Monday, June 30, 2008

Good Skiing at Coronet Peak

Another all night blast from the snow gun battery saw approximately 5cms of fresh man made powder laid on all the main trails at Coronet Peak overnight so there was some excellent on trail skiing to be had again - the man made snow they are producing is excellent quality. Tip if you rip - check out Exchange - the man made snow has been transporting in there and its pretty damn good skiing and riding right now.

Z10's got a full tune today and now are set for my man made snow tune at .5 deg on base and 3 deg on side so they should be ripping on the hard stuff - I'll let you know. They are awesome - every day I ski them I like them even more.

Me being me and liking to see the start of the day I took some footage at dawn from Coronet Peak looking out over the basin. Enjoy - oh that's my office window!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Coronet Peak.

A bit more new snow last night and still snowing lightly this morning - maybe 5 cms in total using your imagination! Pretty bleak day on the peak with limited visabilty i.e. White Out - but the snow quality was really good on trail.

2moro (Monday) is looking like good weather and then a big front coming thru on Tuesday - lets keep our fingers crossed it stays cold enough to produce snow at the Coronet Peak.

The conditions are getting better day by day so make the most of it.

I took some footage of the base building from inside - soz about the quality it was taken on flip and I was probably moving too fast and then squished the file to load up here.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Official Opening Day at Cornet Peak

Coronet Peak put on a good show today for all with a 1/2 price deal on almost everything - a lot of people took full advantage of course. It was also the the official opening of the new facilities with Helen Clarke amongst the guests for the ceremony. The new base facilities handled the big crowds easily and made it appear that it wasn't actually busy at all - the cars were parked on the side of the road a long, long way down the hill below the car parks!

The skiing/riding is surprisingly good with the man made product being pumped out at full noise. With all the main trails open the crowd thinned out very well over the mountain. The forecast front arrived about midday and has produced a small amount of natural snow over the course of the afternoon but nothing major - maybe it will keep snowing tonite with some luck. The on piste snow quality is pretty good with the technology in the new guns pumping out wet gorilla snot but nice light dry snow. 10 more cms and Coronet Peaks' off piste will open up - keep your fingers crossed! It is rumored that the Remarkables will open on Monday 30th June and I am sure there will be a lot of snow borders checking out the stash. I hope that the Remarkables side of the Whakatipu Basin may have received a bit more snow today than Coronet Peak.

Well my new skis - WICKED. The Rossignol Z10's are great - straight out of the factory and on snow and they ripped. The ski has plenty of grunt when required but if you back off they still ski well. I managed to get a little in the back seat a couple of times and watch out the are fairly ferocious back there --- it took a bit of recovering to stop going down in a screaming heap. They ski a GS and Medium radius tun very well but I found a little slow edge to edge for cranking short radius turns which is to be expected considering the width under the foot. I will be interested to see when I get the new arms attached how the go in a short Radius turn. Given that it was all on piste skiing today they performed as good as they are designed and look. I have a feeling from todays performance that they will rip off piste too. Anybody who is a top end (NZ level 6) skier will like these skis a lot. If this is you and you are in the market for a new ride check them out you will enjoy them! So where to from here with the Z10's - I will ski then one more day with the factory tune and then I will get them tuned to my liking and see what happens (I imagine they will only ski better) and of course get them in some off piste terrain, try the different arms and keep testing. I will keep you posted on what I learn about the awesome Z10.

I will take my flip vid and shoot some footage to load up 2moro if possible.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

10 more fresh



10 cms of fresh fell yesterday afternoon so Coronet Peak is starting to look really good again. We should probably get some more natural on Friday (2moro)and the snow making is continuing. Compare todays photo with yesterdays and you will see a difference! I am sure there have been plenty of people having a great time already up there while I sit here writing my blog and can see the Peak out the window - ahh bugger!

My Rossignol Z10's (170cms)arrived and they do look like a wicked ski (see photo). They have an intergrated ski/binding system that is incredibly easy to set to the the boot size required and the binding din has plenty of room to move with minimum being 3.5 and maximum being 12 so this range caters to most skiers. The ski binding has a changable arm setting that comes out along the ski towards both the tip and the tail of each ski - by putting different lengths/stiffness levels on allows you to change the radius the ski will do. The tip measures 127, waist 75, and tail 108 so it has plenty of side cut to ski hard piste yet keeping plenty of underfoot to ride well off piste.

The Z10's will feel the snow under my feet for the first time on Saturday - I am going with the factory tune as it apparently is very good (looks good too) and we will start to put them to the test. I am pretty excited to ski them - if they ski as well as they have been constructed and look I imagine I will be a pretty happy fella.

If you are going to be at Coronet Peak and need to get up to speed and really start enjoying your time on snow come have a lesson with me - ask for me by name at the Coronet Peak Snowsports School. If you want to try some Rossignol Z10's check out the R&R Sports ski and snowboard demo center which will be on Coronet Peak on Wednesdays and Sundays and they have a great range of Rossignol gear to try out. Alternatively pop into the Rand R Sports shop on Shotover Street in Queenstown and have a chat to them - trust me they will look after you very well.

CU up the peak soon!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Bring on the snow!

Coronet peak opened to day with 15cms of fresh with 48 hrs of man made and the good news is the next front has just hit and is snowing again! We should pick up another good amount today and tonight and there is some more forecast to come in on Friday. I would suggest that by the weekend (the weather looks good for Sunday) that most of the terrain will be open and it will be ON at the Peak. Bring on the snow!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Coronet Peak is Under Way Again


After being closed for 12 days now Coronet Peak is about to re-open tomorrow - with plenty of time to spare for winter festival opening. The storm that has been forecast came through with a large drop in temps and snow making began last night and there has been a small top up of natural snow as well. The temps are looking good for more snow making to be done over the rest of the week and we may see some more of the natural stuff fall as well.

Its amazing with the most advanced snow making system in the world that we are still down to the mercy of the weather but one thing is for sure - when the snow making system does fire up it can certainly put out the goods.

I had a good look a the new base building last week while there was no snow around and I have to say it is a very impressive development and will keep CP in good stead for many years to come. It is a vast improvement and should certainly allow visitors a much more pleasant and user friendly experience even over the very busy school holiday periods. The building is a little stark being all cement, steel and glass but does provide very easy flow through out and should help minimize queing time maximizing snow play time (or coffee drinking depending on what floats your boat) Great improvement on the creche facilties - expanding by about 3 times in size and well kitted out. The cafe and restaurant should be able to handle the crowds no problem and there is also a snack shack outside on the new HUGE deck so getting a bite to eat will be a breeze. I didn't get to see the VIP lounge but if you know the right people and have NZ$ 7000.00 to spare for a season you can enjoy this area too and all the bene's that come with it.

I am just about to pick up my new skis 2moro, some Rossignol Z10's and will come back with a full report on my next blog. Until then I hope you all get to enjoy some snow time.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Still Waiting!

Well it seems as though the snow in May never does stay.

Unfortunately 7th June opening for CP came and went but they didn't get open due to a nasty windstorm. They did manage to get open on the Sun 8th and thousands flocked to see the new base area structure and enjoy what snow hadn't been ripped away by the howling winds - most seemed to have a great time even while lining up at the lift with one of the new snow making cannons letting loose at the people waiting to ride. Temperatures were not particularly conducive for making snow for the rest of the week so the cannons didn't see much action. Then the dreaded R word happened- it started raining on Wednesday night, very warm rain and CP was awash. Thursday dawned clear and unseasonally warm and with the damage to what had been a pretty good base apparent for all to see. CP made the right and probably only decision to stay closed for the day. More warm rain fell on Thursday and Friday nights (both days were clear but warm)and the snow continued to wash away. CP is still closed now for (5 consecutive days in a row). With the freezing temperature at 3000m today it is not likley they will get open for tomorrow (Tuesday) either. It must be frustrating having a 30+ million dollar development sitting there ---- closed. I have seen it far worse still at this same time of year. The good news is the freezing level does look like it should drop later on Tuesday so I am sure that CP are keen to show off what is meant to be the most technologically advanced and largest snow making system in the world. When it does get a chance to swing into action I am sure that we will see CP do it's chameleon impression and be looking fantastic in the blink of an eye.

With global warming, fuel prices, power prices, food prices (in fact you name it)all having a major impact on the world we live in, I want to thank the owners for having the outright balls to spend that kind of money on a re-development in a time of such uncertainty. I am sure that I will see the benefits of it in Queenstown for a long time to come - if it gets cold!