Last week’s snowfall was the best of the season, and the glistening new snow tantalised skiers and snowboarders for days after alert level four was declared last Tuesday afternoon (August 17).

Around 25cm landed at Cardrona Alpine Resort last Tuesday (August 17) and at Treble Cone’s home basin there was 40cm of fresh snow. The Snow Farm received more than 30cm of snow.

Cardrona/Treble Cone head of operations Ewan Mackie called it “an excruciatingly amazing snowfall”, coming as it did just before the skifields’ gates were closed for lockdown.

The dump was “definitely by far the best snowfall we’ve had this winter so far,” Cardrona/Treble Cone communications executive Jen Houltham said.

So, has anyone been able to enjoy all that powder?

At alert level four, Ewan said, a few maintenance staff will be going up once or twice a week to assess critical infrastructure and ensure there are no issues. 

Brent Screen at TC last Tuesday (August 17). PHOTO: Ray Tiddy

“We will also be monitoring snow safety from a critical risk point of view to ensure that we do not end up with unmanageable avalanche risk that could threaten infrastructure or compromise future safety,” he said.

“Otherwise our teams are working from home if applicable to their role and getting things ready to re-open from an administrative point of view.”

At alert level three only essential work (cleaning, maintenance of infrastructure, grooming trails, assessing and managing avalanche hazard) will be undertaken by a minimal team, Ewan said.

“A large part of this will be dealing with all of the fresh snow that we received right before lockdown which is still sitting untouched. This can be used across the mountain to get us in a fantastic position to open with amazing skiing/boarding,” he said.

During level three teams will work independently from one another with strict protocols in place to keep everyone safe, Ewan said, including pre-start health checks, site logs, separation of work areas/rest areas/transport, and regular cleaning of those areas. 

“And we will be getting the resort ready for the necessary precautions that will be in place under alert level two and welcome people back to the maunga.”