Coronet Peak

An English snowboarder is lucky to be alive after he strayed off the Coronet Peak ski slopes and was missing for more than six hours.

With Coronet Skifield fully open, night skiing under way and the New Zealand school holidays now here, the Remarkables ski area is inching closer to giving NZSki areas a full warrant of fitness.

The unseasonably warm weather which marked the 2011 autumn has continued into the first month of winter, frustrating Southern Lakes skifield operators as they gear up for the start of the 2011 season.

Warm weather this week means NZSki's plan to open Coronet Peak ski area on Saturday is in doubt.

It will be "business as usual" for Coronet Peak - the southern lakes' lowest-altitude skifield - despite a Niwa report showing snow levels could plunge 21% by 2040 because of global warming.