‘It's just beautiful quality snow’: Skifield bonanza after storm delivers to South Island ski fields

Sunday, 12 July 2026

Mt Hutt had a bonanza ski weekend thanks to huge snow fall with last week's storm.

Last week’s polar blast was a bonanza for ski fields across the South Island over the Matariki long weekend, blanketing the mountains in fresh powder.

Ski fields have welcomed a huge influx of keen skiers, snowboarders and snowball-throwers with more expected this week, the second half of the school holidays.

From Cardrona in Otago, to Mt Dobson in the Mackenzie region and Mount Hutt, Porters Alpine Resort and Mt Lyford in Canterbury, fields were reporting ideal conditions.

Mt Hutt has had a bumper few days over Matariki long weekend.

Mt Hutt manager James McKenzie said conditions following snow falls on Wednesday and Thursday were “some of the best conditions we will get” and saw the field inundated with visitors, pushing the attraction to its capacity of 3000 on Friday.

“You can pretty much ski every single square inch of the mountain right now and it's good coverage, it's just beautiful quality snow, really sort of creamy Winter snow and everyone's having a great day.”

Several drivers who ignored the requirement for chains and then got stuck, blocked all road access and caused delays of up to two hours on Friday, he said.

From Sunday the ski field has brought in $800 fines for drivers who ignore the requirement for chains in future and McKenzie said there had been no such problems on Sunday.

“We’ve been a bit generous probably in the past, but we’ve decided that enough’s enough when it has such a big impact …”

Mt Dobson Ski Area, near Fairlie in South Canterbury, opened to the public on Sunday with last week's storm bringing ideal conditions with about 1metre of snow.

Looking ahead, McKenzie said the team was expecting another bumper week of visitors with windy conditions on Monday and Tuesday giving way to finer weather later in the week.

Mt Dobson Ski Area manager Bruce Foote said Sunday was a beautiful first day for the public, with the slopes open to season pass holders on Saturday.

The timing of last week’s snow fall of about 1 metre was perfect for the site, near Fairlie in South Canterbury, which would see the area well served for the season, he said.

“Before the storm we basically had nothing.”

Temperatures plummeted to -3.8 in Christchurch on Sunday morning, making it that little bit harder getting out of bed.

Porters Alpine Resort reported a “solid delivery of snow” of around 1.2metres, allowing it to open all areas, with the help of some days of snow-making.

Mt Lyford in North Canterbury opened its doors to skiers on Saturday, reporting “a beautiful day on the mountains, clear with light winds”.

Sunday brought the coldest morning of the year, with some areas of the South Island seeing temperatures plummet as low as -12C.

The harshest frost of the year so far had Tekapo recording a low of -12.5 at .6.30am on Sunday.

If it felt harder to get out of bed on Sunday morning, there was good reason after Jack Frost paid a visit to much of the Mainland, leaving a cover of ice twinkling in the early morning light on cars and lawns.

The coldest time of the day in Christchurch was 7.30am, just before day break, when temperatures dipped to -3.8 at Christchurch Airport, the lowest so far this season.

But it was Tekapo that had the coldest snap where the mercury was -12.5C at 6.30am.

Generally a precursor to a good day in coastal areas, MetService meteorologist Sophie Huntington said, the frost preceded a clear day with a forecast of 10C, light winds and afternoon northeasterlies.

Temperatures are set to heat up for the start of the working week as a front moves east from the West Coast bringing cloud.

Monday is forecast for a low of 5C and a high of 14C, while Tuesday brings a low of 8C and high of 17C, according to MetService.

West Coast temperatures are similar to Canterbury’s with a low of 9C and high of 15C forecast in Westport, along with cloud and showers lasting until Wednesday.