A wintry blast bringing 20cm of snow to Queenstown’s skifields is "fantastic" timing ahead of opening dates next weekend, the head of NZ Ski says.
NZSki chief executive officer Paul Anderson said the snow that fell at the weekend was a "great blast" for this time of the year.
"There was a really good coverage top to bottom about 20cm on all three mountains and the temperatures were really cold so we got a good 24 hours of snowmaking in as well."
The snow dump had come only two weeks out from the opening weekend for Coronet Peak and the Remarkables, which were were set to open on June 16 and June 17 respectively.
Mr Anderson said he could not see the slopes opening any earlier because it was going to take a few days to pack all the snow down and train staff ahead of the ski season.
However, the forecast for the next two weeks did not show much more snow fall.
"It doesn’t look like there will be too much rain over the South Island, so likelihood of snow for the rest of this week is not looking too good."
The following week did not show too many rainmakers for the lower South Island, which typically would bring snow events on that side, she said.
"But it is quite a way out, so we’ll have to see what weather systems come into play. But at this point it doesn’t look too good for those weather systems coming from the west."
Cardrona is also set to open on June 17 and the Treble Cone Ski area opens on June 24.
