It has unfortunately been a poor start to the New Zealand ski season with mild temperatures and rain at lower elevations leading several areas that opened in June to close again and others to delay opening.
Only Cardrona and The Remarkables have managed to stay open, but each only with a small fraction of their full terrain open.
However things have started to improve in recent days with colder temperatures and snow to lower levels, leading Mt Hutt (pictured above this weekend) and Coronet Peak to announce that they'll be re-opening from Sunday.
"Our Snowmakers have been running full noise for the past 48 hours and look set to continue until we run our reservoir dry. We will flick a few guns off around the base area and have First Tracks starting at 8am on Sunday morning," at Mt Hutt spokesperson said.
The financially troubled Ruapehu resort home to Turoa and Whakapapa ski areas is also planning to open from Monday thanks to a $5m donation from the New Zealand government.