Winter Ski Season Underway Down Under But More Snow Needed
9th June 2026
Last modified on June 19th, 2026
Resorts in Australia opened last weekend but with limited terrain. This weekend resorts in New Zealand are due to get the 2026 season underway, but there is little snow. UPDATED
In New Zealand resorts have been forced to delay their opening due to a lack of natural snow and warm temperatures.
Mt Hutt was set to open last Friday, June 12th, followed by a full opening at Coronet Peak on Saturday, the 13th, alongside The Remarkables and Cardrona.
Coronet Peak has a snow factory that has allowed some nursery and beginner slopes to open.
“We will be delaying our opening from this Friday 12th June to a later date as we await for winter to arrive,” said a statement from Mt Hutt ahead of the weekend.
“We have some colder weather moving in from next week so we should see some natural snowfall and lower temperature to get out snow making cranking.”
Cardrona too has also delayed its start.
“We’re moving opening day to June 20th, a week later,” said a statement from the resort.
“Winter slept in by a couple of weeks this year which meant we didn’t get early snowmaking underway as early as we would have liked.
“The good news?
“The temperatures have dropped the guns are firing, the team is all here and we can’t wait to kick off winter 026 as soon as conditions allow.”
The Remarkables also delayed its opening.
NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said all ski areas are ready to move quickly as soon as conditions allowed.
“Our teams are doing everything they can to get winter underway,” he said.
“We’ll continue to update everyone as the weather unfolds, and we’ll open more terrain the moment we have the coverage to do so safely.
“We know everyone wants to get up the mountains and into the season and the good news is that we can see colder weather on the horizon so expect to be fully open in the coming couple of weeks.”
In Australia it wasn’t the best start last weekend for the ski resorts that always open on the first weekend in June – the monarch’s official birthday.
Some were only able to open some nursery and beginner slopes, but skiing and snowboarding is underway.
Perisher, Thredbo, Falls Creek, Mt Hotham and Mt Buller all had some slopes open.
We previewed the opening weekend in this earlier article on PlanetSKI:
This was the scene in Perisher in New South Wales as the season started:
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“We’re thrilled to welcome guests back to Perisher and to share the excitement of the opening weekend at Australia’s largest resort,” said the vice president and general manager of Perisher, Nathan Butterworth, as the resort prepared to open.
“After fresh snowfall in the week , strong snowmaking conditions and our teams working tirelessly to prepare the mountain, we’re stoked to have skiing and boarding back in Perisher.”
Here’s Falls Creek:
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In South America, Cerro Bayo in Argentina is open with other areas, including Las Lenas, following this weekend.
In Chile, Portillo is opening this weekend.
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