Skiing in New Zealand Travel Guide

Mt Hutt

Located just 90 mins from Christchurch, Mt Hutt Ski Area is the largest commercial ski field in the South Island with a ski area that spans over 365 hectares.

Services include lessons for individuals, groups and kids as well as programs for advanced, expert and black diamond skiers.

The resort has four freestyle terrain parks, a longest run of 2kms and a steepest vertical drop of 648m. The average snowfall is 4m but is topped up with snowmaking machines covering 44 hectares. The resort also has a variety of restaurants and a ski shop for all your essentials.

As you can see, there’s a lot on offer for skiers of all ability which is probably why it’s been a World Ski Resort winner for the last 3 years.

Craigieburn Valley

Located just 90 mins from Christchurch, Mt Hutt Ski Area is the largest commercial ski field in the South Island with a ski area that spans over 365 hectares.

Services include lessons for individuals, groups and kids as well as programs for advanced, expert and black diamond skiers.

The resort has four freestyle terrain parks, a longest run of 2kms and a steepest vertical drop of 648m. The average snowfall is 4m but is topped up with snowmaking machines covering 44 hectares. The resort also has a variety of restaurants and a ski shop for all your essentials.

As you can see, there’s a lot on offer for skiers of all ability which is probably why it’s been a World Ski Resort winner for the last 3 years.

Broken River

The Broken River Ski Area is a bit of a cross between Mt Hutt and Craigieburn in that it offers amazing off-piste skiing as well as terrain for beginners and casual skiers.

Broken River also has a snow school which run a number of programmes for children and adults of all abilities.

For the more advanced there are off-piste skills courses and avalanche safety courses. They even have instructors in Telemark skiing for all those free-heelers.

Another thing that’ll tempt you at Broken River is the Night Skiing under lights. If you’ve never experienced it, the exhilaration is something else and very addictive!

Whakapapa

Whakapapa Ski Area is the largest of its kind in the country with a skiable area of 550 hectares. Everything at Whakapapa is big and large by the numbers. There are 67 named runs, 12 lifts, a longest run of 2.8km and a top elevation of 2,300m.

Beginners are well serviced at Happy Valley, the country’s premier beginner playground, where you can learn your turns in a completely self-contained learner’s area, free of high-velocity advanced skiers and snowboarders.

Like some of the ski areas already featured, Whakapapa has extensive training lessons and programmes available. These include private instructor lessons, group lessons, academy weekend programmes, school holiday programmes, competitive race coaching, instructor training and more.

Whakapapa also has plenty of eateries in the form of hangouts and bistros as well as the Knoll Ridge Café, the highest café in New Zealand with breath-taking views of Tongariro National Park.

Tūroa

Tūroa Ski Area is on the southwestern side of Ruapehu and is owned by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (who also own Whakapapa). Conveniently you can get a day-pass that allows you to access to all the lifts at Whakapapa and Tūroa.

Tūroa is another large ski area that covers over 500 hectares with 34 named runs and 8 lifts. This includes the longest vertical drop in the country at 722 metres which you get to via New Zealand’s highest chairlift.

The ski area has a nice mix of runs for beginners (20%), intermediate (55%) and advanced (25%) skiers.

One of the big draws for Tūroa are the four terrain parks that it has to offer. These are aptly named Vertigo, Rollercoaster, High Flyer and Wintergarden giving you the opportunity to try a few tricks on the flat boxes, rails and big kickers.

Cardrona

The Cardrona Alpine Resort is one of the most popular ski destinations in New Zealand.

Located in beautiful Wanaka, one of the most Instagrammed places in the country, Cardrona offers breath-taking scenery at every turn. It also has a very equal distribution for its slopes (beginners (20%), intermediate (25%), advanced (30%), expert (20%)) which means it attracts skiers of all levels from novices to Olympic athletes.

Cardona also boasts the most extensive terrain park and halfpipe facilities in the Southern Hemisphere and their four terrain parks make many snowboarders very happy each season.

It’s a very well facilitated resort to boot with ski schools, equipment hire, cafes and restaurants and more.

Coronet Peak

Coronet Peak is a ski area with a reputation for excitement and fun. This is partly due to its night skiing opportunities that it offers 3 nights a week and the epic parties that follow.

It was also New Zealand’s first commercial ski area when it opened in 1947 with only a single rope tow.

It’s come a long way since then and now covers 280 hectares of skiable terrain, two terrain parks, a longest run of 2.4kms and a vertical drop of 481 metres.

Situated 25 minutes’ drive from both Queenstown and the historic Arrowtown, Coronet Peak also has two terrain parks, numerous facilities and is a great place for sledging too.

The Remarkables

The other popular ski area in Queenstown is The Remarkables, set in the world-renowned Remarkables mountain ranges.

The Remarkables ski area is slightly larger than Coronet Peak with 385 hectares of skiable terrain with runs for a mix of abilities (beginners (30%), intermediate (40%), expert (30%)).

Despite having an average snowfall of 3.67m the still have 100 snowmaking guns covering their trails and three terrain parks.

They’ve great facilities at The Remarkables including 3 restaurants and cafes as well as a Mountain Ice Bar at Curvey Basin Junction.

A great option with something for everyone to enjoy to go with fantastic views of Lake Wakatipu below.