Ski season in Southern hemisphere begins five weeks early

Mon, May  11, 2009 - By FIS

As the long 2008/09 ski season finally winds down in the Northern hemisphere, heavy snow in both Australia and New Zealand has led to the Southern hemisphere's ski season beginning five weeks early last weekend. Mt Buller decided to run its ski lifts and open to the public at the weekend with an unprecedented 35cm snowfall. "It's the best snow we've had this early since we opened in 1964," Mt Buller commented.

The snow arrived soon afterwards in New Zealand where enthusiasts dug out their gear and hiked up to the top of Canterbury's Mt Hutt over the weekend to also enjoy ‘first tracks' of the season. The ski area is officially scheduled to open and start running its lifts in just over five weeks on 13th June.

Meanwhile there are still dozens of ski areas open in North America and in Europe, where the summer ski season is just starting off for 2009.

Source: www.skiinfo.com