Snow at New Zealand?

Anyone know how the the snow season on the south island at Queenstown, New Zealand usually is during early October???

In defence of Dakota, I think Tim is being slightly unfair in disputing the accuracy of her answer. Even if she is a North Islander, we Mainlanders should be more generous in our comments about our less fortunate friends to the north :-)

The truth is probably somewhere between her's and Tim's answers.

Barring a sudden change in the weather, I understand that the skifields at Queenstown are projecting closure sometime in mid October. So, early October skiing is definitely on the cusp of the season. Having said that, of course, closing down a skifield is not necessarily due to lack of snow - others factors, such as likely patronage at that time of the year, are important considerations; but the two normally co-incide. I am sure that the fields will do everything in their power to keep the skiing at an acceptable level until they actually close. They both have good snow making facilities and groomers to make up for any short term deficiencies.

One thing no one else has mentioned, and may be a factor if you're trying to decide whether to risk it. The end of term school holidays start this Saturday and last through to October 8th!! So, the skifields will be putting on lots of family oriented activities and a lot of skiers will be at the fields getting in their final skiing-fix before they have to pack up their skis and get their boats ready for the spring/summer water festivities. :-)

Oui , bien s没r ! depuis toujours !

from july till november

Not so flash. Spring skiing is happening now in Queenstown and Wanaka. However by October it will be pretty much all gone unless there is some freak weather. You should still be able to do some spring skiing up north tho at Whakapapa or Turoa.

Firstly, we say IN the South Island and IN New Zealand.
And Secondly, the skiing in early October is usually really awesome, we get what's called spring snow which is light and powdery. WooHoo!!! Try Treble Cone and Cadrona at Wanaka too as well as the Remarkables at Queenstown. The last field to close is usually Mount Hutt near Christchurch, sometimes it stays open until early December, one of the few places in the world where you can go skiing in the morning and swimming in the sea in the afternoon. We've had a wild winter this year with a couple of snow storms down to sea level in the South Island (which is like almost unheard of) so the ski fields are going off.
The storms were six weeks ago but the weather has remained cool and spring is late this year, so its a good time to get on the piste in good ol' New Zealand. Have fun!

P.S. I think DakotaNZ must be from the North Island, cos she don't know nothing about the South Island skiing.

Oh and plus they have a little thing called snow making machines but they haven't had to use them yet.

Firstly, my caveat is that I'm from the North Island and haven't been spring skiing in queenstown.

However I was talking to a colleague who was in queenstown last weekend.

She said that the snow was extremely variable. She said that on one run you could go from ice, to groomed snow to slush. She said it was pretty interesting skiing just because it is different.

It's hard to believe that the skiing is going to get better in the next few weeks, but I guess you have to make your own decision.

But ultimately, any skiing is better than no skiing right?

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If you are thinking of comming to NZ to go skiing, dont leave it too late, the snow is deteriating compared to the fresh snow we had earlier in the season. Port Heightswill be open till 10 October which is also the end of the school holidays. Some of the ski feilds may stay open a little longer , but they need patronage, they also neeed staff, many of the staff are already heading to the Northern Hemisphere to take up jobs there, and they also need that white cool stuff on the ground.

Best snow this year compared to previous years