New Zealand

Mount Dobson Ski Field

Off season
Official site

No snow yet. Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear once snow is on the ground or forecast.

Typical snowfall
146cm

A weather-model figure, worked out the same way for every ski area, and lower than what actually falls. Use it to compare ski areas, not against the resort’s own totals. How we measure →

Elevation
1,713–2,010 m
Across
2.4 km

We do not show a snow depth here. The weather model we use reports snow lying on the ground — it knows nothing about grooming or snowmaking, and it is not the base depth a ski area publishes. In Japan we can check our figures against 234 weather stations. Outside Japan there is nothing to check them against, so we do not print a number we have not verified. Snow report on the official site ↗

Mount Dobson Ski Field, in New Zealand, runs from 1,713 m at the base to 2,010 m at the top. Its mapped area is about 2.4 km across, with 11 marked runs and 4 lifts (about 7 km of piste in all).

Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 146 cm of snowfall a season, 1,714th (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 13th in New Zealand. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017 (291 cm), brought more than 7 times as much as the leanest, 2016 (37 cm). Snowfall days average −4.6°C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 8th of 25 in New Zealand.

How much snow it gets

Modelled from weather data the same way at all 3,069 ski areas we cover. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

Seasonal snowfall
146cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
37cm
The middle winter of the 12: 140 cm. The best: 291 cm.
World rank
1714
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
13
of 26 in New Zealand
Elevation rank
5
Highest to lowest, of 26 in New Zealand. The centre point sits at 1,841 m, 222 m above the national median.
Quality rank
8
of 25 in New Zealand
Temp when snowing
−4.6°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
25%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
8%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
11km/h
Average daily peak, 10 m above ground across a model grid cell; not the wind on ridges or lift tops
Dryness 47
Frequency 22
Freedom from rain 35
Calm when snowing (model grid) 100

The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.

The quality score leaves out how much snow falls (it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind).

Compared with what is nearby

Within 50 km in a straight line. Ski areas in the same weather-model cell (about 30 km across) get the same figure.

Ski areaDistanceSeasonal snowfallWorld rank
Roundhill Ski Field13.0 km238 cm806
Fox Peak Ski Area15.0 km285 cm545

Runs and lifts

Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

Marked runs
11
Run length
7km
Lifts
4
Vertical
298m
Top 2,010 m · base 1,713 m

Run map

NoviceEasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
North is up. Runs are coloured by difficulty; black lines are lifts.
Run map

Drag to move around, and use + and − to zoom. On a phone, swipe to move and pinch to zoom in further.

Slope shape, difficulty and lift types

The shape of the mountain

Longest run on the map1.3 km
Steepest pitch25°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs9.9°

Which way the slopes face

North 7%
East 0%
South 73%
West 20%

Only 7% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. The most common direction is south (73%).

By difficulty

Novice 1 · 0.1 km
Easy 2 · 0.6 km
Intermediate 7 · 6.1 km
Advanced 1 · 0.2 km

Lift types

  • T-bar1
  • Platter1
  • Rope tow1
  • Chairlift1

See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗

Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.

When it falls, and how winters differ

Month by month

The most snow falls in July. September brings 53% of July’s snowfall. That is a steeper fall than the median for ski areas in New Zealand (79%): the snow here is concentrated early in the season. In amount, September brings 25 cm, less than the median of 32 cm.

30cm
Jun
47cm
Jul
30cm
Aug
25cm
Sep
Average snowfall by month, last 12 winters

Winter by winter

Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 146 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2016 with 37 cm; the biggest was 2017 with 291 cm (7.9 times as much).

81
37
291
77
129
108
108
267
150
167
157
175
’15’16’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

Snowfall each winter (June–September total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.

Live cameras

This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. What follows are nearby cameras, not the pistes themselves.

Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.

Some cameras here are provided by Windy.com. Footage plays in Windy’s own player; we do not store it. Windy.com

Map

The weather map, and where it sits among nearby ski areas.

Official piste map ↗

Other booking sites: Booking.com ↗ · Agoda ↗

Guides covering New Zealand

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