Mt Hutt is not ruling out opening next weekend if conditions play ball. Photo: NICOLE HAWKE
The countdown is on for the 2025 ski season with a North Island ski field opting for a soft launch this weekend while snow guns are blazing down in the south.
Staffing and accommodation shortages have hampered ski fields in recent years, but operators said their luck had turned around and scores of people had applied to work on the slopes.
Nestled on Mount Ruapehu, Tūroa Ski Area was ready to open its cafes and offer snow play and sightseeing on Saturday.
Chief executive Jono Dean said people could enjoy a day in the snow before the snow bunnies started hitting the slopes next month.
"There's a little bit of snow in and around bottom of the mountain just in the base area, which is really exciting and it's a good precursor to what we think is coming next week, which looks like a nice, healthy storm to get the snow off and running for 2025," he said.
"As we start to snow on the ground and snow on the forecast, we'll be progressively opening lifts and facilities over the coming month of June and we anticipate readiness for the 28th of June and the start of the school holidays."
The ski area had almost 1200 applicants for 200-250 jobs and was fully staffed.
"It's actually a real blessing against previous years where we have really struggled in our part of the world for availability of staffing and, of course, skilled staffing," he said.
In the South Island, Cardrona Alpine Resort's new Soho Express chairlift opens this season, offering 150 hectares of new terrain.
Cardrona and Treble Cone Experiences general manager Laura Hedley said they had been hard at work over the warmer months to get the ski fields ready.
Speaking on Friday afternoon with snow falling outside her window, she was feeling positive for the season ahead, especially with a strong group of staff - half of whom were returnees.
There was less pressure on finding accommodation as they had a 120-bed backpackers they renovated about three years ago to fall back on and rentals were not quite as hard to come by, she said.
"We've got staff, they've got good accommodation and we've got all these upgrades. I'm touching wood that it's going to be a good season and that mother nature comes and helps us as well."
Mt Hutt was expected to lead the charge and open its slopes on Saturday after receiving more than a metre of snow in April.
NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson earlier said he was pretty confident it would stick around but those hopes were dashed by nor-wester winds.
"The snow around the base area just wasn't enough to get access to the lifts so we wanted to give it every chance and we threw everything at it but that early season snow can disappear early," he said.
Anderson was not ruling out opening next weekend if the conditions played ball, but said Mt Hutt could always fall back to its original opening date of 13 June.
Further south around Queenstown, the picture was not looking so promising earlier in the week, but he said some good wintry weather had settled in so it could crack on with snowmaking.
NZSki had invested in three new groomers, about $750,000 on improving its rental equipment, more 4WD buses in Queenstown and about a million dollars spent on snowmaking across the mountains, Anderson said.
After a bumpy few years for staffing, it had a record staff return rate and plenty of newcomers which he put down to people feeling more confident travelling here with memories of border closures fading and tougher economic times meaning more people were looking for work.
NZSki had previously taken the plunge into accommodation, buying a hostel and offering just under 100 beds.
It had also built apartments for staff and planned to build another 12 in the coming years, he said.
He believed some landlords might be getting tired of offering short term rentals and putting them back onto a fixed tenancy basis, which had also eased the pressure.
Looking at the forward bookings, the Queenstown slopes were getting plenty of aroha from locals and Australians, he said.
The Remarkables celebrates its 40th birthday this year, and Paul Anderson said there would be a 1980s themed party in late spring so people should prepare their perms, straight skis and retro ski suits.
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