New Zealand 2009 Ski Season

Is New Zealand that great to ski?

When I was in Queenstown in summer, I asked lots of questions to locals about skiing.

They asked where I was from: California - and then they gushed about Tahoe for minutes. And then 'why would you come here?' in winter. Squaw anyone?

The heli-skiing looks incredible near the NZ Alps Crest. I day heli-hiked Franz Josef glacier, but otherwise, it looks just OK. I para-glided off one of the ski areas in Queenstown into the valley - the skiing looks totally miss-able.


The summer attractions of NZ/Australia outweigh winter skiing. Sydney - with the best features of LA/SF & a little New Orleans - is like the best city ever. And the South Island of New Zealand is incredible - wine country of Marlborough (wine is free, gourmet food is like 70s CA prices), the fjords, and Queenstown activites --- so much better enjoyed in the summer.

Yes, you can ski New Zealand, but I would not.
 
ChrisC":2t70s2yp said:
Yes, you can ski New Zealand, but I would not.
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I think the time to hit New Zealand is for spring skiing in September. I found Treble Cone to be quite entertaining. Mount Hutt has some decent terrain off the Montezuma ridge and up in the Tower rocks. If you pick your days, you can fill out a heli-ski group at a pretty big discount since they're not super busy in September. On bad weather days, you have relatively mild weather down in the flats and you can go do those winery expeditions if you're north at Mount Hutt or you can do the Queenstown touron thing if you're at Treble Cone. In South America, you're a shut-in on those bad weather days since the resorts are all out in the boonies.

For me sitting on the east coast, I wouldn't consider New Zealand again unless I blocked out 3 weeks for the trip. Chile is in my timezone and I can get there and back on 8-hour overnight flights from Miami. If I were sitting in LA, I'd be more prone to mix it up and hit New Zealand once in a while for my summer ski fix.
 
There is little margin for error with the relatively low snowfalls leeward of the Southern Alps. Therefore wise to stick to August prime season. As discussed before, many interesting alternatives on no-ski days. I've been 3 times all in winter, but none were really full price dedicated ski trips.

1982 was general tourism trip, 4 days skiing out of 14 in NZ.
1997 was 4 days skiing after 16 days in Australia (one ski day there)
2006 was mostly skiing but at a deep discount via NASJA.

The summer tourism trip ChrisC recommends will likely come after the November 13, 2012 eclipse in Cairns.
 
Patrick":188tf7tm said:
Great year in NZ except for Avalanche. Someone died with one of the Heli operation. There was also an avy off Remarkables
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There are links to stories on both incidents in our External News section (from the main Table of Contents choose "Ski News" -> "External News").

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