Queenstown Snow Skiing goes off

Queenstown snow skiing season continues to goes off with another big fall to lake level in the district. In fact the whole of New Zealand appears to have been buried in drifts of snow like scenes straight out of the Northern hemisphere.......very unusual to see anything like this here!




Snow in the valley forced many schools to be shut and roads all around NZ were either closed or required chains and all the while the snow has continued to fall and is likely to for the rest of the day and tonight.

Skiing Coronet Peak was great today even in the very poor visibility. This was due to the absolutely great snow, 30cms of squeaky white stuff. A bit wind effected in places and some runs you really wanted to keep your wits about you as big drifts would be well camouflaged and could easily sneak up on you while you weren't looking.

Ski Tip: In these sorts of conditions you really want to keep your skis turning, if you don't you get caught hanging out the washing bewteen turns and end up with the sheet in your face because you don't know what is up nor down. Keeping a continuous steering effort going means that your mass is automatically pulled to the outside of each turn and you have a stronger sense of balance over your skis, then it's just a small matter of keeping your feet under you as the snow gets deeper or shallower.

It's still snowing here hard out and hasn't stopped......it's likely we could wake up tomorrow with another 20 - 40cms of snow. More shoveling to keep the porch free and most importantly some great turns to be had as conditions look set to clear up around early afternoon tomorrow are on the books for me.

Now is a great time to book some private ski lessons to maximize the conditions, learn to ski the powder snow better and jump the lift lines to your hearts content .

Oh and for the racer in you and here's some footage of the US ski team training at Coronet Peak last week

Coronet Peak Queenstown New Zealand to open

Coronet Peak Queenstown New Zealand to is to open on man made snow on Thursday.

Thursday means Coronet Peak will be open in June and will be the 2nd ski field to open with snow on the ground in New Zealand. Many visitors who are here in Queenstown leave on Sat which is the major change over day so this would give the current lot snow seekers 2 days of skiing or snow boarding before they leave town. Then the next bunch of keen skiers and snow boarders arrives given the ash does not disrupt the situation.

This has certainly been a testing time for many in Queenstown, visitors, ski area workers, retailers, petrol stations and just about everybody has been affected by the lack of snow. The snow making system at Coronet Peak has certainly been tested as this would be the first year with the new and fully automated system that there has been no natural snow to work with and build on. It’s all man made snow. A soon as it got cold enough bingo!

I will look forward to seeing you up there at Coronet Peak and lets hope the cold temps
continue and fingers crossed for a real snow storm too!

Mt Hutt opens and snow for Coronet Peak Queenstown on the way

Mt Hutt opened today, the first ski field in New Zealand to do so this season. Finally, it’s been a long wait for many. Coronet Peak in Queenstown will be hard on it heels as a front comes in late today and is set to deliver a small amount of natural snow but most importantly the cold temperatures return so the awesome power of 200+ automated snow guns can rip into action and get us all on snow.

Queenstown wants it, needs it. Snow on the ground is an important economic driver for this small town and its sister city Wanaka during the winter months.

Snow on the Ground 2009

Actually its really important that all the ski areas in New Zealand have good winters….when the North Island fields have good snow they are a breeding ground for many New Zealanders first snow experience and this feeds people into the South Island ski areas over the following years. With snow on the ground all over NZ it creates a great image in the offshore markets, particularly Aussie that coming to NZ for a snow experience is the place to be not swanning off to snorkel on some tropical island.

In a way Queenstown is lucky in the fact that it is considered by many to be a Green Valley skiing destination. This means that (usually) the snow is up on the mountains and sits around the 1000m mark (depending on the aspect) while below that the valley is green grass which means there is plethora of alternate activities to enjoy on your skiing vacation.

The Weather Forecast is looking pretty good for us this week with a front carrying some snow later today followed by cold southerlies thru to the weeks end. This means snow making.

Remember to make the most out of your skiing vacation in Queenstown and book me for your private ski lessons

Skiing Queenstown NZ ..... the countdown is on!

Summer is long gone, autumn is almost over and winter is knocking on the door. Loudly in fact.

Over the last week Queenstown has seen some very wintery weather with snow falling to quite low levels. Coronet Peak picked up some snow and snowmaking is looking like it will be switched to full automatic in the next few days as the temperatures look to be cold and good for snow making.
The Remarkables also picked up plenty too and I am sure between now and when the Remarkables opens for the season(18th June) they will pick up plenty more. I am due to be making turns on the snow at Coronet Peak on the 4th June (CP's opening date) if all goes to plan weather wise which is looking pretty good right now.

Do you want to improve your skiing? Do you want to be able to ski more difficult terrain? Do you want to learn how to ski? Do you want to ski faster (and stay in control)? Do you want to get more fun out of your skiing?

Come and spend some time with me – I am an internationally qualified ski instructor and ex-trainer/examiner for the New Zealand Snow Sports Alliance. Over the winter skiing months here in Queenstown (June – September) I am available to instruct you and aid your enjoyment in the pastime of skiing at either Coronet Peak or the Remarkables Ski Areas for the 2010 winter. Come ski with me and sharpen up your act!

Private ski lessons are the way forward as they will maximize your time the best and allow you to get the most out of your time on snow. If you want private ski lessons with me make sure to book in now. (I am already booked out for the first 2 weeks of the Aussie school holidays in late June/early July) Please use my online booking form.

This is the first of regular posts that will be coming out each week over the winter so be sure to keep reading if you want the heads up for the slope conditions, ski tips, Salomon ski equipment and lots of other stuff.

Coronet Peak gets 45cms of fresh snow

Over the week end Coronet Peak picked up 45cm of fresh snow and is back at it's best!

All the ski areas picked up something out of the storm and August is looking like its going to continue as a snow month, now is a good time to come to Queenstown for your winter blast on the slopes. September should shape up great too.



Skiing or snowboarding in Queenstown, New Zealand is a little different from most snow resorts around the world. The thing that really stands out apart from the spectacular scenery is that the valley floor is not covered in snow during the winter apart from the odd snow fall that blankets the valley. This means that on any given day you can ski or snowboard in the morning and 20 minutes later be teeing off for a round on one of the many fine golf courses in the Wakatipu Basin. If golf is not your thing then Queenstown offers a variety of other off snow activities that may be more associated with the summer season, fishing, parasailing, bungy jumping, parapente, jet boat rides, rafting and many, many more.



The Wakatipu Basin is home to 5 ski areas, Coronet Peak and The Remarkables near Queenstown and Treble Cone and Cardrona which are closer to the town of Wanaka, about 1:15 hrs drive from Queenstown. Just across the valley from Cardrona is the Snow Park which is home to one of the most impressive Park and Pipe facilities in the world. They also cater to cross country skiers. For the wicked work out you can test your self on a biathlon course, ski – shoot – ski.

The NZSKI areas operate a great bus service from Queenstown to Coronet Peak and free shuttles to the Remarkables. If you are in Queenstown you can get away with not hiring a vehicle although it is handy if you want to go explore some of the other options in the area.

All the ski areas or to be politically correct these days, snow sports areas, offer very different experiences. Between them they most certainly look after the wants and desires of almost all the different wishes a snow sports participant could ask for. But if that is not enough the heli skiing in the region is world class, especially if you get on a Clarke glacier day with Southern Lakes Heli Ski – out of this world! About the only thing I can think that is missing is the lack of tree skiing. All the ski areas are above the native tree line, and introduced species are black listed above the snow line.



The accommodation and eating options are next to endless in Queenstown and are pretty good over the hill in Wanaka too. Fine dinners might want to check out The Bunker in Queenstown. Fergberger offers one of the best casual meals going. For a relaxing day check out Dart River Safaris, make sure it’s a fine day and grab a feed in the GY Cafe while you are there.

Wine buffs will love to taste the most southern pinots in the world, grabbing a wine tour or better still a limo to investigate the delights of the Gibbston Valley, especially good after a wee ski at Coronet Peak in the morning and taking full enjoyment an early tracks pass.

A good time to visit is usually around Aug/Sept for the best snow and avoiding the school holidays. This place is just one big playground!

Make sure to book me for your private ski lessons while you are here enjoying the snow in Queenstown

Snow on the way for Coronet Peak Queenstown New Zealand

This was the view from Coronet Peak this morning at about 1000 today. The skiing is awesome right now and the base is building slowly but surely. The forecast storm front hit around 15:00 and has dropped a bit of fresh snow on both Coronet Peak and the Remarkables. The temps have also dropped so snow making will be in progress over the next few days just adding to the brilliant early season conditions.

Every run I do on the Salomon Storms skis just makes me love them more. Still need to test them on some hard snow but from what I have found so far they will just eat it up.

Ski Tip - lateral balance. Drag your poles either side of your toes making sure they stay in the snow thru each turn. This will mean you have the correct amount of lateral balance for the slope you are skiing on and you should feel more edge control as a consequence.

Remember to as for me, Simon Wilkinson, when you book your private ski lesson at Coronet Peak.

Also make sure you subscribe and you will get updated automatically each time I put up a new post.

Coronet Peak Queenstown Skiing Starts for 2010 New Zealand Winter

The skiing at Coronet Peak started today. The first ski field in New Zealand to get up and running for the 2010 winter. It's really quite a big social gathering for a lot of Queenstown locals to catch up over a run or two. Although there were the few randoms that camped out overnight to gain first chair status - good on ya!

The snow for early season was in great nick although the bottom 1/3 is a bit thin - bring on the snow. There a few different ways off the top with Wall Street and the Shirtfront open along with the M1. Gotta love the jibbers dropping into lots of dodgy off piste areas and helping consolidate the base.

The new meadows lift and earth works are great and will certainly help to alleviate the lines at the chair and has created better beginner/novice terrain.

Got my first runs on my new Salomon Storms - I have a lot more playing with them to do but my immediate impression is it is an awesome ski. They seemed to go left and right well and have great edge grip and even with my early season balance handle well. If you are a advanced skier looking for a all mountain ski this could be the one - check them out at R&R sports in Queenstown and be on the look out for the Salomon demo days around NZ this season.

Ski Tip - look for your balance fore and aft (along the length of the ski)early season, I keep my buckles undone so I am not so reliant on the boot and really get to start honing in on the feelings comeing thru my feet.

Book a private ski lesson with me at Coronet Peak Snow Sports School (ask for Simon Wilkinson) or use my online booking form

The great skiing and riding conditions continue in Queenstown New Zealand

Well we had a great snow fall last week with approx 45 cms at Coronet Peak and further towards the divide about a meter of snow fell.

I spent Friday and Saturday night at Coronet Peak night skiing which was just awesome with sensational snow conditions - nice chalky winter snow and even got some freshies in the powder - ye haa!

I was supposed to be on my way back down to Southland on Sunday but at 0545 I got a call from Southern Lakes Heli Ski asking me to guide for them. After a quick think - ha - and a bit of a re-shuffle of plans I was driving a crew around to the Minarets which is terrain on the West side of Lake Wanaka.

The snow was awesome and after everybody had there share of runs in the glorious fresh powder we were on our way back to Queenstown and me back down to Southland with a big smile on my face.

Skiing and Heli Skiing - Coronet Peak and Southern Lakes Heli Ski

The skiing is great at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables with excellent spring conditions at the moment.

The heli skiing is also going off with a mix of winter snow on the shady Aspects and Spring conditions elsewhere.

Now is a great time to be getting some turns in.

New Zealands Southern Lakes Ski Areas get Snow

Since my last blog we have had a series of storm fronts drop snow on Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Cardrona and Treble Cone. All the ski areas further north have also recieved snow.

CP got approximately 20 - 25 cms at the top of the mountain and is skiing and riding very well as it has just topped up the base very nicely.

The heli skiing has also come alive again but due to the very unstable snow pack all the operators are using low angle terrain to negate the avalanche risk.

Unfortunately a heli ski operator near Mt Hutt had a incident yesterday that resulted in the first avalanche fatality in 5 years in NZ. The group had 2 guides with them and were being incredibly careful and still one let rip buring 2 skiers and a partial burial of the 3rd skier. The guides dug out both skiers in 7 minutes but one skier had died most likely from other underlying health issues but this will be clarified over the next few days.

Certainly travel in the back country is not recommended right now as the danger is extreme and avalanches have been running to the ground in places. It would pay to give it a day or two before touring to let things settle and a high degree of caution should be used. It would pay to check with your local ski patrol about conditions and also check out www.avalanche.net.nz for up to date reports.

If you are going into the back country do your homework and take all the safety gear such as transceiver, probe and shovel and know how to use them - your life or your friends life may depend on it!

In the mean time come and have a private ski lesson with me at Coronet Peak and I will give you some useful techniques on how to ski big fat powder so your time in the heli skiing is well used.

The weather looks like we are in for regular snow falls now for the next month so now is certainly the time to get to the snow.

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:

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.

The 2009 New Zealand Winter snow season is gearing up

The last 3 weeks has seen some amazing weather delivering a huge amount of snow to the mountains of the South Island of New Zealand. Queenstown and the Southern Lakes has been getting blitzed by tons of snow.

Coronet Peak is reporting a 80cm base

Remarkables and 130 cm base

Considering I live just below CP and Re i can testify that they are on the money with the snow depth reporting.

There will be lots of excited skiers and snowboarders getting geared up for the opening of Coronet Peak on the 6th of June.

We are stil getting snow today and some more is forecast for later in the week with a big high ridging in after that which wil supply the cold temperatures required for snow making.

We normally say that the snow in May never stays but this time I think it is going and the start of the season will be off to a cracker. The long term forecast for the winter is also good with plenty of good storm system that should deliver plenty of snow for the South Island and North Island ski fields.

I will be starting fairly regular updates to my ski blog from now on - stay tuned!

The quiet September

It's not quite a ghost town but its pretty damn quiet on the snow at Coronet Peak which is great for us locals to enjoy some good spring skiing conditions. In fact they blew some machine snow last night again and the on piste snow is awesome and off piste remaining firm with the cold temperatures. Normally September is bloody busy and especially so when the snow is in as good a nick as it ever has been at this time of year thanks to the vastly improved snow making system.

It does beg the question did SAR (NZSKI) get it wrong this year by not paying commissions and losing lots (The Remarkables are about 30% down on numbers apparently) of skier and snowboarders to Cardrona in particular or is it just the flow on effect of the tighter economic conditions at present combined with Australia having a very good snow season?

My bet is its about 50/50 but the end result remains the same - numbers are down on the NZSKI.com snow areas in the Whakatipu basin. It's a good time to go skiing!

The snow keeps on coming in the Southern Lakes, New Zealand

Huge day at Coronet Peak yesterday with every man and his dog crawling out from under their rocks to ski the 15cms of fresh snow on top of the 110 - 15cms from the day before. Unfortunately district wide power failures (apparently a cow went on a mad rampage in the blizzard and banged up a transformer - highly likely)did not allow the express to open until 1100 but they at least got greengates up and going at around 0930. The snow was awesome and even with the lifts down heaps of happy smiling faces around enjlying some of the best conditions of the season if not the last 2 or 3 seasons!

Still a bit of chaos on the roads and we will have more today because more snow has fallen downtown overnight and another 8cms at the peak and still snowing now.

The CP road has full chain restriction in place - what bollocks! They did that yesterday morning and there was absolutley out of order - 2wd needed chains but not 4wd and same again this morning.

Will post some photos to go with this later today. Enjoy.

Oh heli skiing is great right now and if you are traveling in the backcountry be careful, don't travel alone and get up to speed with www.avalanche.net.nz

All systems are go in the snow!

The snow that came thru on the last storm has certainly made a big difference to the skiing. Everybody is up and go - all the mountain ski resorts and heli skiing are underway. To be sure another good drop on snow soon (ish) in the Queenstown area would be great.

Coronet Peak has had some extremely busy days with over 5000 people on the mtn and 1600 odd thru the snow sports. The building has handled it well. Cars have been parked further down on the side of the road than I have ever seen before and there has been mayhem at the end of the day with everybody wanting to get down at the same time. Word of advice if its busy either leave a touch earlier or head to the bar and relax for a bit (make sure you have a sober driver of course.

Maybe the big pull to Coronet Peak is a combination of the snow making system and the new building being far too intoxicating for punters to go elsewhere - I would imagine that after a rough start the CO is feeling much better now. Hint - hire me for a full day private lesson so you can jump the lines all day long!

We have got another storm brewing and likely to hit on Friday/Sat so I am sure there will be more snow at higher elevation fall and with luck Coronet Peak will pick some more up to along with all the other southern ski areas.

The Amazing Peak

It always amazes me how fast Coronet Peak can change.

We got a 10cm drop of the real stuff last night and wow! On top of all the man made snow that has been produced the conditions went from pretty good on trail skiing to going off trail in many places with yells and woops coming thick and fast. It continued to snow for a few hours this morning before tuning into a mainly fine day.

In behind this small clearance it looks like we are going to get a real snotting tonite and 2moro so if it comes thru (I think it will) Coronet Peak will be ripping!

On another note the first tracks have started now and if you have paid the extra 2hundy on your season pass and get off your arse and hit the slopes at 0800 (1hr before the slopes open to the general public) you get to ski all the fresh lines. This means that you can be having a coffee and admiring your handcrafted signature when the general public get on the lift for there first runs!

Across the valley Remarks looked like it picked up some fresh to but they really need to get pounded out of this system and they have a good chance So with NZ school holidays looming mother nature may just pull one of the bag and comethru with the goodies.

Here is the Metservice forecast for the next several days:

Fri Jul 4 Issued at 1:06 pm 3 Jul 2008 NZST
Becoming cloudy, and outbreaks of rain developing in the morning. Snow lowering to 200 metres in the evening.
Wind at 1000m: Northwest 50 km/h developing in the morning, turning southwest 40 km/h in the afternoon.
Wind at 2000m: Northwest 65 km/h developing in the morning and turnng southwest 60 km/h in the afternoon.
Free air freezing level: Lowering to 400 metres.

Sat Jul 5 Issued at 1:03 pm 3 Jul 2008 NZST
Snow showers clearing during the morning and becoming fine.
Wind at 1000m: Strong southerlies.
Wind at 2000m: Southerlies rising to 80 km/h in exposed places.
Free air freezing Level: Around 400 metres rising to 900 during the day.

Sun Jul 6 Issued at 1:03 pm 3 Jul 2008 NZST
Mainly fine. Southerlies gale force about the tops.

Mon Jul 7 Issued at 1:03 pm 3 Jul 2008 NZST
A few showers in the morning then fine. Winds tending westerly, gale force about the tops.

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!

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.