Planning for the future, managing the present

by Paul Taylor

Anderson says it will reduce that by more than 1000t per annum by partnering with Meridian Energy, which supplies 100% renewable electricity.

It also plans to o set 400t by purchasing carbon credits from Carbonz, which come from native vegetation blocks in the Otago Region. NZSki has been planting trees for a number of years on and around the mountains. ey will eventually begin to sequester carbon, taking over from the credits.

NZSki’s main source of emissions is diesel fuel. It plans to reduce this by investing in its transport eet, teaching and tracking fuel e cient driving techniques, encouraging bus use and carpooling, and using SnowSAT technology to measure snow depth on the main trails and target snowmaking only where it is needed, and trialling hybrid groomers. It will also recycle all waste oils from hospitality and maintenance operation and reduce waste to land ll through aerobic digestion of food waste and reusable tableware.

“It’s a bunch on individual initiatives that all add up. We’ve invested in dishwashing capacity over the last couple of years, for example, which allows us to remove the consumables [plastic kitchen ware. etc.]”

Remarks & Coronet Peak

Change remains the one constant for NZSki as the Queenstown ski elds operator swings into Winter 2023.

As Lakes Business went to press, the company was waiting to hear whether it had been successful in its bid to replace the Shadow Basin chairli at e Remarkables next summer.

It wants a 40-year concession from the Department of Conservation to operate in the conservation area. A decision on the $15 million project was expected by the end of June.

Beyond Shadow Basin, there’s the long-term plan to extend into the next valley, e Doolans, potentially via a 230-metre tunnel, doubling the size of the ski area.

In recent years, it has replaced the Sugar Bowl chairli at e Remarks (2020, costing $17m+) and the Coronet Peak Express (2019, costing $20m) across the basin at Coronet Peak, while Curvey Basin chairli and e Remarks base building are less than 10 years old.

The Remarkables

Elevation: 1943m, 468m vertical drop

Skiable Area: 385 hectares at includes the landmark decision to reduce its emissions by 50 percent this year, as Queenstown Lakes pushes towards its 2030 Carbon Zero target.

By contrast, 2023 could be considered something of a fallow year. But there are still dozens of minor and not-so-minor adjustments to operations, says chief executive Paul Anderson.

“We’re really excited and proud to be able to come out with this pretty bold move this year,” Anderson says.

“I’ve always said to our crew we want to be doing really good tangible initiatives that improve e ciency and lower emissions, so things like our investment in snowmaking, the latest grooming technology and our public transport buses.

“With Destination Queenstown coming out with their ambition . . . we attended a workshop and recognised we’re well placed to take a leadership position on this.”

NZSki has been measuring its greenhouse gas emissions for the past two years. It produces 3000 tonnes of GHG emissions each year.

Anderson says the plan has had an “amazing level of buy in from sta , who are really motivated by it”. Destination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods, a keen skier and one of the driving forces behind Carbon Zero 2030, is also delighted.

“To see a commitment like this in year one, from one of our big players, that’s just huge,” Woods says. “Sometimes it can be harder for a big company to make the move, so hopefully this will encourage other businesses to begin the process.

“2030 is still some ways down the track, so even taking small steps, such as getting rid of single-use cups for example, will start the ball rolling.”

Other projects this year include further major investment in snow making, including more guns at the bottom of Coronet Peak and upgrading the equipment elsewhere.

“Over the years, the technology has got better, so it means we can make more snow in marginal conditions,” Anderson says.

Coronet Peak, which gets about two metres of snowfall

Coronet Peak

Elevation: 1649m, 462m vertical drop

Skiable Area: 280 hectares

Li s: 2 high-speed six-seater chair, 2 quad chairs, 4 surface conveyor li s including a double-covered conveyor

Terrain: 30% beginner, 40% intermediate, 30% advanced

Operating Hours: Daily from 9am - 4pm

Li s: 2 high-speed six-seater chairs (one with Gondola cabins), 1 highspeed quad chair, 1 T-bar, 4 surface conveyor li s

Terrain: approx. 14% learners, 33% intermediate, 25% advanced, 27% Expert

Operating Hours: Open daily 9am to 4pm. Night Ski on Wednesday & Friday 21 June – 1 September and the three school holiday Saturdays in July.

Daily First Tracks 8 - 9am 3 July – 17 Sept each year, now has 211 xed guns and seven portable, while e Remarks, which gets 3.7m, has 148 guns. ere have also been various trial improvements up the mountains and changes to the bus system.

Gridlock peak tra c along Frankton Road means a change to buses to e Remarkables. ey’ll be bookable from the CBD from 7.30am-9.30am, but then only operate from the Frankton interchange. e buses will then take everyone back into town at the end of the day.

“ ey were getting stuck in the tra c, reducing the number of people we could take up the mountain.”

NZSki has also faced some criticism for dropping the season bus pass, which appears to run counter to its plan to encourage more bus use. is year, all season pass holders will get a 10% discount on the $25 daily bus fare instead.

“When we reviewed the usage of the transport season pass last year, on average, people weren’t getting value for money. We had a few people using it a lot, but a lot not using it much at all. We thought it was fairer to apply the discount across every ride day that people took.”

NZSki has also added another two buses to its eet this year, bringing the total to 33 including mini-buses, and has another two-four-wheel drive buses on order for next year.

“We de nitely continue to ensure that the capacity is there for people to make the choice to take public transport up the mountains.” e ski elds have a full complement of around 1000 sta this year.

“Last year, we went into the season still looking for quite a few sta . is year, the workforce is available, Immigration New Zealand has sorted out its processes and we’ve seen a return of working holidaymakers, but the challenge has been housing in Queenstown.” e company has bought Sir Cedrics Tahuna Pod Hostel, on Henry Street downtown, and has converted it to sta accommodation, providing 72 beds, with another 24 to come. It also has seven other houses on Gorge Road and Fryer Street.

Anderson says he’s heard anecdotally of a number of ski instructors who’ve gone elsewhere a er not being able to secure accommodation.

“It’s a legitimate cost of doing business in Queenstown now,” he says. “Over the next couple of years, we’d like to get to the level where we housing about 250 of our sta . About 500 are long-term locals anyway.”

Some of the seasonal sta from e Remarks 2022 are featured on season four of Bravo reality show Snow Crew, which began screening last month.

“It’s a behind the scenes on what it takes to operate a ski eld,” he says. “We had a reasonably good look at it [before it aired]. ere were certainly some interesting things but I think it’s great to see the personalities of the awesome people who work for us coming through.”

Cardrona & Treble Cone

RealNZ-run Cardona Alpine Resort is also working behind the scenes on its next big chairli project.

e ski eld, over the Crown Range about halfway between Queenstown and Wānaka, in May submitted fresh plans for a six-seater Express down into Soho Basin.

e plan is for a 1.2km Dopplemayr li , with associated towers and a heli-pad, opening up a vast area of skiable terrain, and linking to the top of Captain’s Basin.

Plans to expand into Soho Basin, in partnership with renowned Queenstown developer John Darby, were announced back in 2018. Since then, Cardrona has installed the Willow’s Quad on that southern face of Mt Cardrona, adding 65ha, and the Express would open up at least another 100ha.

“It’s like a whole nother Captain’s, essentially, which would be great,” Cardrona & Treble Cone GM Laura Hedley says, “a very exciting project.

“We’ve had consent for a li into Soho for quite a while, since we took on the lease. We needed to do a couple of variations, mainly around the [chair] parking building and the towers, but it’s essentially the same idea. We’ll nd out in the next wee while whether we can pop that li in. We’re all hoping for it.”

Hedley says there’s no rm date on when construction might begin on the project.

“We’ve just got to go through that process of making sure it’s the right time for the company and in the right place, all that sort of stu .” e major change across Cardrona and TC this year is the introduction of dynamic pricing, commonly seen

Cardrona

Elevation: 1860m, vertical drop 600m

Skiable area: 400 hectares

Terrain: 25% Beginner, 25% Intermediate, 30% Advanced, 20% Expert

Li s: 1 express Chondola – 8-person gondola cabins, 6-seater chairs, 2 quad express chairli s, 2 quad xed chairli s, 3 surface conveyor li s (1 covered), 1 platter tow li at ski elds the world over. Essentially, visitors will pay more on busy days, with the aim of managing numbers on the mountains.

“We limited the amount of season passes we sold, no fewer than last year, but we didn’t want to sell more, and also limited the early bird multi-day passes. ose are the two exible come-any-day ones.

“Now we’re selling more in-season passes, were asking people to pick a day or a mountain. So, there’s more pre-planning going into a ski trip but that hopefully means we can manage capacity and everyone gets a better experience when they are there.” at will work out better for many locals, who tend to pick up a full season pass at the cheapest price, the early bird special. e other focus is the dozens of freestyle, race and social events on the mountains, such as the Winter Games NZ, which this year includes the Junior World Championships.

Both ski elds have a full complement of sta this year, with international sta returning. It means all the F&B stands will be open, and Cardrona’s retail store will also reopen, following last year’s re.

Like NZSki, RealNZ has moved to accommodate more sta , taking on the lease of Base Backpackers in Wanaka.

“ at’s given us nearly 120 beds, which really takes a lot of pressure o that local housing environment,” Hedley says.

Treble Cone

Elevation: 1960m, vertical drop 700m

Skiable area: 550 hectares, longest run 4km

Terrain: 10% Beginner, 45% Intermediate, 45% Advanced

Li s: 1 express 6-seater, 1 quad xed chairli , 1 platter tow li

Snow Farm numbers double with limited facilities

by Sue Fea

In the last ve years visitation to Cardrona Valley’s Snow Farm has doubled, as the boomers generation head to the hills for some gentler cross-country skiing.

Snow Farm sports 55kms of groomed trails over 300ha, o ering 69 beds in its four backcountry huts, including the new Musterer’s Hut, which opened last year with 36 beds. irty-four years ago Cardrona Valley runholder John Lee had just sold his Cardrona Ski Area with a vision for Snow Farm as NZ’s rst cross country ski area which opened in 1990.

“Dad always believed the baby boomers were coming through and alpine skiing was not a lifetime sport, knees give out and there are more potential injuries,” says Sam Lee, Snow Farm’s general manager “Cross country skiing is the golf of snow sports, suitable for anyone aged from three to 90.”

“We’re now seeing that vision come to fruition with a new popularity in the sport,” he says.

While alpine skiing remains tremendously popular, Lee says some have become frustrated with their ability to access the alpine elds, especially with car parks lling up several hours before the li s start a er a big dump.

“People’s time and money is precious and Snow Farm’s an a ordable alternative attracting mostly locals at $50 a day, $109 with lessons and rentals.”

More skiers are also accessing the internationally renowned Snow Farm from Queenstown and further a eld as it increases in popularity.

“We’re seeing more people trying snow shoeing. at’s also doubled in the past year,” says Lee.

Operated under the Pisa Alpine Charitable Trust (PACT), since 2012 as a not-forpro t cross-country ski area, the trust was required to return Snow Farm’s base building to its owner and neighbouring business, Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground in October last year.

Le with no base the trust is now fundraising to build a new Snow Farm facility and operating from basic Portacom buildings and shipping containers for this season. As a result it’s unable to run the café or shelter the usual numbers this season, but Lee says the trust is hoping to reach its $1.5m fundraising target by later this year so building can get underway in summer.

To date $430,000 has been raised with the bulk coming from the Otago Community Trust and Central Lakes Trust. “We’ve had a really positive response from private donors with an estimated $20,000 coming in from them. People are reaching into their bank accounts, which all helps, but we really need a large benefactor,” says Lee.

A trust submission to the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Dra Annual Plan attracted more than 100 submissions in favour of the council making some contribution or providing the necessary toilets and infrastructure for the facility.

Lee says one of the greatest challenges this season is managing people’s expectations. With cross country skiers used to turning up at the café and buying hot drinks and food, they’re trying to get the message out that this year will be di erent, he says. Operating from one large Portacom building on loan from Naylor Love, there will be limited indoor seating alongside the rentals area.

“People are usually understanding if they know what to expect but we need to ensure they’re aware they have to bring lunch, time it right, and know that they can drive 12kms down to the Cardrona Hotel for hot chips.”

“Our previous co ee cart really brought the community together with a family atmosphere and while we’re working with various co ee cart providers, we can’t leave the trucks up the mountain. It’s too cold, however, we’ll do all we can to run barbecues and o er that grass roots community vibe.” e limitations aren’t putting school groups o . “We’ve got schools coming from Canterbury, even Wellington this year, and high schools doing cross country skiing for NCEA.”

Shotover Primary School has also booked its usual hut with batches of overnight students coming up to enjoy the experience.

Snow Play o ers a snow experience for those who want a tube slide, snow ght or snowman building. “Some people just want to experience being on snow.”

Snow Farm huts have been more than 80 percent booked out since early June, even with the extra capacity, and it’s still an immensely popular experience for youth groups and local schools.

Snow Farm also supports a plethora of charities and trusts.