Snowplanet

It's winter here in New Zealand, and the ski slopes are starting to open. I heard the other day that this is the earliest opening for some since 1992.

Later this season we'll get down to the south island to hit Cadrona or Treble Cone. But in the meantime, Staton and I went up to check out Snowplanet.

In Minnesota, there'd be no need for a place like this. But down here, even in the depths of winter, you'd have to drive 3 or 4 hours from Auckland to find snow. Even then it's hit or miss. We went skiing at Whakapapa last year towards the end of the season, and the snow was pretty poor.

Snowplanet's like a bunny hill in a box. Like a Minnesota hill, you spend more time on the lift and in the queue than on the downhill, but it's nice for knocking a little rust off before heading for the mountains.