It seems that the 2016 ski season is finally getting its act together in Australia and New Zealand this weekend after a mixed June.
Australia's ski season officially started three weeks ago but only one run at one resort was open for opening day and its only in the last week that it has really turned wintery. Fortunately it has turned very wintery so the ski season is now full on.
Perisher has 45 lifts open this weekend with all four of its resort areas linked. The storms over the last week have seen over 85cm of snow fall across Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega.
"We're bringing in July with great skiing and boarding conditions, and with more snow predicted in the coming days, now is the time to get down to Perisher and enjoy these amazing conditions," said a Perisher statement.
Meanwhile New Zealand had a great start to their season three weeks ago for resorts that were scheduled to be the first top open with some reporting early conditions the best in years. But since then it has turned warm – too warm for snowmaking and thawing existing snow so some areas have been forced to close whilst others have delayed opening.
It has however finally turned cold again for the start of July here too, and whilst there's not been much fresh snow reported yet, at least snowmaking equipment has been able to fire up.
The Remarkables near Queenstown, for example, pictured above, has 60cm of snow on the upper slopes and 35cm at base. A return to colder overnight temperatures has also seen The Remarkables receive 5cm of new snow fall on Saturday, and a further dusting today.
Thanks to the temperature drop, the ski area's arsenal of snow guns has also sprung into action, pushing 110 litres a second onto the slopes.
"Queenstown has just been going off with people enjoying the skiing, great snow, the atmosphere and fun events," says The Remarkables ski area manager Ross Lawrence.
"We've had hundreds of Australian students in school groups on the slopes here each day and they've been loving it. It certainly helps spread the message about the snow we've got into that important Australian market.
This week, Queenstown Airport launches into its eight-week winter peak, with overall capacity scheduled to increase 20% compared to last winter. Domestic capacity is up 24% and international up 14%, and peak days this winter are likely to be this Saturday (July 9) and July 16, with 28 landings on each of these days. Of those landings, there are two more international flights coming into the resort each day compared to last winter.