Queenstown, Coronet Peak and the Remarkables getting ready for Winter Fest

Tomorrow is the official opening of Queenstown's Winter Festival with the opening party and fireworks starting at 1800 - 2100 and in the tough economic times is quite special as it is free. Bonus!

Hordes of people from all over NZ and Aussie and the odd visitor from elsewhere around the globe turn up to party the arse's off at night and ski or snowboard hard during the day at one of the local ski areas. It a big 10 days of crazy fun and a good time to be here.

The snow at the NZSKI ski areas is in great nick and I have heard that Cardrona and the Snow Park are riding well too. If you are staying in queenstown it's pretty hard to beat going to Coronet Peak or the Remarkables as there proximity to Queenstown is amazing, 20 mins to the Peak and 40 mins to the Remarkables. Add to that the new transport system NZSKI are offering it is certainly a cheap option to get to the Coronet Peak and the Remarkables ski areas from QT.

SKI TIP

Well by now if you have had a few turns under your belt you should be starting to feel like you have found the center of your foot and have become more balanced along the length of ski. Now is the time to start exploring the range of movement available while staying in a balanced position along the foot/ski. Try some full range of movement turns this means moving into a tall position to start each turn tall and finish the turn with your mass closer to the skis (a full range of extension and flexion movement - straightening or bending at the ankle knee and hip), explore what happens while remaining well balanced along the center of the foot/ski and try changing the movements around to be flexed to start a turn and extended when you finish a turn just to really mess with your ability to balance and change movement patterns.

Note that this is an exercise only but the concepts apply to regular, good skiing especially in off piste terrain.

Remember to book a private ski lesson with Simon Wilkinson at the Coronet Peak Snowsports school to maximize you skiing enjoyment this season

Coronet Peak and the Remarkables Skiing well in late June

The Remarkables opened last Saturday with all lifts open (first time ever for opening day)and a good base coverage. More snow will be needed but with the base that is already there its looking like an awesome season ahead to ski the Remarks.

The last week has seen quite a bit of flight disruption with the cold temps trapping a fog layer in the Wakatipu basin and quite a few flights have been diverted or cancelled, flying in later in the day seems the best option as the valley fog seems to clear late each day.

While the fog has been in the valley, Coronet Peak has been in the sunshine but as the temps have been cold up there they have been pumping snow out with all guns blazing and continuing to cover the Peak in armarnie snow. The Peak is skiing great and the snow is very grippy and also very squeaky.

Going into winter festival next week with such fantastic snow coverage is going to make a lot of people happy.

I will look forward to seeing you on the slopes and remember to ask for Simon Wilkinson when you book your private ski lesson at Coronet Peak Snow Sports School.

Southerly Storm hits the Southern Lakes and Coronet Peak

Yet again I am amazed at how fast things can change on Coronet Peak. Over the last 4 days or so the Peak has seen some very warm temps and then freezing at night, more like spring conditions really and a very well tuned pair of skis was required. My Salomon Aero GT loved it but as you can imagine they were in great nick and had sharp, clean edges.

I was sitting on the chair yesterday with a local who had thought that the man made snow (temps had dropped enough for snow making to resume) might have blown into the gullies in Exchange but after skiing a short way realized he had made a big mistake as the snow was bomber and hard as a rock, on the chair he was saying that the front would miss us and we wouldn't get anything from it at all and he was off home. I disagreed and said that we might only get a few cm's out of it but it would hit and the Peak would be back to wicked skiing again and in the meantime enjoyed some great om piste runs!

Sure enough this morning I opened the curtain and the ground outside was white. A slow and careful drive (after a hearty breakfast of 4 weetbix and a bloody strong coffee) up to Coronet Peak showed they had recived about the same - approximately 2-3 cms. It continued to snow lightly until about 1000 and then it started to clear up and the sun came out and all of a sudden the Peak is back on and skiing great.

Most other ski areas around the world you need about 2 feet to make you smile - here in NZ 2+ cms will do nicely thanks.

The snow guns wil be all go over the next 72 hours or so as we have clear cold weather so the skiing will continue to be good until the next natural fall.

Now is a good time to be getting some turns in and come and ask at the Coronet Peak Snowsports School for Simon Wilkinson and get yourself a private ski lesson to get you on track and ripping it up!

Another Great Day on Coronet Peak, New Zealand

Well lst night saw some precip come in just on dark for an hour or so and it wasn't quite cold enough to snow so the R word come in to play. It cleared quite quickly and started to set everything up again. This moring the Coronet Peak was pretty hard and fast but the groomers had done a great job and the on piste skiing was actually pretty bloody good. Off piste remained fairly bomb proof and only the foolhard seemed to venture off piste, it was certainly a day to stay on the groomers! As the day wore on the groomed runs softened nicely and skied well.

The rain the went into the snow pack on Coronet Peak hasn't really done any damage, testiment to the amount of snow we have got and also the resilence of the man made snow that was laid on top of the natural snow. As the rain has permeatted thru the pack and the got cold and frozen it wil have bonded everything up quite well and I certainly can't see it going anywhere in a hurry.

It look like we will have some colder snow weather arriving on Sunday so that will put the Peak back in tip top condition if it transpires. Watch out on the roads around the Queenstown area - plenty of little icy spots that wil catch out the motorist driving a bit qucik for the conditions.

All in all the peak is skiing great for early season and there are plenty of happy people around.

Check out my quick vid from today:

Coronet Peak Rocks

Well actually there are very few rocks due to the great snow coverage on Coronet Peak and with the amazing and fully automated snowmaking system it is just getting better and better. It's not to say a few more good natural dumps wouldn't be aprecciated however, keep your fingers crossed.

As an empolyee of NZSKI I have to take my hat off the the owners and those that are skippering the boat on its journey towards the future. Serious money has been spent over the last few years and coninues to be in a effort to future proof against global warming or should I say climate change and the bleak world outlook at present and allowing NZSKi to position themselves amongst other things as the leader in snowsports recreation in the Southern Hemisphere. What is possibly more important is the way they are taking the staff on this journey by empowering them to be pro-active in this journey to the future. I have noticed a major pick up in the fact that with returning staff especially the management is treating them with respect for who they are and their backgrounds in the snow and general tourism industry to help the company as a whole acheive its vision for the future and this means respect is being given in return.

I had a great day today, A dozen quick runs on the Quad to get my ski fitness up enjoying the fabulous snow conditions and my new Salomon skis and playing with my early season techinque.

Here's something to think about early season (if you are a skier):

Feel pressure along the whole length of the foot as you ski (not just the heel or the toe).

Widen your stance to hip width or slightly wider.

Focus on disciplined hand and arm position (don't let them wave all over the shop.

Thinking about these three things as you start your season will be a good foundation enabling you to progress faster this year.

Get a ski lesson at an NZSKI snowsports school to find out more! Oh remember to ask for Simon Wilkinson if you want a private ski lesson at Coronet Peak.

Oh I forgot, after my quick ski I decided putting some dinner on the table might be a good idea (keep the wife happy), and popped down to one of my favourite fishing spots near Queentown and hooked and landed three trout one I kept which was a 8.5lb brown trout and let the other two go, dinner for another day! Where can you do that, go ski in the morning and then catch big NZ trout a 1/2hr later! Queenstown and Coronet Peak Rocks!

Opening Weekend of Coronet Peak, Queenstown,NZ

Saturday was opening day at Coronet Peak in New Zealand and hordes of mostly locals turned out to ski the best opening day snow conditions since 1996. The weather was great in the moring but detoriated a little during the day with some cloud drifiting in and the odd light snow flurry late in the day.

I got to have a good hoon around on the Salomon Aero GTs and see what they were capable of and was happily surprised. As they are a hybrid ski I was not really sure what I was in for but found them to be a very good on piste ski with excellent edge control and if you wanted to work them hard they responded well and left trenches in the snow. On the other hand backing off and just relaxing was also rather nice, you did'nt have to work them hard all the time to get good results! Being more of an on piste ski I ws quite surprised at how easily they dealt with the off piste which was quite changeable from nice chalky windblown powder and manky windcrust, they just seemed to eat it up. I will wait for a chance to ski them in deep powder and let you know how they respond to that challenge.

I was up on Coronet Peak again today and it was a blue bird day, quite cold with great snow conditions and the skiing was all go. My run of the day was dropping into Mid Exchange cutting back to the Hurdle and then dropping into West Gates. Lots of nice chalky snow and pockets of windblown powder, lovely!

The coming week looks like it wil start fine and slowly detoriate mid week and a chance of snow as a front bears down on us from a northly direction. With luck the mantle of snow on the Southern Alps will help drop the temperature and snow will arrive rather than the form of precip we don't want, I am not even going to use the word! With luck it will hit the cold Southerly airstream that we have and realy dump!



I didn't gte the chance to shoot any footage but wil pop up 2moro morning for a early ski (day's off) and shoot some and upload something later this week.

Certainly ifi you are um and ahhing about going skiing - nows very good and I think it wil continue to get better and better. as the season rols on! Here's hoping.

Coronet Peak, Queenstown New Zealand opens 2moro

Well it's the night before the opening of Coronet Peak and I have all my gear good to go skiing. I was up there yesterday getting trained about the company culture (NZSKI) and customer service but couldn't help myself constantly staring out the window and how much snow there is up on the peak. It certainly looks like the best base coverage I have seen on Coronet for the last - well since I have been in Queenstown.

I will take some pics 2moro and maybe some video footage so you can all see it.

I am looking forward tomy first day riding my new Salomon skis and will also be posting a full report on how they rip. I will be giving further updates as the season rolls on on how they perform on different conditions.

Remember if you are looking fro a short term rental (3 nights minimum) over the winter check out Book a Bach for our listing.

It looks like the whole of New Zealands ski feilds are setting up well with snow for a great winter.

CU on the snow.