El Niño and new gear to help Rainbow have bumper ski season

Supplied/Rainbow Ski Area

Rainbow Ski Area, just 100km from Blenheim, is a winter wonderland for snow sport lovers.

The arrival of a new weather system alongside new machinery should help Rainbow Ski Area have a bumper season this year, says its new mountain manager Andrew Malcolm.

After last year’s ski season was cut short by the severe rain events that hammered the top of the south, Malcolm said the arrival of the El Niño climate cycle should see plenty of natural snow falling on the mountain this winter while new equipment would help keep the slopes in tip-top condition.

“The forecast done by Niwa (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) said it should be a bit of a colder winter than last year, so we’re hopeful that those colder temperatures will bring the snow in this season.

“It’s supposed to be southerly winds, so in theory that should be good for us when we do have the storms, the storms should come in as snow,” he said.

Stuff

In 2020, a New Zealand ski field shut for a week. Why? It was so warm, the rain-soaked snow was falling off the slopes.

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Malcolm said they had brought in a new groomer, new snow guns and a new pump.

The new groomer, which had a winch, could push the snow to where it was needed, and made a really “good quality trail”, Malcolm said.

“The customers should be able to see that rise in quality right off the bat when they get here,” he said.

“When we do make our snow we’ll be able to pad the trails with man-made snow so when we do get that natural snow on top of it, it’s a lot more resilient for the season, and it skis really nicely on the trails,” he said.

Supplied

New Rainbow Ski Area mountain manager Andrew Malcolm and the new groomer.

Malcolm said this year’s season would hopefully open on July 1, about 10 days earlier than usual.

“We’re basically trying to accommodate for the school holidays this year, so we’re just going to give it our best try and weather-permitting, we’ll be there ready to go.”

Malcolm, who had spent the best part of the last decade managing operations on Franz Joseph Glacier, said he wanted to make the mountain a real community hub.

“It’s a family-friendly, old-style club feel, it’s not just a place to go skiing, it’s a place to go meet people, it’s a place to have like-minded people all come together in the name of skiing.

“It’s just a great place to be and hang out at. It’s a place that the communities in Nelson and Marlborough are really lucky to have,” he said.