The eternal vagaries of the weather have left the likely start date and of the 2023 southern hemisphere ski season uncertain until today, with Mt Hutt announcing it will open this week – just 24 hours later than they'd hoped, on Saturday 10th June rather than Friday.
That's the same day as Australia's ski areas will also be open but, due to recent warm weather, it remains unclear whether any of these will be offering snow sports on day one. Thredbo has now joined Selwyn in saying they won't be – after warm weather melted early snow cover from May falls and wasn't good for snowmaking either. The good news is colder and snowier weather forecast over the coming week.
Mt Hutt plan to open with the Summit 6, Nor'west Express and both of their carpet lifts and they say they hope to have Learners areas, HW72, Broadway and Hoods Hollow groomed on the mid mountain and Morning Glory and Chair Bowl on the upper mountain.
"Everywhere else will be off-piste skiing (with many unmarked hazards!), we are running on a very thin snowpack at the moment so please be extra careful when riding and remember it's the first weekend of the season so don't push yourself too hard.. there will be plenty of great riding in the coming few months!" a resort statement advises.
It's currently unclear if any ski areas will open in the South American Andes this weekend, several areas seem, to have enough snow but the first confirmed opening date is the 15th.