Ski Fields

A new Cardrona Alpine Resort and Treble Cone ski facility in Wānaka is set to open its doors on 1 June.

Resorts are preparing for a season they hope will build on the strength of 2020’s domestic-only surge.

Ski resorts around the country have successfully negotiated with Immigration New Zealand to allow a number of top level workers from abroad into the country for the upcoming season.

It’s promising to be a busy southern ski season, says the airline.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts has launched its Apprentice Instructor Programme to recruit Kiwis as international staffing remains difficult.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts says its Whakapapa and Tūroa ski slopes are nearly ready for the season with recent work undertaken on its High Noon Express chairlift and Sky Waka Gondola.

SAANZ wants the specialist staff in from June to help ski fields open and operate safely.

Two new winter music festivals are to hit southern ski slopes in the same week in September.

Young Kiwis are being urged to do a domestic OE in a ski region this winter.

Cardrona Alpine Resort will open its 65 hectare Willows Basin in time for this winter’s ski season following the installation of a chairlift.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts says it is now working with potential investors, who could end up buying half the business.

The ski field operator is offering up half its business for a strategic investor to help develop opportunities.

Snow blanketing southern ski fields has forced them to close their summer activity operations.

Operators are planning for a domestic-only 2021 and are growing warier of the effects of global warming.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts has cut the number of 2021 season passes for its Mt Ruapehu ski fields by 20%.

The second week of the school holidays is looking promising for Mt Ruapehu ski fields, says Ruapehu Alpine Lifts chief executive Jono Dean.

Ski destinations are leading the top 10 trending destinations ‘rediscovered’ by Kiwis, according to Booking.com. 

Construction on the multi-million dollar Nor’west Express lift at Mt Hutt will begin in October.

Campervan operator Travellers Autobarn has teamed with NZSki and other adventure operators to offer value packs to customers.

Mt Hutt is celebrating after a kea paid a visit to the mountain, the first to be seen at Mt Hutt in three years.

Ohakune-based iwi Ngāti Rangi is calling on visitors to stay away from Ruapehu after a person who has tested positive for Covid-19 visited Whakapapa and Tūroa ski fields.

NZSki and Wayfare’s ski fields close for the day while other large operators make adjustments or shut Auckland businesses.

The Sugar Bowl Express chairlift at The Remarkables will open this Saturday 1 August, giving visitors lift access to the Sugar Bowl Basin for the first time this season.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts chief executive Jono Dean said the new car park booking system helped ease the traffic congestion.

The new booking system would be free this season and would operate for the busiest 10 of the 17 weekends that the mountain is open in winter.

The Remarkables will continue its daily operations daily for a further one more week after a busier-than-expected school holiday period. 

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts have updated its new carpark booking system following an uproar from the public.

CEO Ian Jackson says forward bookings are good but Covid has halved staff numbers on the operator’s ski fields.

The Remarkables would be open daily for two weeks during the July school holidays until Sunday 19 July, then weekends only.

Mt Ruapehu has officially opened for the season, with snow arriving in time for the July school holidays.

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern, tourism minister Kelvin Davis and Tourism New Zealand chief executive Stephen England-Hall will attend today’s opening of the ski season at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

Booking.com says Kiwis are showing a promising appetite for winter travel and recreation.

After years of international growth, operators are pinning hopes on the domestic market but losses appear inevitable.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts aims to limit ski field numbers to 4500 a day at Whakapapa and 3700 at Turoa, says RAL chief executive Jono Dean.

The first major snowfall of the season marks good news for the Southern Lakes ski areas, says Destination Queenstown.

The move comes as ski fields prepare to open and enables the hard-hit events sector to plan for a restriction-free recovery.

More than 2000 people headed up Mt Ruapehu over the long weekend to sightsee and ride the Sky Waka.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts is planning to open its first ski area on Mt Ruapehu in late June or early July, says RAL chief executive Jono Dean.

NZSki, RAL and Cardrona Alpine Resorts say they have agreed level 2 guidelines with the government.

People will be allowed to travel for tourism and operators such as ski fields could be open.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts operational team members have commenced general maintenance work on Mt Ruapehu in preparation for the winter ski season, says RAL chief executive Jono Dean.

The decision paves the way for the consolidation of ski field ownership in the wider Wanaka area.

Cardrona Alpine Resort near Wanaka has postponed its summer opening after a dump of snow this week.

Mt Hutt has taken out the title of New Zealand’s best ski resort for the fifth year in a row at the World Ski Awards in Austria.

Ground has officially broken on the new Sugar Bowl chairlift at The Remarkables Ski Area in Queenstown.

A group of 35 Chinese Winter Olympic Games staff took the slopes of Mt Ruapehu in a bid to hone their rescue knowledge and techniques in time for the World Cup and the Winter Olympic Games in 2022.

The operator has promoted its Whakapapa GM Jono Dean to take over from Ross Copland.

Cardrona Alpine Resort plans to have its first chairlift installed into the 500 hectare Soho Basin extension in time for winter 2022.

NZSki funding for The Kea Conservation Trust will see the body extend its monitoring efforts from The Remarkables ski field across Ben Lomond from early 2020.

A collaborative mountain effort has led to the establishment of New Zealand’s first-ever Spring Ski Week.