Ski New Zealand

New Zealand is one of the four main southern hemisphere ski nations (along with Australia, Chile and Argentina) with skiing in New Zealand from late May (Mount Hutt is usually first to open) to late October or even early November (Mt Ruapehu often opens for what they call ‘Snovember’ and has re-opened at Christmas some years).

The country is famed for its challenging slopes which attract the world’s best skiers each winter and having some of the biggest lift served verticals south of the equator to enjoy it with. Several resorts operate international training facilities where World Cup race teams from the northern hemisphere go for their ‘summer training’, and the Winter Games NZ have become a major International Ski Federation (FIS) recognised competition each summer attracting the world’s best.

There are around 25 New Zealand ski resorts, half of them commercial ski resorts, the remainder club fields, usually run by local enthusiasts, generally dedicated volunteers.

The centres are spread across both North and South islands and vary in size from simple centres with one or two drag lifts to large international resorts like Mt Hutt ant Mt Ruapehu on the North Island with its twin ski centres of Turoa and Whakapapa. The country is also home to the only indoor snow centre currently operating in the southern hemisphere, Snow Planet near Auckland.

When you ski New Zealand you’ll find that along with regular lift-served downhill skiing and boarding there’s cat skiing at Mt Potts and the country has a long standing reputation for its heli-skiing with operators like Mount Cook.

The country’s first club fields opened in the late 1920s with the first ski lifts arriving a few decades later. Most of the commercial operations did not really begin until the period from the 1960s to 1980s with Snow Park NZ, which opened in 2002, being the newest operator.

New Zealand is also famous for its spectacular scenery, as made famous worldwide by the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films – many of the country’s resorts boast some of the world’s best mountainscapes from their slopes.

Snow conditions are normally good from June to late September, Mt Hutt has one of the largest snowmaking systems in the southern hemisphere to help ensure its normal early opening date, so long as temperatures are low enough.

The country can also offer great après ski and one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most active gay skiing scenes at Queenstown, the ‘outdoor capital of the world’ and base for three local ski hills.

This is also the base for many other high octane sports including bungee jumps and swings, white water rafting and jet boating and even sky diving among many others.

Along with domestic skiers, New Zealand’s ski resorts attract a large number of Australians to their slopes, on average 50,000 per annum, who usually benefit from a favourable exchange rate to offset the cost of flying over on a trip that takes about three hours, as well as ski fans from around the world.

On top of the usual challenges for extreme skiers, New Zealand can have a few added challenges, including tricky access roads (the route up to Treble Cone is especially notorious) – and volcanic eruptions, with Mt Ruapehu providing particularly impressive seismic activity every now and then.
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New Zealand: latest snow conditions round-up

Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in New Zealand. Fresh snow is forecast at 14 resorts. Powder is reported at 0 resorts and 0 are reporting good piste conditions.

Recent Eyeball Snow Reports for New Zealand

All resorts

Ski resorts of New Zealand, alphabetically

Resort
snow depth
top and bottom

on-piste

off-piste

Last Snow

Next 9 Days
0–3 | 3–6 | 6–9
snow (cm)
Next 5 days weather forecast.
Freezing level (m)
Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

(1564m — 2222m)

snow report 7 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
12.0
12.0
light snow snow showers clear part cloud rain showers
Mid station 1893 m
800m 550m 900m 3300m 2750m

(2839m — 3754m)

snow report yesterday

16 cm
3 days ago
2.0
7.0
2.0
snow showers clear part cloud part cloud light snow
Mid station 3296 m
900m 650m 1150m 3450m 2400m

(1463m — 1737m)

snow report yesterday

1.0 cm
6 days ago
10.0
10.0
snow showers snow showers clear part cloud clear
Mid station 1600 m
750m 650m 1000m 3400m 2800m

(1400m — 1820m)

snow report 7 days ago

3.0 cm
7 days ago
15.0
15.0
light snow light snow clear part cloud light rain
Mid station 1610 m
850m 650m 750m 3150m 2750m

(1294m — 1894m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 74 days 5 cm
7 days ago
3.0
3.0
light snow clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1594 m
900m 650m 1300m 3500m 2800m

(1187m — 1649m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 79 days 8 cm
7 days ago
2.0
2.0
snow showers clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1418 m
850m 700m 1400m 3550m 2650m

(1422m — 1922m)

snow report 7 days ago

3.0 cm
7 days ago
16.0
16.0
light snow light snow clear part cloud light rain
Mid station 1672 m
850m 650m 750m 3100m 2750m

(1170m — 1851m)

snow report 7 days ago

Fox Peak webcam
1.0 cm
6 days ago
11.0
11.0
light snow snow showers clear part cloud rain showers
Mid station 1510 m
800m 550m 900m 3300m 2750m

(1434m — 1774m)

snow report 7 days ago

4 cm
6 days ago
30.0
30.0
mod snow light snow clear part cloud rain showers
Mid station 1604 m
900m 850m 750m 3000m 2950m

(1449m — 2149m)

snow report 7 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
7.0
7.0
light snow snow showers clear part cloud light rain
Mid station 1799 m
850m 700m 950m 3250m 2600m

(1631m — 2080m)

snow report yesterday

1.0 cm
3 days ago
2.0
2.0
snow showers clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1856 m
900m 700m 3200m 3550m 2450m

(1259m — 1679m)

2.0 cm
6 days ago
3.0
3.0
light rain snow showers part cloud clear light rain
Mid station 1469 m
2350m 1200m 1350m 3150m 3250m

(1086m — 2000m)

snow report yesterday

1.0 cm
yesterday
2.0
2.0
snow showers clear clear cloud heavy rain
Mid station 1543 m
850m 700m 3150m 3450m 2400m

(1634m — 1845m)

snow report 7 days ago

3.0 cm
7 days ago
17.0
17.0
light snow light snow clear part cloud light rain
Mid station 1740 m
850m 600m 750m 3150m 2800m

(1695m — 2110m)

snow report yesterday

Mount Dobson webcam
opens in 95 days 7 cm
7 days ago
13.0
13.0
light snow snow showers clear part cloud rain showers
Mid station 1902 m
800m 600m 950m 3300m 2800m

(1400m — 1750m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 88 days 4 cm
6 days ago
27.0
27.0
mod snow light snow clear part cloud part cloud
Mid station 1575 m
900m 850m 1050m 2850m 3300m

(1646m — 2096m)

snow report 7 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
15.0
15.0
light snow light snow clear part cloud light rain
Mid station 1871 m
850m 600m 800m 3150m 2750m

(1160m — 2231m)

snow report 7 days ago

1.0 cm
3 days ago
3.0
3.0
snow showers clear part cloud part cloud heavy rain
Mid station 1696 m
900m 650m 1200m 3450m 2400m

(1400m — 2086m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 80 days 2.0 cm
7 days ago
20.0
20.0
light snow light snow clear part cloud part cloud
Mid station 1743 m
800m 800m 950m 3200m 2800m

(1425m — 1825m)

snow report 7 days ago

6 cm
7 days ago
8.0
8.0
snow showers clear part cloud part cloud light rain
Mid station 1625 m
800m 700m 1000m 3500m 2650m

(1310m — 1980m)

snow report 7 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
17.0
17.0
light snow light snow clear part cloud rain showers
Mid station 1645 m
850m 600m 800m 3150m 2800m

(1540m — 1760m)

snow report 7 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
5.0
5.0
light snow snow showers clear part cloud light rain
Mid station 1650 m
1050m 950m 1150m 2850m 2950m

(1475m — 1943m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 81 days 14 cm
7 days ago
3.0
3.0
light snow clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1709 m
800m 600m 1400m 3550m 2750m

(1350m — 2133m)

snow report 7 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
11.0
11.0
light snow snow showers clear part cloud light rain
Mid station 1742 m
850m 550m 950m 3350m 2650m

(1550m — 1800m)

snow report yesterday

5 cm
7 days ago
4.0
4.0
light snow clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1675 m
850m 650m 1250m 3550m 2800m

(1420m — 1530m)

snow report yesterday

4 cm
7 days ago
3.0
3.0
light snow clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1475 m
850m 650m 1250m 3550m 2800m

(1425m — 1929m)

snow report yesterday

7 cm
7 days ago
3.0
3.0
light snow clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1677 m
900m 700m 1300m 3500m 2800m

(1493m — 1923m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 95 days 8 cm
7 days ago
6.0
6.0
light snow snow showers clear part cloud mod rain
Mid station 1708 m
850m 700m 1000m 3050m 2600m

(1260m — 1960m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 87 days 1.0 cm
3 days ago
4.0
4.0
snow showers clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1610 m
800m 600m 1250m 3500m 2500m

(1660m — 1910m)

snow report 7 days ago

Tukino webcam
1.7 cm
6 days ago
4.0
3.0
light rain light snow part cloud clear cloud
Mid station 1785 m
2550m 1050m 1300m 2900m 3350m

(1602m — 2322m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 102 days 1.7 cm
6 days ago
3.0
2.0
light rain snow showers part cloud clear cloud
Mid station 1962 m
2500m 1050m 1300m 2900m 3350m

(1625m — 2300m)

snow report yesterday

opens in 66 days 1.7 cm
6 days ago
2.0
2.0
light rain light snow part cloud clear cloud
Mid station 1962 m
2550m 1100m 1300m 2950m 3350m

(1737m — 2165m)

snow report yesterday

2.0 cm
3 days ago
4.0
4.0
snow showers clear clear cloud rain showers
Mid station 1951 m
750m 550m 1350m 3500m 2350m