Methven, New Zealand – New snow on the mountain tops around New Zealand is a timely reminder of the countdown to the 2013 winter season.

Canterbury’s Mt. Hutt saw its second snowfall in as many weeks on Monday, with 20 centimeters of snow covering the entire mountain. The ski area access road has been blocked for two days with large snowdrifts at the Rakaia Saddle and Tuesday was the first day Mt. Hutt staff made it to the ski area parking lot, trudging the last 2.5 kilometers uphill on foot.

A D8 Bulldozer is working from the Rakaia Saddle clearing an access track to the base building car park.

Mt. Hutt Operations General Manager James Urquhart said snow had settled “absolutely everywhere” on the mountain as there had been no wind at the ski area.

“After our snowfall a couple of weeks ago it’s looking superb once again, and our head of snowmaking Blair James just couldn’t resist heading up the hill for some product testing,” he said. “The Mt. Hutt snowmaking department will fire up the guns from mid next week and hopefully these cool temperatures stick around and should make for some excellent conditions. Our snowmaking systems have been checked and are ready for staff to sign on at the end of this week.”

Urquhart said that Mt. Hutt’s seasonal management team started work at the beginning of this week and 11 members of staff were being kept busy sorting through all applications for seasonal staff positions this coming winter.

“Today really is the start of winter as we’ll be transporting our first groomer up the mountain today and this always signals winter for our summer crew,” he said.

The weekend cold snap delivered four centimeters to The Remarkables ski area, greeting new heads of department on a pre-season induction and training session.

“New snow is always a reason to celebrate in our book and the timing couldn’t have been better as senior staff come on board for the season,” said The Remarkables ski area manager Ross Lawrence. “A quick snowball fight was the order of the day!”

Over at Coronet Peak, up to two centimeters of snow also coated the mountain, with the snow level descending down the ski area access road to the start of Skippers Canyon Road.

Coronet Peak ski area manager Ross Copland said it was a “fantastic reminder” that winter was on its way and hoped it was an early sign of things to come.

“As we’re in full swing with staff training it’s certainly a great sign when the temperature starts to drop with five weeks to go until we open.”

Coronet Peak is scheduled to open for the 2013 season on June 8, with Mt. Hutt and The Remarkables following on June 15 and June 22, respectively.