Ready, steady, ski

South Island skifields have been pumping money into facilities. As early snow blankets some slopes, FLIP BYRNES and MONIQUE DEVEREUX compare the fields

Those who head south for the coming ski season will find there's been huge investment in terrain parks and snowmaking facilities during the summer.

Three of the main South Island skifields changed ownership two years ago, from Air New Zealand to the locally owned Southern Alpine Resort Recreation. Since then, under the nzski.com brand, they have upgraded them with bigger chairlifts, sprucing up buildings and improving the ski areas.

NZ Ski.com chief executive Duncan Smith says the company has been given a huge incentive to improve its product by the dramatic fall in air fares and the introduction of direct flights from Australia to Queenstown. "Just because we're in the South Island doesn't mean it is difficult to get here any more."

The improved air service and the closeness of the skifields to town mean the Queenstown fields are incredibly accessible. "You can fly in, check in the motel and be on the skifield, all in an hour."

Smith says the company's aim is to broaden the appeal of the skifields. "We want to encourage people to ski more, we want to keep people coming back to it, so we are going to continue to make the whole experience as easy to do as possible.

"If the average family has one holiday a year together and they want to go skiing, we want them to come to our place to do it, so we intend to make it attractive to try it and easy to keep coming back."

MT HUTT

Mt Hutt, near charming Methven, is Powder Central in the Southern Alps and it has good news for those who like to get off the beaten path.

Rakai Chutes (nicknamed the Poor Man's Heli for those who like powder but have to walk to get it) will now be accessed by buses from the main resort to the drop-off zone, all included on the daily lift pass.

In keeping with an extreme theme, they have spent the off-season creating a 10,000sq m terrain loaded with jumps and features, including a 100m vertical drop, plus plenty of rails. The features will be moulded earthworks, so Mt Hutt will need less snow and can open earlier and close later.

Mt Hutt now has a heli-pad in the carpark. That has to be the best way to access the big white wave.

A range of passes for the nzski.com fields at Mt Hutt, The Remarkables and Coronet Peak, and deals on some other fields, are on sale at NZ Ski.

THE REMARKABLES

The slightly smaller resort of The Remarkables, accessed through Queenstown, hasn't got car-park heli, but they have got into the baggy-pant-freeride movement with a redesigned Terrain Park, including rails and feature areas with hits, jumps and inanimate objects suited for all levels: novice, intermediate and advanced riders.

The development will triple the size of the terrain park at the top of Sugar Bowl basin and will include a 150m Superpipe built to full FIS standards.

This all gives a great place for the Snowsports School to play in its Learning to Ride packages plus, of course, a play-pen for the independent dude.



CORONET PEAK

The big news coming out of Coronet Peak for this season is snowmaking and loads of it.

The resort has invested millions in a fully automated snowmaking system, which will result in up to 30 per cent more snow on targeted trails.

The system is computer-controlled, enabling rapid start-up as soon as conditions permit. In addition, there are individual weather stations on each gun which will be programmed to optimise every window of opportunity for snowmaking.

A total of 14ha on three main trails will be covered by the extended snowmaking.

CARDONA

A new high-speed quad chairlift is always great news, and the Whitestar Express at Cardrona, near Wanaka, will be no exception.

It replaces the old La Franchi lift, will halve the journey time to less than four minutes and is capable of carrying 7800 people an hour. I

The resort has real-time reservations, which means reservations can be updated more efficiently, and Skiwees Kids Club programme will operate all day (10am to 4pm) for all ankle-biters 5-12 years.

For the bigger kids (13-17), Phat Freeski Sessions are three-day camps from Tuesdays, July 6 and 13, and September 21. Camps will explore Rail-Riding, Big Mountain and Air. Others can stick to the freestyle play-features on the Heavy Metal Trail, which will run under the new quad chair.



TREBLE CONE

Famous for small queues, amazing views, challenging terrain and excellent coffee and powder, Treble Cone has long been a locals' choice.



Adult lift ticket prices for one day this season are: Coronet Peak $77, The Remarkables/Mt Hutt $72 (an NZ Ski Pass also accesses all these areas), Cardrona $68, Treblecone $75.

* Next Tuesday, Travel will look at developments at skifields across the Tasman.