Latest news with #NZSki
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Queenstown open for skiing action on Saturday
It is not too shabby for an opening day. NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson says both The Remarkables and Coronet Peak will open as scheduled from 9am on Saturday, with the latter opening from top to bottom. At Coronet, all the beginner conveyor lifts, the Meadows Chair and Coronet Express would be in action — Rocky Gully and Green gates would not be open, "but we'll be looking to add those in as soon as we can stitch that together". At The Remarkables, the learners' conveyors, Alta and Curvey Basin would be open for action, with Sugar Bowl and Shadow Basin still to come, Mr Anderson said. "Our whole objective in getting both mountains open on the same day is to send a really, really strong signal to the market that ... Queenstown's open for business, and hopefully you see that switch flipped and the town gets busy very quickly." Mr Anderson said last weekend's perfectly timed snowfall had been supplemented by a huge amount of snowmaking, which he believed had been the longest period of snowmaking in Queenstown for a decade. "And the new guns we've got up there, they are just incredible." At The Remarkables, for example, the whales of snow from the guns were higher than the conveyor covers. "It just gives you an idea of the amount of snow they were belting out." He estimated Coronet was opening with between 60cm and 120cm on trail, and about 60cm at The Remarkables. "We're kind of expecting the locals to come out in force once they hear how good the on-trail skiing is ... It'll be nice to get a bit of a dump before school holidays, but with or without it, we're going to have a good school holidays, I can see that." Cardrona, which along with Treble Cone is owned by Queenstown-based company RealNZ, will also open on Saturday. Chief mountains officer Laura Hedley said thanks to an "incredible effort" from the snowmaking team, and some help from Mother Nature, the McDougall's Chondola and the learner conveyors would be spinning. Skiers and boarders would be able to access McDougalls' trail and the beginners' area from Saturday, while the North Face Cardrona parks crew would also put in a few features in McPark, the temporary early-season terrain park under McDougalls. "Our new base area building is nearing completion, and we are aiming to get our new Cardrona Corner retail shop open on Saturday, too," Ms Hedley said. To reflect the early season offering, Cardies day passes will be at early season rates until Whitestar Express opens. Treble Cone is scheduled to open on June 28.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Open for skiing action on Saturday
It is not too shabby for an opening day. NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson says both The Remarkables and Coronet Peak will open as scheduled from 9am on Saturday, with the latter opening from top to bottom. At Coronet, all the beginner conveyor lifts, the Meadows Chair and Coronet Express would be in action — Rocky Gully and Green gates would not be open, "but we'll be looking to add those in as soon as we can stitch that together". At The Remarkables, the learners' conveyors, Alta and Curvey Basin would be open for action, with Sugar Bowl and Shadow Basin still to come, Mr Anderson said. "Our whole objective in getting both mountains open on the same day is to send a really, really strong signal to the market that ... Queenstown's open for business, and hopefully you see that switch flipped and the town gets busy very quickly." Mr Anderson said last weekend's perfectly timed snowfall had been supplemented by a huge amount of snowmaking, which he believed had been the longest period of snowmaking in Queenstown for a decade. "And the new guns we've got up there, they are just incredible." At The Remarkables, for example, the whales of snow from the guns were higher than the conveyor covers. "It just gives you an idea of the amount of snow they were belting out." He estimated Coronet was opening with between 60cm and 120cm on trail, and about 60cm at The Remarkables. "We're kind of expecting the locals to come out in force once they hear how good the on-trail skiing is ... It'll be nice to get a bit of a dump before school holidays, but with or without it, we're going to have a good school holidays, I can see that." Cardrona, which along with Treble Cone is owned by Queenstown-based company RealNZ, will also open on Saturday. Chief mountains officer Laura Hedley said thanks to an "incredible effort" from the snowmaking team, and some help from Mother Nature, the McDougall's Chondola and the learner conveyors would be spinning. Skiers and boarders would be able to access McDougalls' trail and the beginners' area from Saturday, while the North Face Cardrona parks crew would also put in a few features in McPark, the temporary early-season terrain park under McDougalls. "Our new base area building is nearing completion, and we are aiming to get our new Cardrona Corner retail shop open on Saturday, too," Ms Hedley said. To reflect the early season offering, Cardies day passes will be at early season rates until Whitestar Express opens. Treble Cone is scheduled to open on June 28.
Otago Daily Times
05-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Skifields on schedule to open: CEO
For once, it is white on time. Snowguns at Queenstown's Coronet Peak and The Remarkables skifields fired up last night, and they will keep cranking for as long as possible to bolster the natural snowfall arriving in a perfectly timed polar blast, ahead of the scheduled season opening on June 14. NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson expected up to 30cm of snow could be on the way, but more importantly, bitterly cold temperatures forecast would enable "solid snow-making" over the next five or six days which should mean Coronet could open top to bottom next week. "We are confident that we will be open on the 14th, as advertised." Mr Anderson said the plan was for both Queenstown skifields to open on the same day. "The reason we've done that, I noticed this last year, as soon as we opened, town got busy. "I think it's really important that we send a really strong signal to the market that Queenstown is open for business." He believed last month was "one of the most sudden shoulder seasons we've had for a few years", but questioned if it was just more noticeable because of the huge influx of people to the Wakatipu between Easter and Anzac Day. NZSki employs about 1300 people across its three mountains including Mt Hutt. Of those, 900 are in Queenstown. Mr Anderson said the company had a staff return rate of more than 50% and a record 6000-plus applications for about 600 remaining jobs. Accommodation-wise, some of the heat had been taken out of the market through a 90-bed CBD hostel, a new apartment development off Fryer St, comprising six two-bedroom units, and four or five houses NZSki owned near Gorge Rd, all of which were full. "Then you'll have staff that are returning that already know where they're going — they kind of work out their flats and flatting situations, year to year — so we're focused on the new people coming in." Transport to and from The Remarkables would be similar to last year. Those who did not have a full car would be in carpark 4 and get a shuttle "right up to the door" of the ski area, ensuring families and those with full cars got the closest parks. Cardrona Alpine Resort, owned by RealNZ, was also targeting a June 14 opening. Treble Cone has a tentative opening date of June 27.
