Snow-sport country

By JOHN PARKER

Even if you've done no more on snow than slide down a slope on a piece of PVC, flying into Queenstown still cranks up the pulse-rate. There's all that dazzling snow on the Southern Alps underneath the plane as it jets over the mainland; there's the long approach to the airport through hills that seem to brush the wing-tips.

Then it's touchdown. The mountains are serious. The temperatures have you zipping up the Polartec. It's snow-sport country, with three fields at hand - Coronet Peak, the Remarkables, and Cardrona - to cater for every need. Kid or adult, learner or expert, boarder or skier, off-piste adventurer or comfortable cruiser, powder-pumper or chute-shooter - you can find your niche in the way that will see you back the next season for more.

The three contrasting fields also provide natural weather insurance. It's rare for all of them to be closed. If the weather gods frown on one, then one or two of the others will probably be open for business in decent conditions.

First-timers and families usually favour the Remarkables or Cardrona, ski-fields with plenty of friendly slopes and well-honed children's programmes.

The Remarkables, 23km from Queenstown, is accessed from the northern shores of Lake Wakatipu.

It's a versatile field - 70 per cent composed of learner and intermediate terrain - of two halves. The Sugar Bowl side has gentle greens, lovely learner slopes which wind down in wide trails to the four-seat Sugar Bowl chair for another run. But the Sugar Bowl side also has intermediate faces running off the trails, so those wanting something steeper can do their thing and meet the rest of the family at the bottom.

The Shadow Basin side is steeper and harder, mostly into blue/intermediate territory, with narrower, more demanding runs that develop some decidedly interesting bumps and hollows by late morning.

Boarders get a buzz at the Remarkables. The Sugar Bowl side has dedicated jump areas and rails for aspiring aerialists - right under the main chair. Chair riders can admire the jump exploits - and wince at the occasional bone-jarring falls.

The 220ha field also provides off-piste experts and wannabes with a mini-heli-skiing experience in the homeward bound run. An unpatrolled and ungroomed area gained from the Highway trail at the top of the Shadow Basin Chair, it's a run of 1.5km and 350 vertical metres - all the way to the ski road and a regular homeward shuttle service to take you back to the base building for another go.

The Cardrona Alpine Resort in the Crown Range is 57km from Queenstown. Cardrona-dedicated skiers usually stay at the closer town of Wanaka but at only an hour's drive drive along the tarsealed Crown Range road, it's an equally good option from Queenstown.

Cardrona has worked hard and innovatively to develop and maintain its award-winning family reputation and now boasts an excellent children's centre integrated into a comprehensive on-mountain complex which includes apartments as well as restaurants. One of the first fields to install easy-riding "magic carpet" lifts on the learner slopes, the field's extensive rebuilds for this season has enabled a kids' club base. Open from 9.15am to 4.15pm daily, it offers children from 5 to 14 an all-day programme which includes four hours of lessons, hot lunch and games.

The rest of the family can explore the three main basins serviced by the MacDougall's and Captain's quad chairs and the La Franchi double chair. Each run has beguiling opportunities for intermediate skiers, with faces off the runs adding large areas for off-piste skiing. Though Cardrona is not an experts' field, in its 320ha are areas such the Arcadia Chutes which would test anyone - and there are trails, such as the Queenstown Return, with sublime views.

Boarders are welcome at Cardrona. The new season will see even better terrain parks and half-pipes as a result of a $500,000 purchase of the latest snow-shapers - including one machine, the only one in the South Island, that can groom all the way to vertical.

Snow-guns are not needed at Cardrona. At a base height of 1670m above sea-level, season after season it manages to garner snow the way most skiers want it - crisp, light and natural. Its elevation can make things cold and windy at times, so wrap up warmly.

The closest to Queenstown is Coronet Peak at the foot of the Richardson Range. Only 25 minutes away on sealed roads all the way to the base, this long-established field is synonymous with Queenstown's glamour and internationalism.

At 1646m high it's the lowest of the three fields, so Coronet can at times want for quantity and quality of snow, despite its huge investment in snow-guns on all the main runs as insurance against the vagaries of Mother Nature. But when Coronet is up and roaring, its 280ha offer world-class skiing of tremendous variety and challenge, an irresistible magnet for the finest skiers.

Coronet's terrain is 80 per cent intermediate or advanced. Its longest and most popular run is the 1.5km M1, an intermediate-grade experience of wide curves and dips, with plenty of opportunity to warm up the turns. Enjoy it first thing in the morning for a couple of exhilarating swoops before traffic roughs up the carpet-smooth surface put in place by the overnight groomers. Then explore the other runs. You'll discover just how many refreshing routes and challenges - off-piste, moguls, hard-pack, steep and deep, or easy cruising on the groomed - Coronet has on tap to get the skier from the top down to the base.

You needn't stop when dusk falls. Coronet has night skiing from 4pm to 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the season.

All three ski-fields pay attention to their calendars to ensure that each week throughout the season a theme or event will imbue the week with flavour and savour. Some are big and international, such as the Snowboard Nationals, held this season at Coronet and the Remarkables. Others, such as the Disabled Champs in early September at Cardrona, are testimony to the human spirit and the many ways one can enjoy the snow.

And one is an institution - the Queenstown Winter Festival, this season held from July 12 to 21. It celebrates winter with an eccentric mix of events. As well as far too much dining and dancing, there's an international snow sculpture competition, a downtown street parade, fireworks, Mardi Gras, a dog derby, and a celebrity snow day where the rich and famous happily reveal their lack of skills on the white stuff. And sadists can revel in the sight of masochists enduring events like the Undy 500 and the Cold Power Polar Plunge.

If you've any energy left after all that, try heli-skiing. From Queenstown, firms such as Southern Lakes Heli-skiing and Heli-guides Queenstown will take you into a world where snow-groomers never roam.

Queenstown

Case notes

* Getting there

Air New Zealand is the only airline flying direct to Queenstown from Auckland. Economy return (fully inclusive) prices start from $364.60.

Qantas' route is via Christchurch and code shares with Origin Pacific. Its Auckland-Queenstown economy return (fully inclusive) price is $372.60.

Restrictions apply and prices are for people booking 21 days ahead.

* Drive time from Queenstown

Cardrona: 60 minutes

Coronet Peak: 25 minutes

The Remarkables: 45 minutes

* Ski area

Cardrona: 320ha (25 per cent beginner, 55 per cent intermediate, 20 per cent advanced)

Coronet Peak: 280 ha (20 per cent beginner, 45 per cent intermediate, 35 per cent advanced)

The Remarkables: 220ha (30 per cent beginner, 40 per cent intermediate, 30 per cent advanced)

* Full-day ski passes

Cardrona: adult $62, student $51, child $31

Coronet Peak: adult $71, student $58, child $36

The Remarkables: adult $68, student $50, child $34