I have never skied NZ and am having ski withdrawal symptoms having now missed 2 seasons. I usually ski the big resorts in the USA and Europe. I love Aspen/Snowmass, Steamboat, The Canyons, Solitude, Telluride, Zermatt, 3V, StAnton/Lech/Zurs, The Alta Badia etc. I like steep, long groomed black and blue runs, and like to do lots of miles. Now I understand NZ is not Utah, Colorado, Austria, or Switzerland but I would like some advise on which NZ resorts I would like. So I'm not an off piste skier and moguls do not appeal. Accommodation on the mountain would be great but I have been told most places require you to stay off the mountain and drive or take the bus up every day. Thanks
You won't find much in the way of 'steep, long groomed black runs' in NZ line North america or Europe. I like Treble Cone for the terrain but not that much is groomed (although more than it used to be). Maybe Coronet Peak or Mt Hutt would best fit that criteria. Cardrona is the only commercial field with on mountain accommodation and does also have good groomed runs, mostly fairly moderate though. Probably best just going with the regular crowd and stay in Queenstown and day trip to Coronet, Remarkables, Cardrona and maybe a day at TC.
Thanks. I know I'm asking a difficult question. I've been eating oranges and I am asking which apples taste best. How do you compare Zermatt, Aspen, StAnton etc to NZ? Can't be done but I really would like some skiing. So maybe I should just go with the crowd and go to Queenstown. Ski a few resorts. Not expect much. Have fun. Then look forward to next year.
Thanks. I appreciate your advise. I think so might try a few places around Queenstown and see which places I might like best. My days of double black stuff are over and I'm looking for more relaxed skiing.
Look, there is great skiing in NZ, just not the type of long wide groomed autobahns that you might find in Europe or the US. They are smaller ski areas without the type of infrastructure that you are used to. There is lots of good terrain to be had, plenty of challenging stuff, lots of off-piste opportunities. And of course I can't forget to mention that some of the best stuff is only accessible by heli But going to Qtn gives you a few options to try out.
Only trouble with those places is that there isn't much else around, though Porters & Hutt are close-ish.
I expect Methven will have changed a fair bit since I was there last in 1990, but still not that much.
Yeah, I did hear the yellow pub got repainted brown, but the Blue pub remains blue. So, no millionaire condos I presume?
I’m lucky in that I love offpiste and also skiing long groomed blacks and steep reds in Europe and Canada. I generally do massive milage 50-80km skiing a day unless there is powder and NZ was still great. One of my weeks in NZ we had no fresh snow and not great offpiste and I enjoyed fanging around cardrona, coronet peak, treble cone and remarks. I would recommend 4 days Wanaka, 4 days QT ski all the local hills, enjoy the amazing food, views and chilled vibe. Don’t worry about ski-in ski out for once and it will be amazing
I like Aspen for the skiing. We get a house/condo, go to the supermarket to buy the groceries and booze, and cook at home and are in bed by 10pm at the latest. We hardly ever go out much at all. Hermits we are but love the skiing there.
Yep. I'm a boring on piste guy. We go off piste if there in a fresh big dump. Had some great days with a metre of fresh dry snow. Lots of fun. But we spend 90+% on groomers.
A few years back the 4 of us stayed here. Was pretty good by Methven standards. Had one Mount Shut day, where we skied Porters. NZ is all about the drive for resort skiing. If I was giving a friend some first timer advice, it would be fly into Christchurch, hire a car, spend the 1st mid - week Sking in Canterbury and make your way down to Queenstown for a 2nd week. Stop off in Mackenzie country for heli/flight over Mt Cook to get the complete sthn alps vibe. End of trip, (after skiing the resorts of Queenstown/Wanaka) drop car in Queenstown airport and flyout from there. https://www.brinkleyresort.co.nz/
