Update from Mt Hutt: An "extreme avalanche hazard" on the infamous access road, which snakes for miles along the side of steep volcanic mountains. They reckon the earliest the ski area could reopen would be tomorrow Saturday, but the snow has really engulfed the place:
An official posting on their Facebook page, a short while ago:
Quote:
So far it’s been one huge storm not just for us but for NZ. We gave up on how much we have received as at 6pm last night it was 120cm and still snowing. From last night in came the wind and it continued to snow with strong winds into this afternoon.
As you can see from our FB posts we had an avalanche which hit our snowmaking building and took out our race hutt shed.
Tomorrow is looking like more snow until around lunch time.
If and when its safe we will be sending our storm crew up the mtn to start the long process of clearing so we can get our mtn open. We have heavy equipment on the access road clearing as we speak and will continue through the night until we have access.
Once we have a clearing in the weather we will be sending in helicopters to start the process of heli bombing the ski area. Control work needs to be carried out before we can let anyone on the slopes.
Please understand that the safety of our staff is paramount first and we will not rush the snow clearing until all is safe for our crews to carry out snow clearing.
If the weather plays ball and we get the window we need, we think that this Sunday will be the day for some fresh POW POW!
From all our staff at Hutt.
Heli bombing? How enviromentally friendly is that!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Quote:
How enviromentally friendly is that!
not very. But anyone who put the environment first wouldn't go downhill (lift-assisted) skiing at all. Let's not be hypocritical!
After all it is free
After all it is free
davejsy wrote:
Heli bombing? How enviromentally friendly is that!
Wouldn't make any difference, there's nothing up there to destroy, the tree line in NZ is below the ski fields. All the wildlife is down in the valleys at this time of year. It's just snow and rocks.
Here's a good video of some NZ heli bombing. Would have to be the best job ever.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
