New Zealand Ski Areas Delay 2026 Season Start
New Zealand’s 2026 ski season proper won’t kick off this weekend as planned as the three centres that had planned to open all announce delays following dry weather. But things are set to change next week.
New Zealand’s 2026 ski season proper won’t kick off this weekend as the three centres that had planned to open all announce delays. After some promising pre-season snowfalls in late April, which led one club field to open for a weekend, it has been mostly dry and mild, with some areas of the country posting their driest Mays on record. But things are set to change next week.
Mt Hutt and Cardrona, two of the three areas set to open this weekend announced Tuesday they would not be opening this weekend, with the third, The Remarkables, waiting until today in case they could manage to open something, but now announcing they can’t either.
The Remarkables and Cardona have both delayed 7 days, but Mt Hutt has not yet named a target opening day, stating.
“We will be delaying our opening from this Friday 12th June to a later date, please keep an eye on our website for updates as we wait for winter to arrive,” a spokesperson said.
The forecast is for colder weather moving in from next week bringing some natural snowfall and lower temperatures to allow snowmaking to operate.
“Winter slept in by a couple of weeks this year, which meant we didn't get snowmaking underway as early as we'd have liked. So we're taking an extra week to make sure the maunga is ready to welcome you all for another great season. The good news? Temps have dropped, the guns are firing, the team is all here and we can’t wait to kick off Winter 2026 as soon as conditions allow,” a statement from Cardrona reads.
In the longer term, whilst the current prediction of a strong to "super" El Niño, considered highly likely to develop later this southern hemisphere winter, with forecasters pointing to an 80% to 90% chance of conditions emerging between now and August, is thought to be bad news, probably, for Australian snow, in New Zealand its hoped this will mean more snowfall later in the winter.
Two New Zealand ski areas, Whakapapa and now Coronet Peak, have all-weather snowmaking machines, allowing them to create relatively small snow areas for tubing and beginner lessons, and opened at the end of May.
