Big snowfall welcome after average season
The snow has arrived – at last.
The biggest fall of snow this winter settled on Egmont National Park yesterday, covering the bushline from 900m, including East Egmont plateau car park and Manganui ski field.
The unseasonal snowfall quickly became a magnet for skiers and snowboarders, as well as school children on their term holidays.
Shift worker Anthony Dombroski said he had the choice of either snowboarding or fixing the house.
‘‘My wife knows how I feel when the snow arrives so she let me go,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s been a pretty average season. I’ve managed about six days but it is still pretty cool as you don’t often get a dumping as late as October.’’
Dombroski recently spent a week heli-skiing near Glenorchy but still enjoyed the local experience.
‘‘We can come up here and snowboard for a day for $20. You can’t get a better deal than that.’’
The snow arrived at the right time for Stratford grandmother Margaret Oakes, who had her daughter, Angela Shool-bread, and two grandchildren, Alexis,
8, and Toby, 6, visiting for the week from Auckland.
The four were at the East Egmont plateau car park in ankle deep snow making a snowman and getting a healthy dollop of fresh air.
‘‘We’ve taken them to Puke Ariki and Brooklands Zoo, and now the snow has arrived it’s a good time to be on the mountain,’’ Oakes said.
She remembered snow regularly falling in Stratford in past years, but nothing took away the morning’s experience. ‘‘There’s nothing better than having a meal at the Stratford Mountain House and looking out the window to see snow falling,’’ she said.
Shool-bread said the family had been to Ruapehu in previous years but this was the first time her children had seen snow falling.
Stratford Mountain House manager Rod Pulford said the late snow was wonderful.
‘‘It’s unusual for October and it’s the biggest fall we’ve had all winter. We expect visitors will swarm up to enjoy it.’’
Stratford Ski Club spokesman Rob Needs said the snow was not enough to allow skiing on the lower slopes but the top tow was operating. ‘‘We didn’t want to damage the moss cover with the snow groomer.’’
The ski field had been open between 10 and 25 days since early June, he added.
An avalanche warning exists on Mt Taranaki from the Mountain Safety Council which put the avalanche risk at ‘‘considerable’’.
The MetService forecast for Egmont National Park today is for fine weather with developing drizzly conditions, and westerly gales. The agency forecasted heavy rain from tomorrow afternoon.