Lake Wanaka, New Zealand – After a shaky start to the 2011 ski season, New Zealand resorts are making up for it in spades.

The second major storm in as many months has been pounding the island country for several days, closing roads, schools, airports and even ski resorts, where staffers are nonetheless reveling in up to 50cm of new snowfall. Ski areas closed on Tuesday include all resorts in the Canterbury region as the brunt of the storm is hitting the South Island.

“While we have been dealing with loose snow on the roads today, we anticipate that the wet conditions will freeze overnight and we will be faced with icy roads in the morning,” Inspector Al Stewart, Canterbury Road Policing Manager with the New Zealand Police said Monday night.

Other resorts, like Coronet Peak where only the Meadows Express and Magic Carpet were running on Tuesday morning, have closed select wind-affected lifts and delayed opening others.

“Wild and woolly up here at the moment, but fresh snow for those who venture out!” Treble Cone staffers posted Tuesday morning on Facebook. In the ski resort town of Queenstown which rarely sees snow on its streets, eight inches of snowfall was reported. Officials with Lake Wanaka Tourism are calling the storm the worst to hit New Zealand in 50 years, adding that it was still snowing in town as of Tuesday morning and area roads were icy and snow-covered.

Police are advising drivers to assess their local road conditions prior to traveling and to stay at home or delay any non-essential travel where possible.

A number of international ski teams are currently in New Zealand training for the upcoming World Cup season, including racers from the U.S.

“It just keeps snowing down here in New Zealand,” the U.S. Ski Team’s Julia Mancuso, of Squaw Valley, Calif., wrote Tuesday morning on Facebook. “It normally just snows on the mountains, but this storm is bring us snow everywhere! They always say big storms are coming… this time it’s the real deal. I hope it clears soon, ’cause I am getting stir crazy!”

“Always something happening here in New Zealand. It’s either really good or really bad weather,” added two-time World Cup overall champion ski racer Aksel Lund Svindal, of Kjeller, Norway. “Remember the terrible hearthquakes last year?  This is nothing compared to that. But it is snowing everywhere in New Zealand, all the way down to sea level and that’s not normal.”

While the storm’s fury has been lashing the New Zealand’s South Island, the North Island has not been spared the storm’s effects. The capital city of Wellington is experiencing its biggest snowfall in 40 years and Wellington area police discouraged any unnecessary travel overnight Monday.

“If you need to make essential travel this evening, make sure you are equipped with food, warm clothing and blankets for all occupants, in case you cannot return to your destination this evening, given the extreme weather conditions,” said Inspector Ken Climo of the Police Central Communications Centre in Wellington, who added that a number of roads in and around the District were closed Monday night including the Rimutaka Hill Road, Paekakariki Hill Road and Blue Mountains Road, Upper Hutt.

“Traffic lights are out across the Hutt Valley and there are reports of power outages in Wainuiomata, however the Wainuiomata Hill Road remains open,” Climo said.

The weather has hampered efforts of the organizers of Winter Games NZ to stage the competition’s ski slopestyle event at Snow Park near Wanaka. Storm winds canceled Sunday’s training and postponed Monday’s preliminaries and finals until Tuesday morning, when organizers hope to finally hold the event.

Even the organizers themselves have been dealing with travel hassles created by the storm. Winter Games NZ CEO, Arthur Klap’s efforts to return to Queenstown from Dunedin’s figure skating gala Sunday night ended with an impromptu stay in the tiny remote town of Roxburgh. He and six other Winter Games staff members and athletes managed to find the last room in town. Sadly for Klap, he was unable to pull rank on the sleeping arrangements and drew the short straw, ending up spending the night on the kitchen floor.