By admin 
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Every year from June to October, the towering mountains of New Zealand will be covered with snow, turning into a beautiful winter dream world. ”
Why choose to ski in New Zealand?
When the summer in the northern hemisphere is hot, New Zealand, located in the southern hemisphere, is welcoming the snowy winter. Tourists from all over the world flock here to spend the summer, ski and enjoy the magnificent snow-capped mountains and lakes.
New Zealand’s ski resorts are mostly close to well-known towns or scenic national parks. Besides skiing, there are a wide variety of outdoor sports such as mountain biking, paragliding, rock climbing, heli-skiing, glacier hiking, volcano hiking, etc. In addition, magnificent mountains and lakes, picturesque pastures and unique food also make people linger.
New Zealand has an advanced and perfect ski teaching system. Each ski resort provides a variety of courses and is equipped with experienced senior ski instructors, which is undoubtedly a great boon for skiing beginners.
New Zealand’s unique geographical location and climatic conditions make it a world-famous ski resort, with ski resorts all over famous mountains. Excellent snow conditions, perfect service and advanced facilities bring an excellent skiing experience for skiers.
New Zealand’s ski resorts cover a vast area. In addition to many wide snow trails leveled by snowmobiles and topographic parks with rich facilities, there are also large natural wild snow areas to explore. Many ski resorts can be called paradises for beginner, intermediate and advanced skiers and wild snow lovers.
Additionally, adventurous and highly skilled skiers can also try exciting helicopter alpine skiing.
How to plan a New Zealand ski trip?
accommodation
It is recommended to make a good strategy before traveling and book air tickets, accommodation and transportation in advance. New Zealand accommodation options are diverse, ranging from luxury boutique hotels, serviced apartments and ordinary hotels to motels, backpackers and youth hostels.
traffic
Major town centers usually have regular shuttle buses to and from major ski resorts, making travel convenient. If you plan to drive by yourself, be sure to familiarize yourself with New Zealand traffic rules, unique road conditions and driving environment before you leave. Snow chains must be prepared in the car, and most car rental companies offer rental services.
Equipment
If you don’t have or don’t want to bring your own ski gear, it’s easy to rent high-quality ski gear locally.
Introduction to New Zealand’s ski resorts
Mount Ruapehu, the highest peak in the North Island of New Zealand, has two major ski areas: Huakapapa Ski Resort on the northwest slope and Turova Ski Resort on the southwest slope. Together, they form the largest ski area in New Zealand, and belong to the same company. Snow tickets and season cards are common.
Huacapapa Ski Resort
Whakapapa Ski Area
Huakapapa Ski Resort is the largest ski resort in New Zealand, with a skiable area of 550 hectares. Designed for beginners, the “Happy Valley” area features an exclusive cable car and magic carpet, making it perfect for beginners to get started. From the intermediate road, you can slide smoothly from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain, and there is abundant snowfall in the snow resort, so the wild snow area is extremely challenging.
Length of snow season: Mid-June to late October
Turova Ski Resort
Turoa Ski Area
Turova Ski Resort has a skiable area of 500 hectares and has the largest vertical drop in Oceania (722 meters). Visitors can take the high-speed cable car to the altitude of 2,322 meters, and hike the Mangatulu Tulu Glacier to the crater of Mount Ruapehu to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the dammed lake. There are some elementary areas in the ski resort for beginners to experience. There are 12 intermediate trails that can slide smoothly from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain, and there are 25 advanced trails. Thanks to the natural wild snow bowl and U-groove terrain formed by abundant snowfall, there are many double black diamond difficult areas here, attracting experienced and challenge-loving skiers.
Length of snow season: Mid-June to late November
Hart Mountain Ski Resort
Mt Hutt
Hart Mountain Ski Resort is a large high-altitude ski resort in the South Island, with a skiable area of 365 hectares, which is suitable for skiers of all levels. It is characterized by providing heli-skiing services, and has a number of terrain parks with different difficulties and special skiing teaching facilities, which is very suitable for family experience. The ski resort has one high-speed cable car for six, four and three people, as well as two teaching cable cars. The six-passenger cable car goes straight to the top, with a choice of intermediate or advanced trail slides.
The snow resort has a huge bowl-shaped terrain with a natural snowfall of 4 meters. It has 4 large terrain parks and a number of challenging double-black advanced trails, which is favored by freestyle skiers and wild snow challengers.
Length of snow season: mid-June to mid-October
Crown Peak Ski Resort
Coronet Peak
Crown Peak is the closest ski resort to Queenstown, with a ski area of 280 hectares. Towering mountain peaks and long snowy trails allow experienced skiers to gallop to their heart’s content, and night skiing is open on weekends. Provide “First Ski Experience” for new snow lovers from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. every day. The ski resort has a six-person high-speed cable car and two four-person high-speed cable cars, with sufficient capacity, and two terrain parks.
Length of snow season: late June to early October
Excellence Mountain Ski Resort
The Remarkables Ski Area
Excellence Mountain Ski Resort covers an area of 385 hectares and is famous for its friendly and convivial atmosphere, high altitude and sunny snow slopes. In addition to the large primary area, the ski resort also has three terrain parks, including the only “Stash” log theme park in the southern hemisphere designed by snowboarding master Burton. The snow resort is equipped with a six-person cable car and three three-person cable cars, which have strong capacity.
Length of snow season: Late June to mid-October
Carderona Alpine Resort
Cardrona Alpine Resort
Cardrona is the most popular ski resort in the South Island, with wide and high-quality terrain, and a ski area of 345 hectares, distributed in three main canyons. It contains the largest terrain park in the southern hemisphere, and is a famous freestyle ski resort in New Zealand. It has a snowboarding slope skill competition venue and U-shaped groove.
There are magic carpets dedicated to the elementary teaching area with glass storm covers, New Zealand’s first hanging box cable car, and restaurants serving world cuisines such as coffee, western food and Asian noodle bar. Two ski schools for children and teenagers offer a variety of ski holiday experiences for ski enthusiasts, especially families and beginners.
Length of snow season: Late June to early October
Three Cone Mountain Ski Resort
Treble Cone Ski Area
Three Cone Mountain is the largest ski resort in the South Island, with a skiable area of 550 hectares and the longest vertical drop in the South Lake area. Invincible views overlooking Lake Wanaka on the intermediate trail “Raffles Run”.
In addition to snow trails of various difficulties, Sanzui Mountain is also famous for its thrilling wild snow outside the road, such as the famous “Peak Road” and “Saddle Basin”, which is a paradise for powder snow and wild snow masters.
Length of snow season: Late June to early October
Every time you ski, you can enjoy the postcard scenery, and appreciate the unique charm of towering mountains, blue lakes and New Zealand’s characteristic resorts. This is what it’s really like to enjoy an unforgettable ski holiday in New Zealand.
On the South Island, there are world-class ski schools, hotels close to the ski resorts that offer transport from the door to the slopes, and great value all-inclusive ski packages. The exquisite cuisine, adventure activities and wineries of the surrounding towns are also great experiences not to be missed. On the North Island, you can gallop at the largest commercial ski area in New Zealand-Mount Ruapehu Active Volcano Ski Resort, which will surely be a memory you will never forget!
