Snow in May

24 May 2018 -

Whenever it snows at this time of year we leap to the happy conclusion that it’s going to be a good, early ski season. The excitement is fuelled by our Facebook and Instagram feeds chocker with images of the white-blanketed Wakatipu and Wanaka basins and the ski field posts of shovels and yardsticks. We try to remember when our planks were last tuned, contemplate the ski-worthiness of our thighs and recall that our long-serving gloves disintegrated during the snow extravaganza in September last year.

We know from the wisdom handed down from our alpinist forebears that ‘snow in May rarely stays’ or ‘snow in May melts away’ (which version depends on whose forebears), but we remain hopeful.

Of course those same forebears gave us ‘Snow in June? Still too soon’ but they lived in a time before Coronet Peak had more snow guns per sq metre than pitchforks at a Donald Trump convention and our ski season now regularly starts in early June. The gleam of the snow gun lights adds to the anticipation. Lights on - good; lights off - bad.

The lights are on and the snow guns are cranking! Tune up your skis people!