Mt Hutt skifield not ruling out reopening after weekend’s late snow

By RNZ

Mt Hutt skifield isn’t ruling out reopening for a spell after a heavy dumping of snow over the weekend.

Heavy snow fell in the South Island during the long weekend as wild weather lashed much of the country.

Mt Hutt in Methven got nearly a metre of fresh snow.

Mt Hutt ski area manager James McKenzie told Morning Report it was one of the biggest October snowfalls he’d seen in nearly 20 years on the mountain.

The skifield was already closed for the season.

“It would have been handy to have this snow back in June,” McKenzie said.

“We’re definitely sort of scratching our heads, we’ve first got to get access, make sense of the dig-out, and then go from there. We wouldn’t rule out something, though, if it looks like the weather is going to be good for a bit.”

While the skifield was closed, there was still work to be done and the snow made it challenging to get back to work today, McKenzie said.

“The last section of our access road ... is completely filled in with snow, so there’s snow drifts of up to 4 or 5m through that area, quite a lot of avalanche debris to pick through.”

– RNZ

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