I wasn’t intending on doing any trip reports for this short break to Queenstown/Wanaka. They’ve had a really poor season so I came here with very low expectations. In fact I had planned that we would do mainly hiking and perhaps no skiing at all. Given though they’ve had some late season snowfall and we had ‘free’ Mountain Collective days skiing it was. We did a day at nearby Remarkables on Tuesday but while in winter mode with fresh overnight snow visibility was really challenging the whole day.
Anyway we headed up to Coronet Peak with low expectations yesterday morning. It’s no huge mountain at 5400 feet peak elevation and it boasts just 1500 feet of vertical. The whole mountain is well above the tree line. Coronet Peak has three high speed chairlifts but one serves the beginner area.
Coronet Peak has the nickname ‘concrete peak’ because of its icy reputation. It was anything but icy today. Overnight snow made it wonderfully soft. This was a ski day much much more enjoyable than expected.
Unlike Remarkables it’s not very rocky. It’s mainly tussock grass. A couple of local ‘mountain hosts’ did the regular daily two hour guide and they explained it needs very very little cover to make it skiable so the 8 inches of new snow refreshed most of the areas off the groomers.
We were the only guests in the guiding tour so the hosts Dan and Corey (both fellows in their 60s) took us to all of their favourite areas that happened to be mostly off piste and they found us some great pockets of snow. As long time locals they knew where snow had benefitted from wind loading. The two hour tour ended up being over 3 hours. It was a great morning of skiing.
After an overpriced* lunch we spent the afternoon skiing the areas that the hosts showed us in the morning. A few random pics.
^^
It’s nice gentle undulating fun terrain with new snow.
^^
The ski area overlooks a valley used as pasture for sheep farming and Queenstown and the lake are in the distance. It’s quite scenic in it’s own way.
Late in the afternoon I took the steep 45 minute walk up Queenstown hill. It’s got nice views from the top.
*NZ like a lot of countries including Australia are battling cost of living pressures. It’s next level here. Despite wages being similar to Oz food and drink prices are about 50% higher like for like as they are at home. A small salad with a few token pieces of chicken at Coronet Peak yesterday was $25! Just a few months ago I was getting a huge ‘serve yourself’ plate of high quality meats and salads at my go to on mountain restaurant at Val D’Isere for 14 Euro. At least three times the food volume for less outlay.
Queenstown is suffering from NZ and Australian households budgetary pain. The locals report takings are down nearly 50% compared to 2022 and there have been a lot of businesses shut up shop.
It’s raining on the local mountains today but freezing levels are expected to drop so if conditions are in we’ll ski at Treble Cone tomorrow.
Anyway we headed up to Coronet Peak with low expectations yesterday morning. It’s no huge mountain at 5400 feet peak elevation and it boasts just 1500 feet of vertical. The whole mountain is well above the tree line. Coronet Peak has three high speed chairlifts but one serves the beginner area.
Coronet Peak has the nickname ‘concrete peak’ because of its icy reputation. It was anything but icy today. Overnight snow made it wonderfully soft. This was a ski day much much more enjoyable than expected.
Unlike Remarkables it’s not very rocky. It’s mainly tussock grass. A couple of local ‘mountain hosts’ did the regular daily two hour guide and they explained it needs very very little cover to make it skiable so the 8 inches of new snow refreshed most of the areas off the groomers.
We were the only guests in the guiding tour so the hosts Dan and Corey (both fellows in their 60s) took us to all of their favourite areas that happened to be mostly off piste and they found us some great pockets of snow. As long time locals they knew where snow had benefitted from wind loading. The two hour tour ended up being over 3 hours. It was a great morning of skiing.
After an overpriced* lunch we spent the afternoon skiing the areas that the hosts showed us in the morning. A few random pics.
^^
It’s nice gentle undulating fun terrain with new snow.
^^
The ski area overlooks a valley used as pasture for sheep farming and Queenstown and the lake are in the distance. It’s quite scenic in it’s own way.
Late in the afternoon I took the steep 45 minute walk up Queenstown hill. It’s got nice views from the top.
*NZ like a lot of countries including Australia are battling cost of living pressures. It’s next level here. Despite wages being similar to Oz food and drink prices are about 50% higher like for like as they are at home. A small salad with a few token pieces of chicken at Coronet Peak yesterday was $25! Just a few months ago I was getting a huge ‘serve yourself’ plate of high quality meats and salads at my go to on mountain restaurant at Val D’Isere for 14 Euro. At least three times the food volume for less outlay.
Queenstown is suffering from NZ and Australian households budgetary pain. The locals report takings are down nearly 50% compared to 2022 and there have been a lot of businesses shut up shop.
It’s raining on the local mountains today but freezing levels are expected to drop so if conditions are in we’ll ski at Treble Cone tomorrow.
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