Aug. 19, 2006; Mt. Hutt, New Zealand

Weaving up the steep, twisty, and exposed un-paved access road, my rental car makes its way up toward the Mt. Hutt ski area.  It's 29 hours after taking-off from SeaTac airport, and I'm now in an opposite hemisphere in an opposite season, with sunlight striking down on snowy slopes from the northern sky.  The road climbs almost 4,000 vertical feet above the vast Canturbury Plain which lies below to the east, ending in a relatively small parking lot.  The sight of icy ski slopes shining under the early afternoon sun had almost turned me around before reaching the parking lot (so much for Mt. Hutt's deep powder capital of New Zealand reputation).  I decided to scope it out anyway, having already driven this far...
It's now 30 hours since leaving Seattle and I'm riding up the 6-seater summit charlift of Mt. Hutt.  Shaded slopes within the ski area were actively collecting dry wind-blown snow from NW gale-force winds.  Unexpectedly excellent skiing was found on these shaded lee slopes (light enough for "powder clouds" to spray out from the skis without feeling the ice crust underneath). 
The terrain at Mt. Hutt offers some good steeps on a variety of aspects, with a ~2,200 vert. ft drop.  I must've lapped a steepish run called "The Towers" (where much of the wind-blown snow was collecting below some rocky spires) about a half-dozen times.  Unlike most lift-served ski areas, some of the runs drop below the elevation of the parking lot, with a lift carrying skiers back up and above the parking lot/lodge elevation. 
Though I wouldn't call it a powder day, it was a great start to the trip with fine views of New Zealand's Southern Alps.  I look forward to exploring more of New Zealand's lift-served terrain over the next week...

I am looking forward to your reports! Thanks.

Finished-off my New Zealand skiing today with a fun powder day at Mt. Hutt (not very deep, but dry and fluffy snow over a variable crusty base; good face-shots through the morning, even though it was tracked-out quickly). Conditions were finally favorable enough for the patrol to open the South Face chutes today (continuous ~40-45 degree pitch for ~1,000 vertical feet). Was defintely worth checking out, though I didn't make it to the chutes until they were tracked-out and fairly icy (a bit slow-going for me after not being on the tele-skis much lately). Views of the Southern Alps were exceptional with the peaks protruding above a low cloud layer.

I just found this post. Did you get down to the Wanaka/lakes region? I did 2 days at Treble Cone in Aug. 2004 and liked it. Primitive facilities and variable snow, but some good turns and super-friendly locals. NZ is quite a treat for a summer trip in their winter.

I just found this post.  Did you get down to the Wanaka/lakes region?

I had initially planned to go to Treble Cone/Wanaka, but ended up staying north since the snow conditions were better in the Mt. Hutt vicinity while I was there.  Sounds like Treble Cone is the largest of the ski areas on NZ's south island.  The Wanaka region is a treat in the NZ summer as well (I did some hiking/scrambling around there several years ago, and I traveled across enough summer snow fields to be convinced that turns-all-year would be possible in NZ  ).

Did you get to Mt Potts? Usually I don't like to speak of such things in the open for risk of spoiling them, but for this site I will make an exception. For those not familiar with Kiwiland, Mt Potts is the only snocat operation in the country and the terrain and snow are amazing. Well there you go. Cat's out of the bag now...