Coronet Peak Heralds Beginning Of New Zealand Ski Season (06-Jun-10)

Coronet Peak, New Zealand, June 6, 2010 - The New Zealand Ski Season

The New Zealand ski season started today when the first ski resort opened.  Coronet Peak ski area, near Queenstown in the South Island, opened this morning.

The sun was shining on the over 1500 people who flocked to the slopes to greet the first day of the season.  The snow base is 55 cm.  

New this season is the Meadows Express Chairlift which was officially opened yesterday (Friday 4th June) in advance of today’s opening of the slopes.  According to NZSki’s CEO, James Coddington, “The chairlift is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, with its innovative automatic safety bar and kids stop features.”  The Meadows Express is able to move 2000 passengers per hour.

In a world’s first, skiers and riders at Coronet Peak (and sister ski areas Mt Hutt and The Remarkables) will experience the new Radio Frequency (RF) pass system.  The RF system is a fully integrated online platform which allows users to pre-purchase product online before arriving at the mountain.  Individuals’ passes, known as ‘mypass’ allow users to load up their lift tickets, lessons and rental items online and the pass is re-usable.

The New Zealand ski resorts are renown for early starts, long seasons and great snow.  The 2010 season is no exception with the first ski area opening on its scheduled opening date.

Mt Hutt ski area, only 90 minutes from Christchurch, is gearing up to open on Saturday 12 June.  The mountain is already covered in 1 metre of snow and staff are working hard to have the slopes in peak condition for opening day.

Other South Island resorts are scheduled to open in subsequent weeks.