New Zealand Season Wrap – A Slow Start, Good Finish and Plenty of Good Times in Between
Mountainwatch | Jimmy Williams
As the last remnants of winter 2023 slowly melt away I write to you from my backyard in Wanaka, basking in the sun in a pair of boardies, b.effect hazy pale ale in one hand, pen and notepad in the other. Let’s look back together at the season we’ve had, the powder days, closed days and everything in between.
Things kicked off back in the middle of May with a promising looking storm blanketing the mountains in up to 50cm of snow. The excitement kicked in, however, as we witness all too often, ‘snow in May doesn’t stay,’ and the wait continued.
June came by and with memories of last year’s huge June snowfall we had high hopes. Mt Hutt was the first to open on the June 10th, followed by Coronet Peak on the 16th and Cardrona and The Remarkables not far behind on June 17th.
At this stage all resorts were up and running thanks to cold temps and mahi from the snowmaking teams, but in early June there were dismal amounts of natural snow.
Mt. Hutt got hit hard with 40mm rain and had to close for two weeks before reopening on July 2nd. Treble Cone delayed its opening until July 3rd as early storms didn’t make it all the way across the range, dropping only 1-2cm at a time on the mountain.
The Remarkables took the brunt of these fronts and was able to provide the best early season skiing and boarding in New Zealand. The Wānaka mountains were not so fortunate, missing out on the snow and getting blasted with wind on the tail end of these storms.
As we headed into July the mountains were still looking quite bare, the Club Fields across the country were struggling to open and despite the huge earthworks, Cardrona still didn’t have their world class park.
Though an unlikely contender was back on the scene. Thanks to another government loan Mt. Ruapehu was preparing to open in mid-July, despite voluntary administration. Tūroa and Whakapapa were getting nuked on and rather than sit there and watch the snow fall on a closed mountain, they found a way to open her back up.
The North Island continued to get storm after storm as if Mother Nature was trying to bring Ruapehu out of its non-operational state. At its peak, Tūroa ended up with an upper mountain base of 255cm, the most it’s been in years. Locals were getting amongst the best conditions on Mt. Ruapehu that some had ever seen while amidst all of this, discussions regarding the mountain’s future were ongoing.
Struggling to come to a suitable agreement, The Ngāti Tūwharetoa iwi, revoked their bid and pulled out as buyers. We’ll be watching on and hope that this great mountain can continue to serve the North Island snow community for years to come.
Back down south, July didn’t quite deliver in the Southern Lakes, although The Remarkables and Mt. Hutt did pick up a few snowfalls, but the waiting game was still on. On July 8th Cardrona hosted the inaugural ‘Butterbean Memorial Rail Jam,’ in memory of Sam Finnemore and all those involved are looking forward to celebrating this fun day again next year and well into the future.
Towards the end of the month Cardrona was slowly working towards building the Big Bucks XL jump line, one jump at a time. The regular Stag’s Lane rail line didn’t have enough snow, so the team expanded the options in McPark. A worthy shout out to Dmitry, Oscar and the Cardrona Parks Crew for farming and relocating the limited snow to still build an incredible terrain park for the world’s best athletes to train on. The Remarkables also had a full park offering, with features designed for progression all the way up to 45ft jumps.
Mt. Hutt had a huge storm roll through on July 23rd, thanks to a big low-pressure system sitting off the East Coast, that dropped over a metre of snow in 48hrs. The resort closed for control work and a reset the following day, which led to a melt/freeze sun crust forming, leaving a frozen crusty layer mountain wide.
Conditions in the backcountry were dicey with a persistent weak layer in the snowpack around the start of July which caused numerous human and naturally triggered avalanches. There was a size three avalanche out the back of The Remarkables involving 10 people and partial burials was a timely reminder to always check the avalanche bulletin and play it safe in avalanche terrain.
We saw some amazing control work across all resorts but especially by the expert team at Treble Cone patrol. Sometimes it can be frustrating heading up to TC after fresh snow only for the Saddle Quad to be closed. However, the videos I saw of the huge avalanches set of by explosives this winter sure do put into perspective what goes into opening the mountain and keeping us all safe.
Heading into August and things started heating up… well cooling down, but you know what I mean. The Remarkables hosted the ANC Slopestyle event and the Winter Games NZ kicked off, hosting the FIS Park and Pipe Junior World Championships with junior skiers and snowboarders from all corners of the world heading to Cardona to compete. The level of talent was truly outstanding with athletes throwing down runs that would’ve held their own in the open division. Local New Zealanders were stand outs throughout the event, notably Lucia Georgalli taking out the top spot in the women’s Slopestyle and Rocco Jamieson coming in second in men’s snowboard Big Air.
After the Junior Worlds, Winter Games took to a new competition format – Obsidian. Continent teams went head-to-head over 3 days of competition, big air, rail jam and a freeride heli day. Team Europe took this one out. The team edits from the heli day are over on the Winter Games NZ Instagram and this event seemed remise of Harro’s World Heli Challenge.
Winter Games NZ also consisted of The North Face Frontier 2-star and 4-star freeride events at The Remarkables. In the 2-star event Kiwi skier Fynn Powell took out 1st place with a huge 97 points out of 100. Fynn backed up this result with another first place finish in the 4-star in the Alta Chutes and Jessie Violett was in the top spot for ski women’s. 2022 Freeride World Tour Champion Jess Hotter skied her way to second place and local FWT skier Blake Marshall finished second for the men’s. Kiwi snowboarders Max King and Mitchy Davern took 1st and 2nd respectively in their category. Of course, there was also the alpine events at Coronet Peak, Slalom and GS, where Alice Robinson claimed second place in both of the ANC GS races on her home mountain.
Coronet Peak also held night skiing throughout the winter and first tracks offering the longest day of skiing in NZ and some of the best mountain views at both sunrise and sunset. One of the more fun nights was Synthony in the Snow, a live orchestra playing some iconic dance hits alongside a DJ.
Mt. Ruapehu continued to be sitting as a storm magnet with endless days of fresh snow and satisfied customers.
Mt. Hutt scored redemption from their July storm on August 9th when the mountain was hit with 20cm of snow. The following days were the best powder days of the season with snow caked around the mountain. Mt. Hutt also celebrated their 50th birthday at the end of August. The event included iconic kiwi band Dragon playing live sets on the mountain and down in Methven.
Treble Cone had their powder day of the season on August 20th with 20cm of fresh on offer and was the only time this season that a proper Summit Rocks session went down. With soft landings on offer, the Southern Lakes proving ground pushed local groms to try their first backies off the diving board. Local and international pros including Jess Hotter, Ben Richards and Finn Bilous also got in on the action, showing the kids how it’s done.
As we headed into September conditions were on across the country. The Club Fields were firing, the pros were landing in Cardrona park (pardon the pun) and Queenstown was gearing up for Snow Machine, the premiere music festival in the snow. With stages on the mountain at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, the main stage at Remarkables Park as well as after parties throughout Queenstown, there was plenty of action all day and night. Notable acts included local icons Shapeshifter, Coterie and Bene as well as Australian music legends Hayden James, Peking duck, Hilltop Hoods and The Jungle Giants
As I recovered from the four-day festival I settled back into the quieter lifestyle of Wanaka. Next on the calendar was the Jossi Wells Invitational, a three-day rail, big air and freeride jam session. The events team were banking on that usual September spring weather with only three days in the schedule but no weather window. Unfortunately, this year the weather did not play ball. Day one was a waiting game for big air but with Cardrona sitting in a cloud of fog, big air was pushed back and the rail jam was on. The custom-built rail garden was super creative with plenty of line options on offer. We saw just about everything imaginable from the selection of local and international pro skiers and boarders.
The wind didn’t hold back for day two and the big air quickly pivoted into a knuckle huck session. This was a refreshing change of pace for the JWI with riders getting all sorts of crazy off the knuckle of the big air. Hank Bilous’ creativity was a highlight, transferring from the airbag take off zone to the big air landing and even getting some grinds on the coping of the closed half pipe. US skier Rell Harwood was another standout, first up there and last to leave, throwing down at both the rail jam and knuckle huck.
Cardrona also hosted ‘She’ll Be Right,’ an all-female park project. Everyone involved from the organisation of the event, the custom-built park, pro and up and coming riders to the photographers and filmers are all female. Cardrona is always at the forefront of progression in snowsports and pushing the status quo of equality in our industry.
Spring delivered two solid storms in the last couple of weeks of September, including a deluge of rain for the Southern Lakes region on September 21st. There was widespread flooding and a state of emergency declared in Queenstown while the rain washed out the cover at Cornet Peak, forcing the resort to close for the season. Colder temps across the Canterbury region resulted in a metre of snow which lit up Mt. Hutt and the Club Fields for one last powder session of the season.
Next to go was Treble Cone to make way for lambing season up the access road. The infamous TC closing day went down with eccentric outfits, straight skis, tussock bashing, beers and carpark BBQ’s galore, the perfect send off to the season, as always.
The Remarkables closed on October 8th with a fun denim day and also said goodbye to the 38-year-old Shadow Basin chairlift to make way for a new chairlift next winter. The a top station ob the new chair will at much higher altitude, providing access to 50% more terrain in Shadow Basin.
September played host to ski and snowboard movie premieres and with such a dense population of pros in Wanaka at this time it’s a perfect place to have some screenings. A couple to look out for this year are Alex Hall and Hunter Hess’ Magma 3, Carlos Garcia Knights Now Is Not A Good Time, Craig Murray’s Terra Incognita, Miguel and Nico Porteous’ Saisho, and Blake Marshall’s Reconnect.
By October the ski towns are thinning out, seasonal residents are either migrating north, planning their Jucy Campervan roadie round the South Island or jetting off to an exotic island. I’ve had some of my better days the past few weeks, the crowds are gone, the snow is soft, and the park is still firing. Slush laps in spring are some of my favourite days on the mountain, top three up there with a blower pow day and wind loaded off-piste bowls. October is home of the endless slush and I’m loving it. Cardrona and Mt. Hutt and are still open to get your last laps in until October 15th and there is even snow in the forecast for this weekend. North Island skiers and snowboarders have another week to get in some turns with Mt. Ruapehu closes on October 23rd.
New Zealand certainly didn’t back up it 2022 season, but this winter has had its moments for sure. A handful of extra powder days would always be welcome but at the end of the day when you’re out there sliding around on some semi-frozen water on one or two planks with a bunch of mates, you’re bound to have a good time.
Until next winter!
