Snow Guns Crank Up At Coronet Peak (30-May-11)

Snow making guns cranked into action at Queenstown’s Coronet Peak...

Snow making guns cranked into action at Queenstown’s Coronet Peak this weekend (May 27-29) as the ski area works towards opening early next month.

Sam Fuller (L) and Hannes Seeger (Right) celebrate the start of snowmaking at Queenstown’s Coronet Peak

Snowmakers Sam Fuller and Hannes Seeger were members of a 13-strong team who were delighted to notch up 20 hours’ of snowmaking on the mountain over the weekend.

“It was great to get a start,” said Coronet Peak ski area manager Hamish McCrostie.

While warmer temperatures today (Monday May 30) means snowmaking is not currently operating, Mr McCrostie said the system was fully automated and ready to swing into action when conditions permitted.

“The weather forecast is a bit of a moving feast at the moment with warmer temperatures forecast for most of this week, but it’s too soon to know with any certainty what may happen as the week progresses.

“As we see every year, it will get cold and when it does we’re ready to crank out the snow,” he said.

Sam Fuller checks on a snowmaking gun at Coronet Peak