Mt Hutt Ski Area is trending towards a record ski season as it prepares to close for the year on Sunday.
Manager James McKenzie said closed days were down, snow cover had been good, and visitor numbers were up.
‘‘We only have one year to beat,’’ he said.
That was 2018, when skier numbers were the highest in the history of the skifield.
McKenzie said the 2025 ski season had got off to a fantastic start. About two thirds of this year’s snowfall had arrived before the ski area opened in June.
Since then snowmaking alongside natural snowfall had ensured good coverage continued.
Even earlier this week, in late spring, snow levels were high, at a 1.3m and 1.6m base on the lower and upper slopes respectively.
Closed days had been less than average, at about 12, compared to an average each ski season by this date of 18.
While spring had featured windy conditions, these had been more often at night rather than when the skifield was open in the day time.
Leading into the 2026 ski season, the ski area would be upgrading its state-of-the-art multi-million dollar snowmaking system.
This involved completing automation, which would enable features such as remote operation, across the ski area’s fleet of about 110 guns.
McKenzie the snowmaking system had been progressively upgraded since it first began at the skifield in 1990.
Today it was more important than ever in the face of climate change, which was affecting ski areas around the world.
Automation helped the snowmaking system operate efficiently, needed as the windows of ideal temperature and humidity were getting shorter.
‘‘We have to be able to switch things on and get things done really quickly, so we can maximise the time we do have available,’’ McKenzie said.
Mt Hutt continued to be well placed geographically to get plenty of natural snow, but a decline in snowfall had been evident over the last 25 years, at two to four centimetres each year.
‘‘Snowmaking is making up for that decline,’’ he said.
