 Poster: A snowHead
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Been back just over a week from an amazing trip to New Zealand South Island  , where we skied a day each at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Cardrona, Treble Cone and Mount Hutt.
We also did some mountain biking, hiking, jet boating, via ferrata and general sightseeing/touristy things (eg boat trip on the fantastic Milford Sound, visit to historic gold rush town of Arrowtown) - so had an absolutely brilliant time. NZ is just incredibly beautiful.
Although, at the start of our trip, there had been no fresh snow for some time, grooming was excellent and conditions were pretty decent. This was despite some horror reports from locals in Queenstown - eg Coronet Peak was referred to as 'Concrete Peak' by one. Conditions were similar (ie very firm to hardpacked) at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Cardrona.
We then skied fresh snow - amid variable conditions - and pockets of powder at Treble Cone and finished the trip on Thursday with perfect winter snow conditions at Mt Hutt. We were very lucky with the weather and had mainly sunny ski days.
In general, the ski areas are very small, with only 2 or 3 lifts and verticals are short - at typically around 400m top to bottom. Treble Cone has a vertical getting on for 600m so much longer runs there.
All the areas are very different but all are worth a visit. There's some pretty decent off piste - e.g. some nice bowls/steeps at The Remarkables and some good steeper stuff at Treble Cone. The steep areas of Mt. Hutt looked worth a ski but were shut due to avalanche danger after the fresh snow.
On a general note:
- Lift tickets are expensive at the mainstream ski areas - up to $150 (£78 a day) at Treble Cone. Cheaper at the small club fields, but we didn't get to any of those.
- Kit hire is cheap. We didn't want to lug all our gear there as we were also visiting Singapore and Australia. We got skis and boots for $25 a day in Queenstown, with the dearest hire kit being at the ski area at Mt. Hutt - $40 for half a day.
- Except for Coronet Peak, which has a proper road up to the ski area, road access to the skiing is via unmade, 10-15km hairpin, dirt tracks - often with no barriers. We needed snow chains to get up to Mt Hutt and Treble Cone. Certainly an interesting driving experience which is not for the faint hearted – at one point on the descent from Cardrona, the hire car (with summer tyres) turned into a sledge and was just straight lining down the road…Great fun. The Remarkables is up a steep mountain road with hairpins – but is at least proper tarmac (‘sealed’ as the Kiwis would say) until the last few km.
All in all, a brilliant trip with some great skiing despite, (as we understand it) it being a poor snow year for NZ at that time. Good to see that they have had more snow since.
Coronet Peak:
The Remarkables:
Cardrona:
Treble Cone:
Mount Hutt:
Apres ski, NZ style:
Interesting ski wildlife (the Kea - the world's only alpine parrot):
Lovely driving and fantastic scenery:
Non-ski activities:
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 13-08-19 22:24; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yup, the roads and drives up are a bit different from the European norm.
What, no winery visits? You must have passed a few when driving around.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Yup, the roads and drives up are a bit different from the European norm.
What, no winery visits? You must have passed a few when driving around.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@mountainaddict, excellent report - we were in NZ in December / January this year (we have family living in Auckland, and a niece living and working Queenstown (actually closer to Arrowtown).
She is one of those referring to "concrete peak" but tbf conditions look pretty good in your photos - nice one !
Smashing place, lots to see and do - not sure if they do in winter, but did you do the Jetboat up the Shotover river? brilliant fun although it was blazing hot the day we did it.
We also did a light aircraft flight across to Milford Sound which was amazing - quite extravagant, but last time we were in NZ we were on our honeymoon and had just paid for a wedding, so why not !!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
| Did you do the Jetboat up the Shotover river? |
We did (it's mentioned in my list of other activities in my original post) - and loved it. A brilliant experience, despite the bitter cold on the day - we got a free post-ride hot chocolate in a lovely cafe nearby as part of our winter booking.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Didn't go to Whakapapa? the bar man at Pipers lodge in National park village took great pride in telling us that Whakapapa is the largest ski field in the southern hemisphere... his words, not mine. No idea if it's true. Yes, 'Wh' are actually pronounced as an F sound - it took a great amount of energy to conceal my grin.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
| Didn't go to Whakapapa? |
We only had 12 days in NZ (after visiting Singapore & Oz) - so took our travel agent's advice (he'd spent a bit of time in NZ) and just concentrated on Queenstown & the South Island. Turns out he was correct - there was just so much to do.
Whakapapa will have to wait until next time... 
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Nice pics
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You know it makes sense.
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| mountainaddict wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Didn't go to Whakapapa? |
We only had 12 days in NZ (after visiting Singapore & Oz) - so took our travel agent's advice (he'd spent a bit of time in NZ) and just concentrated on Queenstown & the South Island. Turns out he was correct - there was just so much to do.
Whakapapa will have to wait until next time... |
Fair enough, 12 days! crumbs, we were there for 35 days and still left feeling like we missed out on loads of things to see and do!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Top notch
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks for sharing.
RE : The via ferrata / klettersteig
How did you get from the suspended cable to the steep wall where the others are standing? Was there a cable / anchor points on the far wall that the suspended cable is attached too.?
| mountainaddict wrote: |
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Re. via ferrata: We were safely clipped onto the cable - always with 2 carabiners, sometimes with 3 - at all times. Steps were always fairly short - never more than a short stretch. So at the end of the wire traverse (despite it not being clearly visible on the photo), there would have been a short step onto a rung drilled in to the rock face.
It was all very challenging - and took 3 hours to climb about 250 metres. Some bits were up overhangs and round tricky corners - but it was very exhilarating, especially when we got to the top!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Thank you for sharing such wonderful photos and a story. +1 place in the list to visit! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I have the same photo of the Cardrona Hotel from 1990
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FAQ
. We did indeed do a winery visit - group picked up in Queenstown; lovely lunch with wine; vineyard and cave tour with wine tasting....hic 
