UKC

Has anyone been to this ski resort? Is so, what's it like for intermediate/advanced? Is there much off-piste?

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan: Never skied there, because I was (am) a beginner. It has a lot of more advanced terrain: check out the piste map http://www.treblecone.com/MountainInfo/trail-map.asp which shows the amount of black runs compared to others. Seems to be a reasonable amount of off piste. It's the biggest field in NZ.
Wanaka is lovely, I can certainly attest to that!
Sam

In reply to Sam L:

cheers for the map link. It looks good!

I was looking for a resort to do a season at without all the après-ski drinking that is predominant in places like Meribel (e.g. Le Pub, etc.) which I'm really not into (i'd rather be up with a clear head).

I guess NZ is less into the après drinking or am I wrong?

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan: I was only there for the first week of the season, but Wanaka is pretty quiet really. There aren't loads of bars or clubs, so apres options are limited, and I don't think it's too mental - they are much smaller than European equivalents, so I guess they have a more sedate apres ski life. As I say, I was only really there from late summer til early winter, so can't really comment on the season proper. I say go for it though, it's a wicked place!
Sam

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan:

TC is good, with plenty of backcountry accessible from its slopes, but avos often a problem. Actually the patrollers set off a small avo that swept down the middle of the main slope near all the people one morning a couple of years ago when I was there!

Note that there is no accomodation, and not much in the way of facilities, at the NZ 'resorts'. So you have a 30min or so drive every morning, up 'interesting' roads. All the accomodation is in towns like Wanaka, Queenstown etc. Queenstown (nearest fields The Remarkables, Cardrona) certainly has a bigger apres party scene than Wanaka. Wka is OK, but pretty quiet really.

Note also there is a big new telepherique type thing planned for TC, to cut out driving the windy road, so that will impact the place in future seasons.

Some of the best and steepest sking in NZ is at the club fields like Temple Basin and Craigieburn. You may be able to get a job at these places, but get in early. They're friendly, but quiet. Temple (I think it is?) has a 45min walk to get to it! But has been described by some ski mags as the best ski field in the world.

D

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan: Yep - skied there once or twice. It has the best advanced terrain of the commercial ski fields and more reliable cover than the club fields. The concept of "off-piste" is a little less clear-cut here than in the Alps (i.e we don't ski on the groomed stuff very much at all.) A few bits of TC are lost to the groomers but you won't be short of ungroomed snow. It is no worse for avalanche risk than any other steep ski field although the "Friday the 13th" slide that Damo refers to was an interesting morning.

As for the apres-ski, personally I've never actually had someone force beer down my throat either here or in Europe so, like anywhere else, the drinking scene is what you make it.

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan: Wanaka is a lot more laid back than Queenstown. Personally, if I did a season there I wouild find the drive up to the resort from Wanaka every day to be a pain in the arse though, as it is at least half an hour in good weather, and if anything but good, I reckon would easily be double that, and you will need a good reliable vehicle or rely on hitching or the shuttle bus. It's a nice mountain with some good terrain but is pretty small compared to most European resorts, almost Scottish in size. You can easily access Cadrona from Wanaka, but Remarkables is a bit of a drive for a day. There is snowpark near Wanaka too, if you like terrain parks, and snow farm for the xc stuff.

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan: TC is totally overrated, embarrassingly so!

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan:

The various fields in NZ get snow from different directions so Mt Hutt can have a record winter like last year while the Otago fields are pretty lean and brown. TC is by far the most expensive field and is in financial strife at present.

http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/wanaka/42240/sale-treble-cone-possible039

It is, however, the best field (of the nz commercial fields ) if you are a skilled skier or boarder.

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan:

Can we keep this discussion going? I too am thinking of working at a mountain in new zealand for the 2009 season. Im coming from the states, would prefer a good balance of expert terrain plus a good amount of apres ski activites.

Should I even consider Mt. Ruapehu? Much of what I read makes me think TC is the best choice, if I am used to US mountains.

In reply to eric: Which US mountains are you used to? In the US they vary from "wank" to "great but not that big".

In reply to eric:

Only been skiing at Mt (S)Hutt and Methven is the most boring place I've ever been, do don't go there for the apres ski activities! Likewise, I don't think you'll find much around Ruapehu, could be wrong though??

Wanaka is the place to be

I did a season at Cardrona, just outside Wanaka, back in 2004. The resorts are tiny compared to main European resorts. You can ski every run at Cardrona in a day. Same for TC. However, you can also off piste just about anywhere, which really opens your options up. I remember some cracking chutes at Cardrona. I would say TC is best for boarders, as it has quite a lot of steep unpisted terrain.

There are a few bars, and you can drink till you're trollied if you want to. But it's equally easy to just have a quiet drink or two and go home.

The drive up the mountains is pretty horrible. It is pretty easy to hitch, but you take your chances with the drivers (remembering the teenage driver of the mitsubishi evo, who accelerated hard downhill up to the next hairpin bend).

That part of the world is astonishingly beautiful. I would recommend it to anyone. Oh, and you rarely have to queue for a chairlift.

In reply
TC is good on the top chair natural pipes, interesting terrain, lower chair pretty boring
Cardrona very open
It is only 1hr to 2 more ski fields in Q town.
Night skiing on fri/sat at Coronet....Good socially
Remarks has great off piste terrain.
You can climb on the sunny cliffs all year, Nice on sunny days and terrible on overcast days.
Apres ski is up to you. Some people live at the pub and others never go.

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan: You may wish to check out the very excellent NZ Backcountry Skiing guide by James Broadbent, published by the NZ Alpine Club: plenty of worthy objectives and ideas in there depending on skill / companions / time and inclination. NZ ski fields are quite different - don't be expecting alpine super resort areas, think more like Scotland but somewhat bigger and with better/more reliable snow

Don't tell anyone I said that though.

B

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan:

Did a season at TC a while ago. Very good terrain, lots of natural little bits to explore and lots of stuff to hike to out the back.

Wanaka has changed a lot since I was there, so I've heard, but it certainly used to be a really nice place to go out. Very chilled and good atmosphere. Much nicer than Queenstown which is apparently the EXTREME! capital of the world with extra EXTREME! thrown in for good measure.

TC is, IMHO, the best of the big resorts in NZ.

C

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan: Thanks for all of the responses. I am an east coaster here in the states so am more familiar with vermont. Ive skied many of the colorado and utah resorts, and am also a climber so Im very much looking forward to a winter in nz.

Wanaka and Qtown both sound good for different reasons.

In reply to eric: It's definitely steeper than the average east coast ski resort (afaik - although I haven't actually been to that many) but smaller than the average colorado one - i found it to be similar to A basin or loveland if you have been to either.