Snow Skiing By Jack Ludemann

Now you maybe think what does snow skiing have to do with water. Snow is the freezing water into ice crystals and falling as snow, a light white flakes/powder covering the ground in layers. Snow skiing is a big part in New Zealand. In the off season the summer water activities take a back seat such as water skiing, biscuiting, wakeboarding etc. Snow skiing/snowboarding is on everyone’s mind. New Zealand has 15 public ski fields and snow parks. The 2013 season starts in June (the earliest opening is on the 6^th Coronet Peak). My favourite mountain to ski on is Cardrona ski field.

Sometimes a ski field will have not enough good snow (powder) in certain areas. They move a team of snow machines around the mountain. This is how it works. Compressed air and water are feed into the snow machine where the water is converted into droplets. As the newly formed droplets are made they are forced into ice crystals. The air outside would normally be below 30oc (this process is normally done at night). The fake snow as it is called mixes with the real snow and creates the preferred amount of snow/powder in that area.

 

 

 

              http://www.snow.co.nz/map/

                http://www.cardrona.com/the-mountain-snow-report/mountain-stats.html