Queenstown, NZ

Jeff, Matt and I set off on a five-day adventure to New Zealand.  We had been planning the trip for a while, and all of us have had a really busy couple of months, so it was a nice break to look forward to. 

We stayed in Queenstown and skied at two different resorts around the area – Coronet Peak and Codrona.  While they aren’t the biggest ski fields we have been to, it was beautiful.  The New Zealand landscape is unlike anything I have ever seen.  Hopefully we’ll find the time to come back in the warmer months to explore the hiking and beaches.

We skied at Coronet Peak on Saturday and had a great day – the weather held out and we were able to see the mountain, and the beautiful lake views.  They hadn’t had snow in a few days, so several runs were sheets of ice, and some had big rocks sitting in the middle of them, but other runs were great.

On Sunday we made the 40-minute drive to Codrona, only to find that they had fresh snow (YAY!), but crappy visibility.  After four runs of not being able to see 6 feet in front of me, I went back to the lodge, bought a book and a hot chocolate, and waited out the cloud.  The cloud beat me.  Actually, it beat all of us.  After a bit, the boys came in because it was just too hard to ski with not being able to see anything.  Matt apparently tried to ski right over top of a snowboarder (though the guy likely deserved it…stupid snowboarders!)

On Monday, we went back to Coronet Peak, where they had gotten about 4” of fresh snow overnight…the visibility wasn’t great, but we had high hopes of fresh snow…I went down hard on the first run – it could have been because Jeff ran over my skis or it could have been because I caught an edge – the jury is still out.  We made it over a part of the mountain that was pretty clear and did a good number of runs…then, the cloud gods were conspiring against us, and once again, the visibility was awful.  Back to the lodge I went.

All in all, Queenstown is such a great little town…we loved it.  We have been spoiled in recent years with perfect weather and perfect snow on our ski trips, so our expectations were likely a little high...BUT, we’ll definitely be back.  New Zealand has such a cool feel to it.

Skiing at Coronet Peak

Shots of German Schapps at the Ice Bar atop Coronet Peak.

Clouds moving back in. They were not our friends.

This guy hiked all the way up the mountain with his two dogs leading the way.

13km of this on the way up to Cardrona.  This was one of few stretches with a guard rail.

Chains were required the last day up to Coronet Peak.  We got this ...

... or maybe we'll let this friendly bloke help out.

Gondola running up a hillside bordering Queenstown.

A sequoia in Quuenstown

Pub where we ran into the Customs crew

Queenstown Mall

Lake Wakatipu

Queenstown from the top of the Gondola

That white peak in the distance is the Coronet Peak ski field.