Southern Hemisphere Ski Season Opens

Sunny skies, champagne and smiles all round were the hallmarks of the opening of the ski season at Mt Hutt today (Saturday, May 30).

More than 2000 skiers turned out to welcome the snow and celebrate skiing in May at Mt Hutt.  Ski Area Manager Dave Wilson says it was the first time the mountain had opened in May for more than a decade [so much for global warming ].

Mt Hutt is expected to remain open until early October. Coronet Peak in Queenstown is scheduled to open next Saturday, June 6 with The Remarkables following on Saturday June 20.

Just because the ski season has begun doesn’t mean it’s too late to work on your fitness.  In fact, the best fitness training for skiing is (surprise) skiing. So skiing on the weekend, or midweek if you’re lucky, and off snow training on the days in between can help you catch up quickly if you aren’t as ski fit as you intended to be.

If you’re in the northern hemisphere, why not keep your ski fitness training up with the aim of taking a southern hemisphere ski holiday.  When you only have one or two weeks of a ski holiday, it’s too late to get fit when you arrive and you’ll have a much better skiing experience if you’re fit before you start.

New Zealand and South America have fanatastic ski resorts and it’s invigorating to puruse your favourite winter sport in a different setting.