Last night Mt Hutt skifield was closed and about 1300 skiers had to spend the night on the floor of the lodge on the mountain. There is no sleeping accommodation on the mountain.
Yesterday morning, the ski field opened as usual to skiers but by around 11.30am, the North Westerly wind was blowing so strongly that the manager closed the ski field and the access road. This meant no one could leave. Some people said that the wind was so strong that it was difficult to stand up. Everyone hoped that the wind would die down some time in the afternoon but that didn’t happen. Instead, the manager decided that the safest thing to do was to close the access road and keep skiers safe in the day lodge on the mountain. The wind finally died down this morning and the road opened around 10am. Everyone left the mountain soon after that.
Mt Hutt is the largest ski area in New Zealand. It is 80km from Christchurch to the bottom of the access road. Then the access road up to the ski area is long and steep, and can take cars 30 to 40 minutes. The summit of the mountain is 2190m. After last weekend’s snow fall of more than 1 metre, many skiers and snowboarders enjoyed the fresh snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday looked like a good day also but the weather changed.
Mt Hutt has been the scene of some bad experiences this season. Three skiers or snowboarders have been killed when they slipped and fell, and one man was killed went his car went off the access road. This is the first time in 5 years that anyone has been killed on the mountain. This is probably why the Mt Hutt manager decided it was safer to keep everyone overnight in the lodge. This is the first time that skiers have been unable to leave the mountain to go home at night.
While the day lodge was very crowded with people sleeping on the floor, the staff managed to feed everyone. People could buy dinner for $2 last night and breakfast this morning was free. Skiers will probably also get some money back on their ski lift pass.
The Mt Hutt ski company will not make money from this but at least everyone was safe. Children on school trips thought it was fun.
Questions
Is it a good idea to take children on ski trips during the school term?
Is it the responsibility of the ski field to provide food for everyone who could not get home?