We left the hot North American summer in August 2018 for Queenstown New Zealand, where we skied and snowboarded at Cardrona, Coronet Peak, Treble Cone and the Remarkables. New Zealand is as beautiful as everyone describes and the people were even better. So nice and helpful.
If you stay in Queenstown, you can drive or take a bus to four different resorts. Combined, these resorts have as much terrain as a large resort in the United States or Canada.
Cardrona: An hour away from Queenstown, this was our favorite. It has multiple terrain parks for snowboarders, great facilities at the base, and a wide variety of terrain. They also have plans to develop additional terrain and become the largest resort on the southern island of New Zealand. The only problem was that the lift lines can get very long.
Coronet Peak: Only 20 minutes away, Coronet Peak is not only visible from the Queenstown airport, it also has night skiing. The facilities at the base are modern and the mountain was surprisingly large. We loved it here.
Treble Cone: An hour and a half away, this resort is the farthest from Queenstown. But the view of Lake Wanaka makes the trip worth while. So does the hors piste skiing and snowboarding. The mountains of Treble Cone have some very unique topography that we really enjoyed. The facilities are the least modern of the four Queenstown resorts, but the mountain currently has the most skiable terrain. Cardona will be larger when they finish their planned development.
The Remarkables: 30 minutes from Queenstown, the Remarkables is very convenient. Unfortunately, we did not get to spend much time here due to a snowboarding injury, but we can say that the staff was incredibly helpful and the facilities were very nice. We hope to spend more time at the Remarkables next time!
