Sup dudes,

I wanna get over to NZ for some boarding later in the year. Has anyone looked into this and can recommend some deals etc ?

I have so far only looked into Flight Centres deals, but the woman is going to sus out STA @ UQ today. (They did our Euro-trip stuff, so pretty happy with them).

From what I can gather, the peak NZ season is around September ? And the general consensus seems to be Queenstown over Mt Hutt ?

I've looked at going to NZ with some mates before, from what i was told the skiing is good, but there is no on snow accommodation. Last time i looked the snow people said the accomm was about an hr away. So you've got to get up get ready and then there is an hour trip to get to the snow fields. Thats why i keep going back to perisher cos where we stay is on the hillside, so its ski in ski out which is great. I would like to go to canada or aspen or something i reckon that would be mad.

I just booked mine last week. I did it through flight center and from what I was told if you got in before the end of april you get it way cheaper or you get an extra day of boarding in for free. August is the peak time over there but they have the school holidays at the beginning of august so I got it in for the end of august. It came to $1800 with flights and 6 days of boarding and staying in Queenstown. I think the only cheap way of doing it is one of those drive packages where ya gotta drive about an hour each day to get to the mountain.

I walk past those STA's at QUT everyday... how cheap are they really?

I am keen to do this too, but in July. Is July a silly time to be going? I saw a deal in Saturday's Courier Mail for Christchurch - 7 nights, airfares, car hire, boarding pass all for $1300. Looked pretty decent.

What kind of accomodation are you getting for that Snake? Considering buying a board before I go too because I think I would use it enough, do you have a breakdown as to how much you're paying for hire ?

Chub s***s overrated - they just target students, so lower end deals I think

Billy got a scan of that paper for me ?

No:( I can't even remember who it was through.

God you're useless =(

What kind of accomodation are you getting for that Snake?

*
Staying 1 Night at COPTHORNE COMMODORE in Christchurch
In 18 August / Out 19 August

Staying 6 Nights at RYDGES LAKELAND in Queenstown
In 19 August / Out 25 August

Staying 1 Night at COPTHORNE COMMODORE in Christchurch
In 25 August / Out 26 August

Snowboard Starter Pack Lift / Lesson / Hire - 5days
Snowboard Progression Pack Lift / Lesson / Hire- 5days
Jacket and Pants hire for 5 days x 1
Ski Mountain Transfers
Christchurch - Queenstown - Christchurch Coach transfer

1899 per person $ 3,798.00

TRAVEL INSURANCE:
Covermore Plan I, area 4 , 12 days, NIL excess
$90 per person

last edited by Snakeman at 12:41:03 08/May/07

Wanaka for skiing - treble cone, cadrona and some other joint I forget.
Queenstown for skiing + nightlife + asians + crowded lifts and noobs.

Wanaka has probably gained popularity since last time I was there but my uncle goes almost every weekend (in ski season) and still prefers it, he isn't a noob as he was going to go to the para-olympics NZ team but couldn't afford it.

But still queenstown for the nightlife + skiing. Or go both!

Trebble Cone would be great for advanced skiers, when I went there it was zero visibility and really couldn't enjoy it that much. Cadrona is awesome for beginners as most of the runs are very wide, open, and groomed.

There is VERY limited accommodation at the snow, which fookin' sucks. Thats why Mt. Hotham in Vic = best resort and skiing in AUS.

So would you say go Hotham ctd ?

I prefer Falls or Thredbo to Hotham. But Aussie snow is so unreliable. Been there in August and its been bare (been there when its dumped a meter over night tho too) and been there in late September and seen it dump a meter.

NZ is more reliable but ... the weather can close the fields for extended periods of time, the roads to them can be scarey (mainly because of the Japanese tourists and Aussie that don't get icey roads = mutherfookin scarey). That and the fields themselves are relatively unprotected (no trees) so when weather closes in, it gets pretty miserable.

jmr, I am just saying that it sucks to have to drive to the snow every day. Hotham has cheap accommodation right on the snow.

As obes said Aussie snow is unreliable, I haven't been skiing in like 6 years but my family goes down every year and last year it was terry-bad apparently.

NZ is much nicer. I go to NZ once or twice a year and me uncle always says how nice its going at the snow. Boring country, nice snow :P

when does the season start in NZ ?? im going over with my gf's family in late june (25th or 26th we hit queenstown) and im a little worried there wont be snow =\

I don't mind driving to the fields, just have to hire a sweet turbo awd audi =D

The ski season is from like June - October. We went over in September last year and the snow was great.

I hate to break it to you guys but its been hot as f*** here at the moment which has some of the locals freaked. I am really hoping that it cools down in the next couple of weeks.

when does the season start in NZ

Coronet Peak 9th of June
Remarkables 23rd of June
Cardrona 22nd of June
Treble Cone 26th of June
Ohau 14th of July
Mt Hutt 9th of June
Snowpark TBA

There have been a whole heap of canons installed on most of the mountains, but the such fire winner is mt hutt, it got slammed last year avg 2.3m snowbase. Myself I am keen to do a trip to ohau for a weekend, rather than riding the local mountains all the time.

last edited by HerbalLizard at 20:37:13 08/May/07

We went over in September last year and the snow was great.

I prolly saw you there Tim - I was the stupid nub axing himself down the Big Easy!

but the such fire winner is mt hutt

What the f*** does that mean

sure fire?

Ah ok - I like that news.. I went to Mt Hutt on a school ski trip, we stayed in Methvyn (sp?) and drove up on a bus every day, absolutely beautiful little town, and the snow was unreal the year we went

I prolly saw you there Tim - I was the stupid nub axing himself down the Big Easy!

lol, I really liked skiing but I was pretty s*** about it. I think what I liked the most was just being their with my mates and having a good time..oh and also leaving my bloody work phone several hundred miles away :D

If anyone is interested Wakatipu Ski Club are having their Annual sale at the Queenstown Events Center on the 27th of May for those that are getting here a bit earlier in the season

What does the Annual sale involve ?

Sale on most of the rental gear, as well as some of the retailers clear out last years gear

anyone know of any deals just for accommodation/ski pass/ transport to & from/flights? - that is excluding lessons and board hire... we want to get our own boards.

Staying 1 Night at COPTHORNE COMMODORE in Christchurch
In 18 August / Out 19 August

Staying 6 Nights at RYDGES LAKELAND in Queenstown
In 19 August / Out 25 August

Staying 1 Night at COPTHORNE COMMODORE in Christchurch
In 25 August / Out 26 August

Looks like my itenery when I went almost 2 years ago!
Rydges is not the best accomadation - but you wont be there long so it doesnt matter. The Commodore if its the same place ROCKS JOX! Rooms were sweet and massive!
Have fun dudes!

jmr I got a booklet from a travel agent yesterday that lists a lot of deals. Hire and lesson was about $37 from memory, or $101 for three days.

Sweet, might need to get one, where'd you get it from

I just got it out of the car. The company is called "Value Tours" and I picked it up from the travel agency at UQ. It's quite comprehensive and lists the major skiing hotspots and summarises each ski field in terms of lifts, average snowfall, acres of skiable area and soem other nice stuff.

It then has descriptions of over a dozen places to stay at each place and then prices for each depending on how many people you have, whether you rent a car or catch the bus, or fly into either Christchurch or Queenstown. It's about $40 - $90 extra to fly directly to Queenstown depending on which mountain/s you plan on skiing at (probably worth it seeing as it saves you a +4hour drive).

From what I've seen it's not necessarily the cheapest offers, but there's a lot of stuff included that I wouldn't use so it's a good starting point. I'm considering emailing a couple of the places directly and asking for quotes and seeing if it'd be much cheaper just to organise it all myself.

cc me in the emails 1337ski@josh.net.au

I have skied Remarkables which was great. It's quite freestyley with heaps of steep slopes, jumps and half pipes.

Then I skied Coronet Peak. Coronet Peak was more about long slopes and winding paths and longer runs. It had some really great runs. Awesome powder and nice long runs there for your exploration.

I liked it the best.


last edited by dynamite at 21:27:57 10/May/07

So I'm trying to work out whether its worth going or not, the only leave I can get is from the 8th of October

Is this too late to go sus out NZ? I know they just got a good dump, but its a month from now :(

Random post.

I'm going to NZ on the 17th of November to celebrate my 21st.

Going to be pwner, never even been out of Queensland.

All they need is a bit of rain and all the snow will be gone and that could easily happen between now and October 8th.

We booked EVERYTHING the week before we left. 6 nights, car hire, flights, booze, food, EVERYTHING cost less than $2k a person.

How was it? Where'd you end up going ?

Queenstown baby. It was f***ing unreal. Went with one other mate. Met up with heaps of new people, none of which I will ever see again. Drank way too much and hit the slopes very hard. Only boarded on Remarkables where we could walk straight onto the chair lifts rather than driving 40 mins to Coronet and waiting ages in lines. Also, because we slept til 10 each morning we could get afternoon passes each day at the slopes which ended up being less than half price of what it would have been if we paid before we left.

Anyone else heading this way?

So its probably not worth buying lift passes in a deal or anything hey? Especially if I am going in october

I just got back a week ago after staying a week in Queenstown. The mountains were fine for boarding on but at the end of the week it looked like they were in desperate need of a good dump. Coronet Peek was patchy as even with the artificial snow but Remarkables seem to be ok all week.

Oh yeh, if ya staying in Queenstown ya gotta eat at a place called "The Cow" best f***ing bread I have ever tasted.

Isn't it true that you have to travel for like an hour to the slopes over in NZ from your accommodation? If so, f*** that.

Yeh the 2 closes mountains are about a 40 min bus trip. Remarkables is up some dodgey dirt track. There is only one place in NZ that lets you stay on the snow but its meant to be a rip off.

Isn't it true that you have to travel for like an hour to the slopes over in NZ from your accommodation? If so, f*** that.

If you stay in Lake Wanaka(40 minutes from Queenstown there are 3 ski fields within a 15-25 minute drive.
Including the road to the snow farm where Possum Bourne died.

If you stay in wanaka and need to get ski/board gear goto 'The Green Toad' 2 owner dudes run the place awesum fellas.
they also do the cheapest wax and cuts

last edited by Fnukle at 17:40:54 06/Sep/07

It took as 40 minutes consistently to get up to the mountain and the same time to get back down, which flies by cause you're so scared off dying from rolling off the cliff. Drive times really didn't bother me whatsoever. We started picking up hitchers too to meet knew people.

For accommodation I highly recommend "Millennium Hotel Queenstown". We booked through wotif and got a sweet deal. The location of this place is f***ing awesome - walking distance to the city centre even on 6 below nights, and right on the main drag that leads to the mountains. It had a little gym, spa, 24 hour desk and anythign else you'd expect out of a 4/5 star hotel.

I don't know about the Green Toad in Wanaka but the one in queenstown deals out dodgy gear. Both sets of boots people hired from them in our group were quite old and in bad shape. The only board we got off them was an unwaxed, old, chunked up piece of rubbish. The gear people were using supplied by the mountain looked in far better shape.

The after lunch pass probably is a good idea if you are trying to save some money and like to live in the park but if you actually get a nice dump of snow like we did you are going to miss out on being able to make your own tracks in the pow. You also miss out on hitting the groomers when they aren't chopped up. However, if its icy I guess by lunch time it has softened up a bit.

Well my mate rented his gear from somewhere in town and he got really good boots, bindings and board. From memory they didn't charge him the extra day he kept it too because he dislocated his shoulder.

If your going to hire gear, get it from Alta. Buy our own outerwear, googles, boots and gloves. You can get some stuff dirt cheap if you know were to look. It was cheaper to order some of my outerwear from Dogfunk.com (aka Backcountry) rather than buy it here. Also torpedo7.co.nz or com.au have some cheap gear.

Personally I have gotten so used to the drive up the remarkables access road, I think its a nice secenic drive, bit dusty at times though. Personally I am not a fan of the Treble Cone Access road its 7km less than the remarks, but its a really really s***y drive.

I have been thinking of running smalll tours down here for winter, it would be nice to even host a qgl trip even for next season.

last edited by HerbalLizard at 13:32:12 07/Sep/07

So, we are going on the 8th of October to Queenstown, which mountains are most likely to have the snowiest snow?

danthepirate: True that the green toad in Queenstown has nasty gear.
the Wanaka gear is(/was last year) pretty new as the shop itself is rather new. if your not happy with the gear you get ask for newer s***.

doesnt matter how old or new the boots are just how comfy they are.
$22 a day for boots and board.

heaps of places to get gear from tho just found them the cheapest and choicest