No snow: Some skifields may not open this season

Friday, 8 August 2025

Record warm weather has punished some South Island skifields.

Some South Island club skifields face the prospect of not being able to open for the first time in their history due to a lack of snow, a climate expert says, with cameras showing tussock and rock poking through miserly patches of white.

Ski areas such as Rainbow, Broken River, Craigieburn and Mt Cheeseman have not opened this season at all.

It is already August and most fields would normally be open by now.

Mt Dobson Ski Area had a great start to the season and still has a minimum snow base of 55cm.

“A decent storm [is] still needed to get open,” a report on Cheeseman’s website said.

“It’s the wackiest winter we’ve seen in a long, long time,” Rainbow Ski Area said on its own site.

Mt Lyford and Hanmer Springs managed to open earlier this winter but have since closed due to a lack of snow.

Mt Olympus is open but reports just 1cm of snow on its lower slopes.

Relief may be coming, however. Road snowfall warnings have been issued by MetService for the Lindis Pass, Crown Range and Milford on Friday.

A heavy rain watch has been issued - with snow down to as low as 500m - for the headwaters of Canterbury rivers near and south of Arthur’s Pass and the headwaters of the Otago lakes and rivers overnight Thursday to Friday.

Snowmaking helps skifields open and stay open.

Sleet and snow are also forecast for some places, with 2cm to 4cm expected for State Highway 7 on Friday, above 600m in the area east of Lewis Pass, and for SH73 east of Craigieburn Cutting, and more snow is expected on Saturday. State Highways 8 and 80 could also see up to 2cm of snow from Friday afternoon.

Earth Sciences NZ (formerly Niwa) put the fact of little snow so far down to it having been a mild start to winter for most of the country in June, which continued into July.

It was New Zealand’s fourth-warmest July since records began in 1909, climate scientist Gregor Macara said.

“This could be the first time in our lives that local club fields do not open at all,” Tony Moore, principal adviser of climate resilience at Christchurch City Council, wrote on LinkedIn.

He cited climate change.

The commercial resorts - Mt Hutt, Porters, Cardrona, Treble Cone, Coronet Peak and the Remarkables - have opened this winter, but all make snow.

Mt Dobson described its conditions on Wednesday as “great snow on piste, variable off with chewed up pow[der] and some hard packed snow”.

Other South Canterbury and Otago skifields have reported similar conditions.

The mild winter is also affecting two men riding their bikes to every skifield in the country to raise money for a good cause.

Huw Kingston and Laurence Mote want to ride the length of the country over 90 days, while “skiing at all 25 of the country’s fields” along the way.

They hope to raise $75,000 to help build Vanuatu’s first climate resilient shipping container classroom.

Mote is legally blind, but “is still twice the skier and rider” Kingston is, the latter said.

The duo reached Rainbow Ski Area near Nelson Lakes on Monday and got a few turns on a patch of snow at the otherwise closed area. On Thursday, they were heading towards Lyford.

Visit alpine-odyssey-save-the-children.raiselysite.com to donate to the cause.