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Who is skiing the southern hemisphere this season???

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Forget about next year. Which Snowheads are coming down south for this season? I has to be more than just Hang11 and me. Season starts here in 37 days so you better hurry. Very Happy
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I will be in Treble Cone at some point
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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?
Chile & Argentina if they are getting all time conditions.
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If I come into a large and unexpected amount of money then yes.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
My younger son should be going to Queenstown for a couple of days as part of his school tour to NZ. SWMBO and eldest son will probably hit Las Lenas in July, snow permitting. I'll be at work Crying or Very sad
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I ****ing wish! My aim since 2009 has been to do a ski season in chile so I can perfect my spanish and the skiing as a bonus. Realised if I'm going to do a season it's gonna have to be soon as after I leave uni so I'm doing Canada, but I'm desperate to spend an extended period of time skiing in chile at some point, hopefully in the next couple of years. And god damn does NZ look good too! So jealous.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Hope to make it to NZ but not until early September - too late, I guess?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
One of my colleagues is based in Argentina. We all work from home, and since there's a conference in Argentina next summer (2013) I'm tempted to see if I can submit a paper so I can have an excuse to fly out for a week for work, then stay on for another week at my own expense and do some skiing.

It's an idea, but one worth investigating I think Smile
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andyph, not at all! Spring conditions are likely at that time, but there was plenty of good snow last season in September! (which made up a little for the dismal England rugby performance...).
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nozawaonsen, what about on N Island? My expenses will get me as far as Auckland, probably with a hire car, but Queenstown etc would be pushing it!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
andyph, North Island historically has good snow in spring and has latter closing dates than Queenstown etc. Early September is likely to have plenty of snow everywhere but up north can be good well into October. Smile
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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.
I am Very Happy

Unfortunately working in the hell hole of metrosexuality known as Auckland for opening weekend, so it will be a week later for me.

We got plenty of snow starting build up on the local hills, and I was down in Queenstown last week, went up Coronet for a walk and got snowed on Very Happy
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
See you in Wanaka
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Chile in August for me Cool
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Sarge McSarge wrote:
andyph, North Island historically has good snow in spring and has latter closing dates than Queenstown etc. Early September is likely to have plenty of snow everywhere but up north can be good well into October. Smile

Well that settles it. Won't be the first time I've taken ski boots on a business trip, I'll just have to take a slightly bigger bag for the cabin. Toofy Grin Toofy Grin
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
andyph wrote:
Sarge McSarge wrote:
andyph, North Island historically has good snow in spring and has latter closing dates than Queenstown etc. Early September is likely to have plenty of snow everywhere but up north can be good well into October. Smile

Well that settles it. Won't be the first time I've taken ski boots on a business trip, I'll just have to take a slightly bigger bag for the cabin. Toofy Grin Toofy Grin


Ruapehu can be good at that time of year, but if you're in Auckland, it would probably be quicker to jump on a plane to Christchurch, hire a car and get to one of the Canterbury fields.

September can be epic on the South Island - warms up a bit and clear days with good snow bases - sometimes the best time of year. Starts to get a bit dodgy towards the end of the month, but even then it only takes one good storm to sort it out, and that happens often.

It's best to keep an eye on the reports on www.snow.co.nz and make the call close to the time. Internal flights are cheap and easy. Flight time from Auckland to Christcchurch is about 1.5 hours, and the flights are every hour or so. You can get Jetstar flights for about $50 each way. A hire car is about $50 (25 pounds) a day for a crap one. Nearest hill to the airport is Porters, about 1hr 15 minutes away, Mt Hutt about 1hr 30 away, and then the club fields up Arthurs Pass are 1hr 45 to 2 hrs away.

Queenstown is about 2hrs away from Auckland, probably more expensive on the flights, but the mountains are closer to the airport.

I'm in Canterbury and happy to show you round if you do end up on the South Island. The club fields are a pretty unique experience - minimal facilities, very little grooming, rope tows and some great terrain. The scenery is amazing as well.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
hang11, any idea how long the drive is from Auckland to Ruapehu? I can see it's a long way on a map but I can't imagine it really takes longer than flying and driving to a ski area down south.
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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?
[quote="andyph"]hang11, any idea how long the drive is from Auckland to Ruapehu? [/quote

When i did it it Auckland to Ohakune takes around 5hrs.
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andyph, if you fly to Queenstown it is literally just outside town. With internal flights you also only need to turn up just before they depart.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
andyph, About 4.5 hrs to Whakapapa. Apart from the long drive the North Island resorts do have a bit of a reputation for bad weather and at times rock hard snow so it would pay to check conditions at the last minute before committing. But on a good day they have some great skiing. If you get a cheap seat on Jet Star it would be cheaper than the North Island hire car deal. In Queenstown you can catch the bus to the mountains from the center of town so for quick visit no car is required. Keep asking questions I am sure we can give you all the info you need.
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andyph, for what it's worth I think South Island is well worth the flight. On balance in your situation I'd probably fly to Queenstown because it's easy. It is well (some might say over) developed, but there are some great bars and restaurants like Winnibagos which has good pizza and an amazing roof, Bardeux, The Cow, The Bunker and a heap of more rowdy places. Wanaka is a little further away, but generally more chilled.

If you had the time as hang11 says there are some great places not far from Christchurch which you can have a look at at Chill and of course Mount Hutt.

And if you are in luck you might win the meat raffle at the Brown Pub.

Come to think of it given you are heading all the way over to NZ (and it's a very long flight) I'd save some cash over summer to add an extra week and do a tour of South Island.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Sarge McSarge wrote:
andyph, About 4.5 hrs to Whakapapa. Apart from the long drive the North Island resorts do have a bit of a reputation for bad weather and at times rock hard snow so it would pay to check conditions at the last minute before committing.


Agree with that, but also you need to make sure Ruapehu has not erupted again ! We were in NZ in September 2007 and the ski areas were closed for that very reason. The black area on the top is the result of an eruption the night before, as is the black squiggly bit in the middle which is a laha (?), hot black flowing mud down a gulley that I was skiing in the day before.




This is a close-up of it after some locals had shown me the way around the 2 policeman blocking access to the gulley area :-



Here are the policemen (?) "stopping" you from accessing this part of the area, you cannot really see them in the photo but behind them are quite a few holes in the snow where debris had landed the night before :-



Holes like this :-



I am assured this does not happen very often but you might as well check.......

I do not have a bad word to say about New Zealand though, great country, great people, great skiing. Would go back any time.

Just to edit. The ski areas were only closed for one day because of this.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
nozawaonsen wrote:
Brown Pub.


My local Very Happy

You get a choice of natural disasters in NZ, volcanoes on the Norh Island and earthquakes on the South Island. However the tsunami risk is about the same on both islands.

Someone got their leg blown off in an eruption on ruapehu a couple of years ago.

Queenstown is the easiest from an access point of view for the mountains, and the most developed, with a resort feel to it.

Canterbury and Central South Island is a lot more low key.

It's all good, but probably the best strategy for a visit is to not make any firms plans, and just head to where the weather and snow are looking good nearer the time.

andyph wrote:
hang11, any idea how long the drive is from Auckland to Ruapehu? I can see it's a long way on a map but I can't imagine it really takes longer than flying and driving to a ski area down south.


Internal flights and hire cars are easy and cheap. The Auckland/Ruapehu drive is probably the longest option to get on the snow, with the most chance of getting caught out by bad weather.

www.snow.co.nz and www.chillout.co.nz are two good places to start looking at what's on offer, and www.metservice.com for weather forecasts.

I've got a few mates that fly north to south at the weekend in preference to doing the drive to Ruapehu, it's definitely the quicker option. Check in time for an internal flight is 30 minutes before take off, quick security check etc and you're away. It's about 20 minutes to the airport in Auckland from the CBD in a cab, outside of rush hour.

Driving out of Auckland is an experience that I don't enjoy. The traffic sucks.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
hi All, A mate of mine Colin just wrote an article for us about skiing and boarding in NZ hi lives out there I have pasted the what may be helpful to you:

North Island - Whakapapa (pronounced - Phakapapa) and Turoa are the biggest ski areas and are on a great big volcano called Mt Ruapheu. It last erupted in 1997! Quite spectacular.

South Island - there are lots of 'ski fields' - so lets start with the big ones - Coronet Peak and The Remarkables (based out of Queenstown), Cardrona and Treble Cone (based out of Wanaka), Mt Hutt (Methven), then there are lots of others - Craigieburn, Temple Basin, Mt Cheeseman, Mt Dobson, Mt Olympus, Broken River, Round Hill, Ohau, to name a few.

There is a great difference between all the resorts with each having their own little character. Some are very small and are called 'club fields' due to the fact that they are run like a club rather than a business. Don’t let the fact that some of these are accessed only by rope tows put you off, the skiing is full on and very challenging. At the other end of the scale there are places like Coronet Peak, which is ran by NZSki, and it is a fully commercial ski resort that has every facility that you could want, and provides a world class guest experience, with high speed chair lifts and lift pass scanners that will count up the amount of vertical meters you cover in a day – just log in at the end of the day to the website to see who skied the 'max vert'.

Most of the skiing in NZ is on the mountain tops, with the valley floors remaining 'green' for most of the winter. There are some areas where there is accommodation on the mountain, but on the whole most people live and take holiday accommodation down the valley, and then travel up to the snow each day. This allows for the towns near the ski areas to provide way more than just ski facilities.

Queenstown is by far the best example.

From Queenstown you can ski easily at Coronet Peak or The Remarkables, each ski area having some great skiing, and both being of a very different character. However Queenstown itself has a wealth over other activities available – bungy jumping, jet boating, mountain biking, golfing, wine tours, spas just to name a few of the activities. Once you are done entertaining yourself for the day, then in the evening there are restaurants to suit all tastes, and a nightlife that never fails. Just ask the England Rugby team!

Hope it helps
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I will be in Lesotho !
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