Canterbury's Mt Hutt Ski area has been forced to use controlled avalanches after the biggest snowfall in two-decades, but in the course of that has damaged one of its chairlifts.
Its area manager James McKenzie says staff have been identifying areas that could be vulnerable to avalanches and bombing them from the safety of a helicopter.
But Mr McKenzie says one of its controlled avalanches has caused extensive damage.
He says the avalanche which did the damage was about 200 metres wide and travelled about 700 metres down the side of the mountain.
The skifield is not yet open to the public.
