Coronet Peak opens thanks to snowmaking but with limited terrain

Queenstown’s Coronet Peak ski area will open tomorrow (Thursday June 30) for the 2011 winter season thanks to the hard work of its snowmaking and grooming teams.

The ski area will open at 9am with limited beginner, novice and intermediate terrain available. Trails can be accessed from the Coronet Express and Meadows Express chairlifts, and two conveyor lifts.

Snow cover on the main open trails is thin with an average 15 to 20cm on the upper mountain and 10 to 15cm on the lower mountain.

Runs open will include the main M1 Trail from top to bottom, the Big Easy trail and beginners area. Base building services will include rental, snowsports school, crèche, café, coffee bar, guest services and retail.

Coronet Peak ski area manager Hamish McCrostie said it was a “huge relief” to get the season underway after opening was delayed due to unseasonably warm temperatures.

“Our traditional opening day bubbles have been on ice for quite some time, so finally welcoming skiers and boarders to the slopes deserves a bit of a celebration,” he said. “It’s great news for Queenstown and we’d really like to thank everyone for their patience and support.”

Coveted ‘First on the Lift 2011’ T-shirts will also be on offer to the first four guests.

Mr McCrostie said the ski area’s 211 snowguns had been blazing as much as temperatures allowed since Monday evening.

“Our snowmaking and grooming teams, headed by Pete Deuart and Kate Nimmo, have done an absolutely amazing job considering conditions have been less than ideal at times,” he said.

“We’re well aware that our locals and visitors have been waiting for this day, so even though this isn’t what we’d usually offer on opening day, it’s a great start.

“Now that colder days and nights would seem to have finally arrived, we’re continuing snowmaking and grooming on all trails and will open those up just as soon as we can. We’re looking forward to conditions improving as we go further into winter.”

Thursday’s opening day will also mark Coronet Peak’s first American Express Queenstown Winter Festival event – the iconic Speight’s Dog Derby.

“We’ll be staging the Dog Derby on a slightly different course to previous years, but given this has been on the calendar for the past 37 years, it’s guaranteed to be the usual mad mix of barking, mayhem, farmers and dogs,” said Mr McCrostie.

While Coronet Peak will not be able to offer night skiing scheduled for Friday night, Winter Festival’s free American Honey Coronet Concert will be held from 1pm to 4pm (a change to the scheduled start time of 4pm) on the Coronet Peak deck.

The Air New Zealand Holidays Mountain Mayhem day will go ahead as scheduled on Saturday July 2.