Despite the area being lashed last month by the heaviest snowfall in decades, there is a shortage of ice, thanks to milder than usual temperatures following the storm.
The 360m luge track usually opens around Queen's Birthday Weekend, but more frosts are needed this week before it can open. This would be its latest opening in its five-year history, New Zealand Olympic Luge Association president Geoff Balme said.
''Some years it's been later on in June before it's opened, but I can't recall the opening ever delayed until this time in July.''
Despite several metres of snow falling on the track last month, it was too hard to get to the site, so the snow could not be packed down, he said. The bulk of the snow vanished in last week's ''big thaw''.
Luge camps are planned for the school holidays, which begin next week, so he was hopeful of ''a few nice frosts before then''. Hopes for a national bonspiel on the ice at the Idaburn Dam this year were fading fast, ice master Stewart McKnight said yesterday.
''Don't hold your breath, that's what I'd say. It looks pretty disastrous for outdoors curling. We haven't had enough frosts to build up a base and it's been real funny weather - I've never seen so much snow melt so quickly as it did last week.
''Usually, it's about now we'd be thinking of a bonspiel, but there's hardly any ice yet.''
Even the indoor curling rink at Naseby has been closed for business for the past three days. Rink manager Ewan Kirk said a power surge on Friday ''fried'' part of the rink's electronics.
A replacement part should arrive today from Auckland. NZSki's Coronet Peak ski area manager Ross Copland said man-made snow was often better than what arrived naturally and from Monday night until 6am yesterday, 13 million litres of water was used to make dry and resilient snow.
An average snow-making session used between three and four million litres, Mr Copland said.
The snowguns allowed staff to ''make better snow than you get naturally because they can control everything about it'' and low temperatures should mean the snow lasted, Mr Copland said.
