Rainbow Ski Area still waiting to open after storms wipe out snow base

Friday, 25 July 2025

Rainbow Ski Area has faced weeks of setbacks, and ski area manager Marke Dickson says staff are now “waiting for mother nature to do her thing”. (File photo)

After weeks of heavy rain and setbacks, Rainbow Ski Area is fully prepped and waiting to open – but the snow still hasn’t arrived.

While the team was ready and the field was groomed, ski area manager Marke Dickson said conditions had simply not allowed them to begin the season.

“We were ready to go three weeks ago,” Dickson said. “But as everyone in Nelson and Tasman knows, the weather just hasn’t played ball.”

The field had planned to open on July 4, but warm temperatures and repeated severe heavy rain events eroded much of the early snow base.

Heavy rain earlier this month triggered a state of emergency across the Tasman region, cutting off communities and closing scores of roads, including routes to St Arnaud.

Despite extensive work by staff, volunteers, and supporters in the lead-up, Dickson said the unusually warm and wet conditions wiped out the solid cover they had built.

Snow lovers would love a lot more of this, but severe weather events earlier this month eroded the snow base. (File photo)

“We had a really good snow base coming into those weather events and were pretty optimistic about the season,” he said. “But the temperature was just too warm, and there was so much precipitation. We lost a lot of snow during that time, which was hard to see.”

The heavy rain also caused issues beyond the snowpack. Rainbow’s access road was lightly damaged, and fords in the valley – maintained by Marlborough District Council – were jammed with debris, cutting off access for several days. Dickson said the Rainbow road held up well, requiring only minor repairs.

“There was an awful lot of rain, but the road has been built with resilience in mind,” he said. “We’re used to these big weather events in the mountains … apart from a little bit of scouring and some gravel loss really it was no big deal.”

Snowmaking efforts had since helped restore some coverage. A run of clear, cold nights gave the team a brief window to produce machine-made snow, laying a strong base across the learners and novice areas.

“To make good snow, you need cold temperatures and low humidity, and we had that for three nights,” Dickson said. “That machine-made snow is now down on the ground. It’s thick on the learners and novice slopes, and when natural snow comes, we’ll be ready.”

While the timing of a potential opening remained uncertain, Dickson said the durability of the artificial snow would help them hold through more rain forecast for early next week.

“We do see a wet period coming, but then there’s cold weather after that again,” he said. “That’s the other great thing about machine-made snow. It withstands precipitation. It’s really durable.”

Rainbow typically opened in early to mid-July. “I was talking to some local folk in St Arnaud a couple of days ago, and they can’t remember seeing snowless mountains at this time of the year,” Dickson said.

He said the field, the road, and the team were all ready to go – now it was a matter of waiting for the right weather.

“Rainbow is 100% ready,” he said. “Everybody just wants to get on the mountain and make some turns, so we're waiting for mother nature to do her thing.”