Coronet Peak opens $2 million ‘snow factory’

Source: Radio New Zealand

Weeks before ski field lifts usually start spinning, Queenstown’s Coronet Peak has flipped the switch on a $2 million “snow factory” to lay down the first coat in Autumn.

Crews have started producing snow from a high-tech fridge-like machine housed in shipping containers that can operate in temperatures of up to 20 degrees.

Coronet Peak’s learners and ski play areas were due to open on 29 May, about two weeks ahead of 2025.

Ski area manager Nigel Kerr said the snow factory was the first of its kind in the South Island and could run around the clock, unlike traditional snowguns that needed sub-zero temperatures to operate.

“It’s turning about 10,000 litres of water a day into about 240 cubic metres of snow, made up of small frozen particles. It’s so cold that it actually doesn’t stick together,” he said.

Kerr said the electric unit had already produced at least 800 cubic metres of “less snowball, more sprinkle-style snow”, to build a base on the mountain’s lower slopes where snow cover was hardest to maintain.

“This is our Achilles’ heel, the bottom of the mountain, so this is where we need to make the snow,” he said.

The snow factory did not require chemical additives and would not lose flakes to the wind, he said.

“We’re not pushing it with the snowcats. We’re actually making the piles in situ, so there’s no wastage, which is another difference to normal snowmakers,” he said.

Coronet Peak head of slopes Eddie Boxer said crews spent the summer laying pipes, pouring concrete and installing power and water systems before the factory was installed by staff from Italian company TechnoAlpin.

“Our pre-Christmas and into the New Year project was getting all the infrastructure in place and then come New Year, we were going pretty hard at trying to get the foundations in place ready for the factory to be landed. There’s a lot of steel and about 42 cubic metres of concrete, plus four metre piles underneath it to support it all,” he said.

“The actual installation of the factory was incredible. Within a day, we had everything stacked up with the crane and then it took about another week-and-a-half to fit it all. Within two weeks, it was pretty well commissioned.”

Snowmaking team lead George Morrissey was there when the factory first fired up.

“It was a pretty warm night. It felt pretty strange actually seeing snow in conditions that we shouldn’t have, just being able to flick a switch and have it come out was pretty impressive,” he said.

Boxer said some of the first snow would be trucked into central Queenstown for an urban ski competition on 29 May, while the rest was earmarked for the ski area’s expanded learner slope and snow play area.

Crews also took a ute-load to last months’ Arrowtown Autumn Festival to toss over the crowds.

“It was a crowd favourite, I reckon. The kids went crazy for the snow,” Boxer said.

Kerr said the snow factory would give certainty to early visitors and seasonal staff.

Although tourism was booming in Queenstown, early season snowfall was well below average last year and El Niño could bring unpredictable conditions, he said.

“Not every year goes to plan. It’s nice to have a backstop. This is our backstop,” he said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand