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KiwiNewZ

I really enjoy looking at the cams in New Zealand and yours are one of the best that I have seen. So keep them on. Tina in Grantsville, MD

Kiwi Snow Reports, New Zealand

July 29, 2000 - Free and Independent

Kia Ora

I am afraid to say that the snow news has all been bad for the last 10 to 14 days. We have had high's in the south trapping bad weather in the north. Highs in the north blocking lows in the south and then we had a high over the Chatam Islands funnelling all that hot air belching out of Fiji straight in to our back yard. All in all the days have been warm and snowless.

The local snow fields have taken a pounding and from what I hear fields around the rest of the country have been similarly effected. A wave of warm weather, rain with freezing levels up above 2000 metres, 3 or 4 days of pretty bitter cold and some thick night frosts have set up a real solid base. And I mean solid.

Needless to say the wonders of modern machinery and the skills of some late night crews have ensured that their are at least a few trails one each of the ski fields.

Evan " too many highs " Bloomfield

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>== This Issue

** Cumulative Snow Fall
** Snow Area Report update for 24 July
** Cams over Cardrona
** BoarderZone cover the festival
** Aarons Snow Prayer
** Compaq 50k is unstoppable
** Snow Dome in the UK
** The Stockman are coming
** Subscribe and unsubscribe information

>== Cumulative Snow Fall

Not much to report since 24 June. The odd dusting here and there.

cm	Cardrona		Coronet Peak		The Remarkables		Treble Cone		Waiorau Snow Farm
2 June	35	80	5	25	60	80	55	1m+	25
11 June			10	20		60
12 June	30		20			50		50	heaps in drifts
19 June		15		5		10
24 June		4	rain			2
2 July		dusting				4		dusting
23 July						4
24 July		dusting		2		3		2	dusting
26 July								7
27 July									5
28 July			5	10	20	30

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>== Snow Area Report as of 14 July

Spring like soft variable conditions. Nor wester, nor Easters, nort much snow.

Treble Cone

9 clear sunny days for the start of the ski holidays meant a great start for the school holidays and some classic racoon effects.

The snow making is looking after the lower trails and given the right weather off-piste softens up nicely. Runs like Magnum and the North facing slopes of the Matukituki basin have been great skiing in spring-like corn snow although it is a bit thin out there at the moment.

The Austrians have arrived en masse with both the mens and the womans national teams checking in for a Southern Hemisphere snow camp. Apparently the Swiss team have been "on their knees" begging for training space

For all you nzski.com season pass holders TC is offering half price day passes until 28 July. Now that's got to be a reasonable incentive to check out a different field :-)

All you Turoa season pass holders listen up. The Whisper is that Treble Cone will be offering you a special deal in the near future!

Coronet Peak

Here is the official version;

"Spring like snow conditions, soft groomed granular snow on main trails on a hard base with some icy patches emerging through the day. Variable conditions off-piste with a hard frozen snow pack. Best skiing and riding is on the main trails. Snowmaking overnight."

And here's local snow board guru Michelle's version;

"Waiting at the lift at 8.45am then off the mountain about 10.30am"

A huge week just finished at the peak with a myriad of events in the winter festival. Local Guru Deni Beaven unlucky not to pull of a win in the Big Air.

Rocky Gully T-Bar is completely off in brown space.

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Remarkables

"Hard melt freeze snow off piste with pockets of wind drifted new snow. 100% beginners slopes, 80% intermediate and 70% advanced terrain available"

Tubing is going off. Grab yourself a bit of rubber and have a slide in the O-Zone Tubing Park..

The Remarkables looking distinctly white,
Jon Malcolm-Smith guiding the
cutting blade on the 'rookie' half pipe.
The blade is 3.5m long!

Cardrona

All lifts open with two or three half pipes out of four operating most of the time on a rotation basis.

Snow conditions are basically hard pack over the entire mountain. The upper snow is more like winter snow. Lower down the odd icy patches arerearing their ugly head.

My tip for ice? Don't do anything. Go for the controlled slide and wait until you hit something with a bit of texture.

Off piste snow is a real mixed bag, hard and icy in the cold faces, softening up well on the sun facing slopes and watch for the rocks.

Waiorau Snow Farm

Main trails are groomed and skiing well. Get your training in now for the New Zealand Nationals Race Weekend and the Merino Muster in August. Two not to be missed!

Check out the brand new Waiorau Snow Cam.

Ruapehu Report

Here is a report from Ben Sintes ( 22 July ) for Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand's "live" snow field.

"Whakapapa is limited mostly to the beginner and intermediate level. Most of the skiing is on the main trails of the Valley T & the Knoll Ridge T-bar. Advanced skiers & boarders might get a look in if the hard ice off trail softens as the day progresses. For beginners there is Happy Valley & the Cinder Track platter operating."

"Last week the early skiing was well worth a bit of a cruise, by midday though the snow was heavy corn. Next morning the groomers & their trailers full of snow & the diggers had done their magic with a hard pack base and a dusting of snow on top."

"I have been told that Turoa has a little better snow cover than Whakapapa and is skiable to the mid station on the giant chair. Also operating is the High flyer Quad & the Bicardi T-bar."

"Whakapapa has received 15cm of snow Saturday night and the loop at the top of the road required chains or 4WD."

Thanks Ben. And if anyone would like to make an offer on Ben's registration plate "NZ SKIR" just email him on;
amme.neb@xtra.co.nz

Heli Skiing and Boarding

Hugh from Harris Mountain Heli Skiing reports good snow in the Harris Ranges. On Sunday they had 10 - 15cm on a firm base. "Pleasantly surprised".

Goerge from Southern Lakes Heli Ski said they didn't fly today. The current Freezing Level of about 1000m and a few fronts coming through has Goerge all in a slather.

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>== Cams over Cardrona

Yep. After months of promises, several computer re builds, illegal shipments of video cameras across the Tasman ( thanks to Julie from the Gold Coast for the donation of her "retired" Video camera ) and the co-operation of the Waiorau Snow Farm we have truly extended the range of our Snow Cams.

Waiorau Snow Farm boast a very smart lodge on top of the Piza range with some fab 360 views of the surrounding scape. And some fab positions for Snow Cams.

So we put two up there!

Cardrona Cam points right across the valley at the Cardrona Alpine Resort and show pretty much the top to bottom of the Captains chairlift.

Cardrona Cam, looking South West from the top of the Piza.

Waiorau Cam, looking Eastward.

Waiorau Cam points out the other side of the building looking east. Some roving visuals of the cross country ski tracks and the funky new enclosed viewing platform.

Never know you may even catch somebody doing a langlauf!

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>== BoarderZone.Com follows the festival

So you couldn't make it to the Winter Festival this year? No problems. Chris and his trusty Sony digicam from BoarderZone has some excellent coverage of some of the major events. Here's what he has to say .....

"Stay tuned as we bring you the good, the bad and the downright ugly sides of this unique Kiwi event. For many a sponsorship driven media smooze fest , but to the rest of us a huge week of fun and drunken antics in the mountains...!"

You can be sure of an extensive and impressive collection of info and pickies from the master of the online video clips. Take the time to download the latest version of Real Player. This is a major upgrade and well worth the time. Head on over to;
http://www.boarderzone.com/winterfest-1.htm

Make sure you check out the Big Air footage. Wish I had a fast internet connection!

"Aaron Jamieson of Queenstown was pulling off flat spin, cab, 540's with a double grab. Basically a super technical trick requiring taking off backwards and spinning 540 front side"

http://www.boarderzone.com/winterfest-air.htm

> == Aarons Prayer for snow

"I will be spending the next week locked in a dark room in a meditative state praying for the heavens to unleash a flurry of white Gold for the benefit of all mankind (but mainly ME!)"

Up to the contents

>== Compaq 50K is unstoppable

Well hats off to a few enthusiastic local ski dads and moms that pulled off a stunning sponsorship coup and organised a brilliant endurance ski event.

Modelled on the 24 hours of Aspen race the Compaq 50k was held at Coronet Peak on July 18.

Eight teams of three people went up and down and up and down ...... for 17 hours. Now they had to have a bit of a break at about 1.30am when the timing went down but apart from that 2 people from each team were on the course the whole time.

The whole lot was captured live by a five camera team from Big Whyte and Action Video. These signals were sent by microwave to a broadcast van parked at the bottom of the course, mixed live in the back of the van then transmitted again by microwave over to Deer Park Heights for broadcast over the local ITV station and the internet. Watch for the half hour show on TV3 and or Sky TV in NZ.

Too much! Quite a laugh to have your cornies in the morning whilst watching mad hatter downhillers tucking a trail you would normally fit in about 100 turns.

For the excellent web site zoom on over to;
http://www.compaq50k.co.nz/

Race Results: 6 Teams Finished 101 runs. First were the Germans ( 1:25:44 ), 2nd Canada ( 1:26:01 ) and 3rd Australia (1:26:47) with New Zealand in 5th place.

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>== Snow Dome in the UK Delayed

Milton Keynes' new snowdome, housed in the enormous Xscape complex, will not be opening its doors to snow lovers until August. Currently the City Limits and Cineworld areas are open, but the snow dome's opening has once again been set back.

The Snozone is 170m long and 60m wide and comprises three snow slopes, one of which is dedicated to lessons. This showcase venture for Healthland Snozone will be covered in 1,500 tonnes of 'real' snow, produced by snow cannons, in temperatures of approximately -2C. It will be large enough to safely allow 250 skiers and snowboarders onto the slope every hour and will cater for everyone from beginner to advanced levels.

Anyone out there done and any indoor skiing or boarding? Email me with your experiences!

>== The Stockman are coming

Here is an email from Rob at the Stockmans Australian Cafe.

Rob
> Some friends and I are coming over from Oz next week.
> We hear it has not snowed for a month???

Evan
Well there have been 4 or 5 smaller snow falls on the higher fields but I am afraid to say not much snow worth reporting.

Rob
> Can you tell us what the forecasts are, we will be based in Queenstown.

Evan
Well I am not sure anyone is really sure what the long range situation is. Bit of clag coming through in the next few days so I'll be watching how that develops. For the best on line snow forecasts in the world head on over to;
http://www.snow-forecast.com/

For a summary of the snow condition at all the New Zealand resorts check out;
http://www.snow.co.nz/snowreports/shortreport.asp

Rob
> People here are saying its the worst season there for 20 yrs, is that true?

Evan
Hmm well a quick cast around the locals and the last disastrous year that sticks to mind seems to have been in 1978 or 1979 where they opened and closed a couple of times. Snow conditions right now off the main trails are possibly the worst in 20 years.

Don't forget though the first four weeks of this season have been some of the best snow ever so calling it the worse season for 20 years is perhaps a little off.

Snow making and summer terrain shaping has produced big improvements and it is fare to say that 20 years ago Coronet Peak wouldn't have been open at the moment. Eeek. I said it!

My advice - just get in to your holiday. Have a few laughs and explore a new region. If the snow goes off treat that as a bonus.

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>++ Outside Sports - Proud to sponsor Kiwi Snow Reports

Outside Sports, Queenstown's largest winter store.

Need new skis? Take advantage of the Outside Sports "Demo Programme". Try Before You Buy!

Our demo programme on Coronet Peak offers on mountain assistance plus the chance to test different makes and models of skis and snowboards.

To check out our demo program at Outside Sports click here.

Top of the Mall, Queenstown. Come in and say gidday.

>== In the Last Issue

23 June 2000 - Cumulative Snow Fall, Snow Area Report update for 23 June, Search dog owners get training, Winter Snow Events and the Wanaka Sleddog Festival , Trans Tasman Air Travel, The Bar is Open

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