NZ Resort Opens With No Covid-19 Restrictions Needed

11th June 2020

Last modified on May 14th, 2021

Mt Hutt in the South Island opened on Friday, earlier than originally planned for skiing and snowboarding. New Zealand has moved to Covid-19 alert level 1, meaning ski resorts will be able to operate largely as usual this winter.

Mt Hutt had been expected to open later this month, starting out at just three days a week.

It opened for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, 12th June.

It will operate for five days a week to start with, moving to seven days from 1st July.

It plans to stay open until 11th October.

“Maybe not the weather we ordered but hey look at the smiles,” said the resort.

“Day no.1 of the 2020 winter season, thanks again for coming up and partying with us.

“The weather looks mint for the weekend so look forward to seeing you all soon.”

https://www.facebook.com/mthutt/videos/288333582213945/

New Zealand moved from Level 2 to Level 1 at midnight on Monday.

Level 1 allows the ski resorts to run more or less as they did before coronavirus.

There will be no restrictions on the number of people gathering indoors, such as in bars or cafes.

There will be no special rules to enforce social distancing, for example on lifts.

The country’s borders will, however, remain closed to all but New Zealand nationals.

At Alert Level 1 the official government advice is “everyone can return without restriction to work, school, sports and domestic travel, and you can get together with as many people as you want.”

“As we unite to recover from the effects of COVID-19, it’s still important that we keep the basic hygiene measures, including washing your hands and coughing or sneezing into your elbow.”

The country is hoping to set up an air bridge with Australia.

Australians are an important part of the NZ ski market: Air bubble linking ski fields of Australia and New Zealand

New Zealand has had 1,154 confirmed cases and 22 deaths.

New Zealand has now gone 20 days with no new virus cases, even after the country lifted almost all of its restrictions.

Following the recovery of an Auckland woman on Monday, the country has no known active cases of Covid-19.

Coronet Peak and Cardrona are due to be the next resorts in New Zealand to open for skiing and snowboarding on June 26th.

Treble Cone is scheduled to open on June 27th

The manager of Cardrona and Treble Cone, Bridget Legnavsky, said to local media that the change to Level One was great news.

“It’s going to make it far easier for us, especially when it comes to managing inside.”

Whakapapa and Turoa ski areas on Mt Ruapehu are to open on July 1st.

Skiing in New Zealand. Image © PlanetSKI.

Meanwhile if you want to know what skiing in New Zealand is like check out these PlanetSKI reports from 2018 as we toured the South Island in a motorhome:

And if you go to NZ, it would be rude to explore the country outside the ski fields….