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.

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 4 days ago

7 cm
4 days ago
clear clear part cloud light rain part cloud
Mid station 1893 m
1700m 3250m 3400m 2450m 2650m

(2839m — 3754m)

snow report 4 days ago

12 cm
4 days ago
7.0
15.0
clear clear part cloud clear part cloud
Mid station 3296 m
2450m 3350m 3150m 2550m 2550m

(1463m — 1737m)

snow report 4 days ago

6 cm
4 days ago
clear clear part cloud cloud part cloud
Mid station 1600 m
1600m 3350m 3400m 2450m 2350m

(1400m — 1820m)

snow report yesterday

1.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear part cloud light rain clear
Mid station 1610 m
1400m 3000m 3500m 2350m 2650m

(1294m — 1894m)

snow report today

opens in 88 days 2.0 cm
4 days ago
2.0
clear clear part cloud cloud part cloud
Mid station 1594 m
2450m 3550m 3150m 2600m 2400m

(1187m — 1649m)

snow report today

opens in 88 days 1.0 cm
4 days ago
3.0
clear clear part cloud cloud rain showers
Mid station 1418 m
2600m 3550m 3100m 2550m 2350m

(1422m — 1922m)

snow report yesterday

1.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear part cloud light rain part cloud
Mid station 1672 m
1400m 3000m 3500m 2350m 2650m

(1170m — 1851m)

snow report 4 days ago

Fox Peak webcam
6 cm
4 days ago
clear clear part cloud light rain part cloud
Mid station 1510 m
1700m 3250m 3400m 2400m 2650m

(1434m — 1774m)

snow report yesterday

3.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear part cloud light rain part cloud
Mid station 1604 m
1400m 2750m 3650m 2250m 2550m

(1449m — 2149m)

snow report 4 days ago

7 cm
4 days ago
clear clear part cloud light rain part cloud
Mid station 1799 m
1550m 3200m 3350m 2450m 2650m

(1631m — 2080m)

snow report 4 days ago

1.0 cm
4 days ago
4.0
15.0
clear clear part cloud part cloud light rain
Mid station 1856 m
2650m 3600m 2950m 2500m 2250m

(1259m — 1679m)

snow report 4 days ago

3.0 cm
4 days ago
clear clear clear light rain part cloud
Mid station 1469 m
1850m 3400m 3650m 2400m 2400m

(1086m — 2000m)

snow report 5 days ago

1.0 cm
4 days ago
6.0
1.0
clear cloud light rain rain showers light rain
Mid station 1543 m
2800m 3550m 2900m 2500m 2300m

(1634m — 1845m)

snow report yesterday

2.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear part cloud light rain clear
Mid station 1740 m
1400m 3000m 3500m 2400m 2700m

(1695m — 2110m)

snow report today

Mount Dobson webcam
opens in 123 days 7 cm
4 days ago
clear clear part cloud light rain part cloud
Mid station 1902 m
1550m 3250m 3400m 2400m 2650m

(1400m — 1750m)

snow report today

opens in 123 days 4 cm
yesterday
clear clear clear light rain clear
Mid station 1575 m
1350m 2650m 3650m 2250m 2500m

(1646m — 2096m)

snow report yesterday

1.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear part cloud light rain clear
Mid station 1871 m
1400m 3050m 3500m 2400m 2700m

(1160m — 2231m)

snow report 4 days ago

8 cm
4 days ago
2.0
part cloud cloud cloud cloud cloud
Mid station 1696 m
2550m 3400m 3100m 2500m 2450m

(1400m — 2086m)

snow report today

opens in 81 days 2.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear part cloud light rain part cloud
Mid station 1743 m
1400m 3050m 3500m 2400m 2700m

(1425m — 1825m)

snow report 4 days ago

3.0 cm
4 days ago
clear clear part cloud cloud clear
Mid station 1625 m
1700m 3400m 3250m 2450m 2500m

(1310m — 1980m)

snow report yesterday

2.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear part cloud light rain clear
Mid station 1645 m
1400m 3050m 3500m 2450m 2700m

(1540m — 1760m)

snow report 4 days ago

1.0 cm
4 days ago
clear clear part cloud light rain clear
Mid station 1650 m
1850m 2950m 3600m 2300m 2400m

(1475m — 1943m)

snow report today

opens in 87 days 1.0 cm
3 days ago
3.0
clear clear part cloud cloud rain showers
Mid station 1709 m
2600m 3550m 3150m 2550m 2300m

(1350m — 2133m)

snow report 4 days ago

6 cm
4 days ago
clear clear part cloud light rain part cloud
Mid station 1742 m
1800m 3250m 3400m 2450m 2650m

(1550m — 1800m)

snow report 4 days ago

3.0 cm
4 days ago
2.0
clear clear part cloud cloud part cloud
Mid station 1675 m
2400m 3500m 3200m 2550m 2400m

(1420m — 1530m)

snow report 4 days ago

2.0 cm
4 days ago
1.0
clear clear part cloud cloud part cloud
Mid station 1475 m
2400m 3500m 3200m 2550m 2400m

(1425m — 1929m)

snow report 4 days ago

2.0 cm
4 days ago
4.0
clear clear part cloud cloud part cloud
Mid station 1677 m
2450m 3550m 3150m 2550m 2400m

(1493m — 1923m)

snow report today

opens in 123 days 7 cm
4 days ago
clear part cloud part cloud light rain light rain
Mid station 1708 m
1550m 3000m 3450m 2400m 2700m

(1260m — 1960m)

snow report today

opens in 88 days 3.0 cm
4 days ago
2.0
8.0
clear clear part cloud cloud part cloud
Mid station 1610 m
2450m 3550m 3050m 2500m 2350m

(1660m — 1910m)

snow report 4 days ago

Tukino webcam
1.0 cm
4 days ago
clear clear clear mod rain part cloud
Mid station 1785 m
1450m 2900m 3550m 2500m 2350m

(1602m — 2322m)

snow report today

opens in 109 days 1.0 cm
4 days ago
clear clear clear mod rain part cloud
Mid station 1962 m
1450m 3150m 3550m 2450m 2350m

(1625m — 2300m)

snow report today

opens in 109 days 1.0 cm
4 days ago
clear clear clear mod rain part cloud
Mid station 1962 m
1500m 3100m 3550m 2500m 2350m

(1737m — 2165m)

snow report 4 days ago

3.0 cm
4 days ago
4.0
15.0
clear clear rain showers cloud snow showers
Mid station 1951 m
2650m 3550m 2950m 2450m 2300m