New Zealand Ski Areas? Wanaka/Queestown ?

[Nippletron]

Hi looking to escape the Summer heat in Europe and go skiing in New Zealand (is Australia just as good?) sometime in June to July.

Looking at the South Island I've heard the towns of Queenstown and Wanaka have good surrounding ski areas. I mostly do resort skiing but off piste/looking for pow. Don't have the equipment to go backcountry skiing (hiking/touring) and don't have the money to go heli skiing. What do you know and recommend? Thanks!

 

[steezyclezy]

That area is called Southern Lakes and there are 4 ski areas around there; Cardrona, Treble Cone, Coronet Peak and the Remarkables. Cardrona has best park, Treble Cone probably has best extreme/ freeride terrain, Coronet is only 20 min form queenstown and the Remarkables is all round pretty good I hear. Queenstown is really cool and has a reasonable amount of activity, Wanaka is smaller and a bit quieter. I don't know too much about Australia but they don't have much snow or many mountains, and apparently the instructors there get given rain jackets haha. Hope this helps!

 

[Puddles]

Hey, well Coronet Peak is a major tourist field but it's pretty low so it usually relies on a lot of Manmade Snow, and can be quite icy. The Remarks isn't far from Queenstown either and has a park and gentle stuff. Both of these areas have a pretty cheap bus which is run by the skifield rather than a seperate company.

Halfway between Queenstown and wanaka is cardrona, which is a great learner mountain with a wide easy runs...and a really awesome terrain park (and it's the home of Jossi wells).

There are heaps of buses to Cardrona, but with other companies...I always look for one that offers a package.

Treble cone is the other ski area, just the other side of wanaka. It's got a lot more of the steeper runs (only one green run) which is run off two different lifts.

 

[Nippletron]

That area is called Southern Lakes and there are 4 ski areas around there; Cardrona, Treble Cone, Coronet Peak and the Remarkables. Cardrona has best park, Treble Cone probably has best extreme/ freeride terrain, Coronet is only 20 min form queenstown and the Remarkables is all round pretty good I hear. Queenstown is really cool and has a reasonable amount of activity, Wanaka is smaller and a bit quieter. I don't know too much about Australia but they don't have much snow or many mountains, and apparently the instructors there get given rain jackets haha. Hope this helps!

Great stuff! Is this the place/area to be in? Don't have it in front of me but there's another place called Cantebury Plains/Fields more north? Is this worth visiting or is the best snow/skiing in the places you've been talking about?

Sorry I don't remember the exact name of the area but its pretty big, got a resort called Mount Olympus if I recall correctly. But ye, ill defo look for packages, flights, accommodation in Queenstown/Wanaka and look how much a ski ticket cost which gives access to a lot of areas/resorts

 

[Nippletron]

Hey, well Coronet Peak is a major tourist field but it's pretty low so it usually relies on a lot of Manmade Snow, and can be quite icy. The Remarks isn't far from Queenstown either and has a park and gentle stuff. Both of these areas have a pretty cheap bus which is run by the skifield rather than a seperate company.

Halfway between Queenstown and wanaka is cardrona, which is a great learner mountain with a wide easy runs...and a really awesome terrain park (and it's the home of Jossi wells).

There are heaps of buses to Cardrona, but with other companies...I always look for one that offers a package.

Treble cone is the other ski area, just the other side of wanaka. It's got a lot more of the steeper runs (only one green run) which is run off two different lifts.

Yes I've read about Treble Cone as being the place for off piste -ish skiing and such, got the most skiable hectares too if I'm not mistaken? Not so much of a park skier but would be cool to check out. Didn't get to ski much this winter so anywhere with a lot of snow/pistes/offpiste areas would be great . Very costly though, got some savings however

 

[steezyclezy]

Great stuff! Is this the place/area to be in? Don't have it in front of me but there's another place called Cantebury Plains/Fields more north? Is this worth visiting or is the best snow/skiing in the places you've been talking about?

Sorry I don't remember the exact name of the area but its pretty big, got a resort called Mount Olympus if I recall correctly. But ye, ill defo look for packages, flights, accommodation in Queenstown/Wanaka and look how much a ski ticket cost which gives access to a lot of areas/resorts

Yeah Queenstown/Wanaka is the centre of NZ skiing. Canterbury is up from there and a few hours drive from Wanaka. Mt Olympus is there and a bunch of other ski areas which are quite small but run by locals and the terrain at some of those places is meant to be pretty cool. That area is called Selwyn and it's in Canterbury. The biggest ski area there is Mt Hutt which actually gets lots of snow, especially in early season.