Australia blasts into ski season with up to 3 feet of snow in huge storm
Australia gets major snow dump to kickoff ski season
Southern Hemisphere ski season launches with Australia's biggest storm in years, 3 feet of powder, and lifts spinning from Lesotho to New Zealand.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO
The Southern Hemisphere's 2025 ski season got underway at the weekend. It's not quite clear if ski areas in Australia, New Zealand, or indeed Lesotho's Afriski were the first to get their lifts turning on a snowy slope or two, but by Saturday lunchtime, slopes were open in all three countries.
Australian resorts were the most obvious openers, with 75% of the country's ski areas opening at the weekend as a major snowstorm moved in — one of the biggest since 2022 — perfectly timed for the country's opening weekend. There was a big snowfall in New Zealand too, but most areas stuck to their plan of opening from this coming Friday, with nowhere opening early. However, the Manganui Ski Area, run by the Stratford Mountain Club — which aims to open whenever the snow is good enough — did get its lift running at the weekend after a 50cm (20") accumulation there. Lesotho's Afriski also appeared to start offering snowsports on a short slope of machine-made snow, if social media video posts are current.
It's less good news for the Andes though, with nowhere open for skiing yet after a prolonged spell of warm, dry weather following some good dumps last month. On the plus side, the forecast is increasingly positive for some significant snowfall and more wintry weather later this week and into next for ski areas in Argentina and Chile.
AUSTRALIA REPORT
Most Australian ski areas opened at the weekend, and it has been a dream start to the season after the mostly dry end to May and the start of June,
as a major 'polar blast' moving up from the Antarctic brought a four-day storm which delivered up to 90cm (three feet) of snowfall to the country's slopes. It's one of the biggest storms of the 2020s, and the timing was excellent. Ski areas went from opening on Saturday morning with little or no main runs open to deep powder conditions by Sunday. Falls Creek (40/55cm / 16/22"), which opened on Sunday, began with their Halley's Comet, Towers, and Mouse Trap open and said more terrain will be opening soon.
Speaking on Monday morning, with the snow still falling, Betony Pitcher, the resort's Marketing Manager, said, "We've had over 60cm of snow this week; it's been a fantastic opening weekend to start the season." The country's largest resort, Perisher (50/65cm / 20/26"), also opened. Despite the good snow news, it is still early season, and most resorts are posting between 5 - 10% of their terrain open so far. Mt Buller, Thredbo, Corin Forest, and Hotham have also opened. Charlotte Pass and Selwyn Resort plan to open from the 21st.
AUSTRALIA FORECAST
It will stay dry and sunny over the next few days, with overnight lows cold enough for snowmaking and daytime highs only a little above freezing. There are signs of more snowfall likely from the weekend. Alex Pankiw, Hotham Marketing Coordinator, predicts: "There's cold temps in the week, and another storm front is rolling in over the weekend. Skiers and boarders are in for a treat with some steeper terrain open and fresh snow for powder turns."
NEW ZEALAND REPORT
New Zealand's season got underway at short notice on Saturday, with Manganui Ski Area, run by the Stratford Mountain Club, reporting it had opened for the 2025 season after about 40 - 50cm (16 - 20") of snow fell on the Plateau. This initially closed the centre's access road, but it was not long before the Club reported it was, "Open! It is cold and a little moist up here but there is a full cover. Visibility comes and goes. ...T-bar and learner tow operating. Road open." The snowfall Manganui reported was widespread across the country as more wintry weekend weather arrived. Mt Hutt, which originally planned to open a fortnight early on the 31st of May, then postponed to 7th June, and has most recently postponed again to this coming weekend — when it had originally planned to open —
guesstimated it had had 90cm (36") of snowfall on the morning of the 7th.
Other ski areas planning to open this coming weekend from Friday are Coronet Peak, Cardrona, and The Remarkables. Cardrona says that their McDougall's Chondola and Learner Conveyors lifts will be spinning to access McDougall's trail and the Beginners' Area. In addition, there will be a few early-season features at McPark. Elsewhere, Whakapapa on Mt Ruapehu continues to offer snow play on its all-weather snowmaking machine-maintained terrain at its Happy Valley terrain. Porters also offers snow play — in its case on the freshly fallen natural snowfall — on Sunday.
The weather warmed up a little from Monday, with Manganui closing again, blaming rain, but it is still largely subzero overnight with daytime highs of +5 to +7°C, and there have been further light snow showers, especially now on the North Island.
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