every part of my holiday costs is less in Japan. I love SLs but NZS are losing touch with their market.