Skiers and snowboarders will face variable weather this weekend as another Canterbury ski area opens with a good snow base near Hanmer Springs.
Guy Nurse, of the Porters Ski Area, said people began arriving before 9am yesterday for the first day of the season.
“The cloud began to clear and left a pristine vista of the ski area cloaked with a fresh coat of snow,” he said.
The mountain has received 25cm of fresh snow at car park level, and new snow from a storm passing over the lower mountain. Further up, the snow fell on a firm base of about a metre.
Mount Hutt is already open, with Mt Dobson Ski Area planning to open this morning.
Mt Hutt has private ski lessons from $79.
Mount Cheeseman, Broken River and the Hanmer Springs Ski Area are hoping to open next Saturday.
Blue Skies Weather forecaster Tony Trewinnard said skiers would have to deal with a “mixed bag” of weather conditions over the weekend. Showers and cloudy conditions were expected to deter people from hitting the slopes today, before clearing later tomorrow.
He was “reasonably confident” that ski-fields would have a good season, with the variable weather bringing snow-bearing weather to the area.
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