31 Mar 2009
Winters on its way
looks like winter 2009 is on it’s way in – theres a little over 2 months left before the first fields open and the season gets underway.
If you are going to spend the 2009 Ski season in New Zealand, theres quite a large number of options for you. Most of the big Commercial fields are hiring assuming that you can get there late May / early June, everyones selling season passes for vastly different sums of money and of course you will need gear.
So thats the subject of some new articles and posts to come on this site.
First off, heres the major resorts and opening dates (depends on the weather gods), plus current season pass prices:
North Island
| Mountain | Opens | Season Pass |
| Whakapapa / Turoa | 20/06/2009 | $385 until 30/04/2009 |
South Island
| Mountain | Opens | Season Pass |
| Mt Hutt | 13/06/2009 | $879 until 05/06/2009 |
| Cardrona | 26/06/2009 | $690 until 30/04/2009 |
| Coronet Peak | 06/06/2009 | $999 until 05/06/2009 |
| The Remarkables | 20/06/2009 | Uses Coronet pass |
| Treble Cone | 27/06/2009 | $1.5k until 15/05/2009 |
| Ohau | 28/06/2009 | $499 until 30/04/2009 |
Both Islands / Combos
| Mountain | Opens | Season Pass |
| Whakapapa / Turoa / Cardrona | Varies | $755 until 30/04/2009 |
| Hutt / Remarks / Coronet | Varies | $1199 until 05/06/2009 |
The North Island passes are the best value by far – but many will want to stay in Queenstown / Wanaka. Treble Cone Priced itself out of the market today – leaving the Remarks / Coronet or Cardrona. Difficult choice – do your homework! It should be mentioned that Ohau is $85 as an add-on to and Hut / Remarks / Coronet pass, and if you get Cardrona you shoudl really pay the extra $65 and add Whaka / Turoa on – it’s less than the cost of a day pass and they are among the best slopes in the country.
Stay tuned for job news, resort info and more over the next couple of weeks. If you are already there, head north, get some sun and get ready 
.
