Mt Hutt is hoping to top off one of its best ski seasons with fresh snow for its last day on Sunday.
‘‘We might finish on a snowy day, that would be nice,’’ said manager James McKenzie as he viewed the MetService forecast for the weekend.
McKenzie said the 2024 ski season had been in the top five of the last 20 years, in terms of visitor numbers. It had also featured good snowfalls and snowmaking conditions.
A ‘‘game changer’’ for the year had been introducing Car Pool Priority Days.
Managers call priority days 48 hours prior. It means full cars are prioritised for top car park space.
There were 12 priority days. They reduced the number of cars coming up the access road on those days by about 30 per cent, and dramatically reduced the number of people having to be shuttled from the lower car parks.
In addition, capacity this season was increased in the top car park from about 550 to almost 700 cars.
McKenzie said while the priority days initially had the potential to be unpopular with skiers, feedback had been positive. Skiers were no longer having to leave Christchurch at 5.30am in a ‘‘mad rush’’ to get a top car park space.
‘‘It’s been an unmitigated success, the big success story of Mt Hutt for this winter.’’
Another process which had helped the ski area cater to big crowds, was making sure lift queues were well organised. This ensured skiers rarely had to wait longer than 15 minutes in queues.
Mt Hutt had broken a new record for utilisation of a ski lift. It had achieved the maximum on the Summit Six, of moving 2400 people in one hour up the mountain.
‘‘Operationally, I think we have had a really successful year in terms of those processes, on the lifts and on the roads,’’ McKenzie said.
Ski passes for next year were now on sale, $695 was the discount price for renewal season passes available up to October 31. While the price had risen, it was still cheaper than a season pass in 2015.
The adult day pass price for 2025 was yet to be announced. This year it was $165.
