South Island skifield saved by spring snow storm after abandoning season

Tuesday, 9 September 2025

Temple Basin, pictured left with bare rock in mid-August when it was decided it would not open for the season, then on Wednesday last week after 50cm of new snow.

From an “abysmal” winter to “the best skiing conditions” in spring, some South Island club fields were thrown a lifeline by a snowstorm last week.

Temple Basin, which announced on August 20 it would not open for the 2025 ski season, managed to run all three of its lifts at the weekend after half a metre of snow fell.

“It was very surprising but so exciting to get back up there,” Temple Basin Ski Area president Peter Marriott said.

Temple Basin pictured in mid-August with patches of bare rock poking through the snow.

Temple Basin was one of three South Island skifields that last month said they would not open this year due to a lack of snow. announced in August

But a last-minute decision to open for the weekend after the “snow gods” delivered midweek snow turned into “powder skiing in sunshine,” with about 50 people on the mountain on both Saturday and Sunday, Marriott said.

“It was simply fantastic. Really good snow with really good people, and lots of smiles and laughing.”

The field managed to bring back five workers to get lifts running again, which Marriott said was a “massive effort”.

It was a sharp contrast to the conditions of two weeks earlier, when one of the lifts was surrounded by bare rock with “absolutely no snow”. By the weekend it was fully covered, with barely any rocks in sight, Marriott said.

With more snow forecast this week, Temple Basin plans to open again this weekend.

Temple Basin announced on Friday that they’d “put in some mahi” to open for the weekend.

“So hopefully there should be more fun to be had this weekend,” Marriott said.

At Craigieburn Valley, conditions have also turned around.

Club president Edward Griffith, who described the snow as “atrocious” three weeks ago, called it “amazing” on Monday.

The field also received half a metre of fresh snow at the top in recent days, which was “pretty much critical” to maintain access to Craigieburn’s top two lifts, Griffith said.

Craigieburn ski area pictured on Monday morning.

He said more than 100 people were on the mountain on both Saturday and Sunday, enjoying “powder runs”.

“There was an overwhelming feeling of relief in the weekend. It’s nice to know good snowfall can still happen. Because when it does, it’s such an awesome skifield.”

Rainbow Ski Area, pictured at the end of August. It has been forced to shut for the 2025 season after 'unprecedented' low snowfall.

Winter snow has been well below average across much of the country, according to Earth Sciences New Zealand, formerly Niwa.

Hydrological forecasting scientist Dr Jono Conway said it had been an abysmal year in some areas.

“Our high elevation weather stations tell us it’s been a mixed bag for our alpine regions. Some places saw near-average snowfall, but what stands out is the number of low or record low total snowfall readings,” he said.

Rainbow Ski Area and Mt Cheeseman both remain shut after announcing earlier they would not open this season.

Cold southerly winds are expected to bring snow showers above 400m in parts of Southland and Otago on Wednesday, with some showers possibly reaching Canterbury skifields above 1000 m.

“It looks like the skifields closest to the Main Divide, such as Temple Basin, could expect some snow at the tops of the slopes,” said MetService meteorologist John Law.

“There will be some nice cold nights this week, which will help with the snow and lead to some frosty conditions in Canterbury.”

But the exception will be on Tuesday night, when northwesterly winds will help keep the temperature mild.