Sunday, August 30, 1998
The morning was clear with a few lingering clouds in the mountains. My pulse started racing when we heard that the Remarkables Ski Area had 10 to 15 cm of fresh pow-pow. We boarded the bus to the Remarkables, which got us to the area an hour and fifteen minutes later, with a 15 minute stop to install chains. The road up to the area is a very steep unsealed road which switchbacks its way up the side of a cliff. The road offers scenic views of the Kawarau and Shotover River drainages, as well as Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.
My first run from the Shadow Basin chair resulted in several nasty gouges (one which stripped away 2 ½ inches of p-tex - luckily not a core shot). 1998 has been a drought year in NZ and the snow cover was sparse. The wind had done a number on the fresh pow, turning it into sticky edge-grabbing crusty glop. Sadly, a great deal of the advanced terrain was closed or inaccessible. Experts wishing to ski the Remarkables will, for the most part, have to hike for their turns. Taking a left and walking up the hill from the Shadow Basin chair will access expert slopes (what appeared to be about a 10-15 minute hike, although after hammering my skis on the first run I didn't do it.)
The exception to the no-black-diamonds-without-a-hike rule were some chutes to the right of Shadow Basin chair which I did try, despite the gauntlet of rocks. This time, my gamble paid off. These had the best snow that I skied on the entire NZ trip, being sheltered from the wind and the sun. In a better snow year, I will try hiking over the ridge to the left of the chair, as the chutes to the right were relatively short and involved a long boring run-out before arriving back at the chair.
The Remarkables is a good place for learners and intermediates, as the Alta chair and Sugar Bowl chair steer clear of cliffs, cornices and such. The views of the surrounding mountains were stunning, and were it not for a fog layer just below the ski area, the views of the valley and Queenstown below would have been equally spectacular.
For those for whom size matters, New Zealand ski areas may require a change in attitude. There are no mega-complexes such as Squaw Valley, Vail or Killington here, the resorts here being on a much smaller scale (544 acres for the Remarkables and 692 acres for Coronet Peak.)
One peculiarity at Kiwi ski areas. For renters, the rental shop does not stow your shoes when you rent boots, as is the case in the States. After waiting in line for rentals, the skier then has to wait in another line for a basket (and fork over another $3).
The prices in the cafeteria at both the Remarkables and Coronet ski areas were cheap by North American standards. Although Erin is a light eater and never did cultivate a taste for pies, we never paid more than $15.00 for the both of us, drinks included. We would have been hard pressed to find an American ski area where we would have gotten by for less than $15.00 US for the two of us.
For anyone contemplating ski lessons Down Under, they are also an excellent value, $39.00 for a 2 hour group lesson. A word of warning however, at the Remarkables, Rich took 2 lessons, level I and II, and never left the beginner corral serviced by a 50 yard rope tow. Coronet Peak has a much larger beginner area serviced by a longer chairlift, which Rich found more his level. His ski experience had consisted of some cross-country skiing in central Pennsylvania, when he was living there prior to his move to Auckland, and one downhill ski trip to a small mountain on the edge of Sequoia National Park that has since folded when he was in high school a number of years ago. If you have had any experience on skis, and can manage a wedge turn, you may wish to consider at least a level 3, assuming the ski school is in agreement.
Getting from Queenstown to the ski areas (ski fields as they are called in NZ), remember the following. The buses to the ski areas, run by Mount Cook Line, who own the two Queenstown ski areas, are not free. A roundtrip ticket to the Remarkables or Queenstown costs $21. Allow a half an hour to Coronet Peak, an hour to the Remarkables, more if there's a storm and the bus has to put on chains. If booking a package through a travel agency, you can book the ski area shuttle as part of the package at a discount. Some rental car companies' insurance policies will be voided if the car is driven on ski area access roads. If you rent a car, read the small print and back of your contract carefully. Rental car companies may provide chains on request (necessary after a storm) when you pick up your car. Acrophobics may have a problem with the road to the Remarkables, although the drive is rewarded with spectacular views of the valley, the lake and the surrounding mountains.
Prior to dinner, Rich and I went out to find out about necessary arrangements for a tour of Milford Sound, which we had both been told was a must-see. I wanted to take a helicopter, which at $485.00 per person was more than Rich wanted to spend. We were told that a 3 hour cruise including a stop at the Underwater Observatory would be $50. In the off-season, reservations are not necessary, during high season (summer) they are.
That night we had dinner at the Boardwalk Seafood Restaurant, which was probably the best meal we had in New Zealand. Erin tried the green-lipped mussels, a large mussel, an NZ fave, so named because the outer perimeter is stained green by algae. The seafood we tried in New Zealand ranging from sashimi, to fish and chips, to grilled tuna, was uniformly excellent. Any Americans ordering a California Roll in a sushi place will be in for a surprise, however. California rolls here are served with salmon, rather than crab or surimi (imitation crab).
Tuesday, September 1, 1998
Coronet Peak is the other Queenstown ski area. Rich wanted to take another lesson and both he and Erin needed to rent equipment. I agreed to take a warm-up run, while they took care of their rentals and lessons. Conditions were partly cloudy and cold. The quality of the snow was excellent (better than at the Remarkables), being firm packed powder, not the least bet of wetness or stickiness.
From the top of the Coronet Express Chair, I got another glimpse at what could have been. The Back Bowls which go off the backside of the chair were closed due to lack of snow. (When they close trails in New Zealand, coverage must be sparse to non-existent.) The other expert trail, Exchange Drop was open, but had more rocks than snow, so I declined (especially after the damage my skis sustained at the Remarkables). Coronet Peak had some other advanced/expert areas off of Greengates Chair and the Rocky Gully T-bar, but these areas were also closed. In fact the T-Bar was closed. All this gives me some incentive to come back and give it a try on my next trip.
Hate to admit it, but I blasted down the corduroy on the main run just below the Coronet Express (out of concern for my skis.) Not seeing Erin or Rich at the bottom, I caught the chair back up, and did an encore, but this time ventured onto the ungroomed stuff directly below the chair and ground my teeth every time I heard a crunching or grinding sound coming up from my skis. Despite the rocks, grass and shrubs the snow quality in the ungroomed areas was far superior to that of the groomed, and my concern for my skis diminished as the day progressed. However, the mogul runs were fully loaded with ordinance in the troughs, in the form of rocks with a hardness only slightly less than that of diamonds, and my skis suffered more collateral damage.
After the second run, Rich and Erin had their equipment. Rich went off to his lesson, and I talked Erin into riding up Coronet Express. At the top, we learned another lesson in renting equipment in a foreign country. Erin wears a US women's size 6. In NZ, like the UK, women don't get their own shoe sizes. What she got was a boy's size 6 which is 2½ sizes larger than the woman's size 6. The top of the mountain is the wrong time to discover this. I cranked Erin's boot as tight as I could, and we slowly made our way down. When we got to the bottom, I went in the shop with her and we got another pair of boots in the correct size. The irony is that Erin has a pair of ski boots but she didn't want to carry them 6500 miles on the plane. Rental boots never fit as well as your own boots, and even if you don't want to carry your skis across the Pacific, at least take your boots.
From the top of Coronet Peak I noticed how different both the rock and the vegetation are in NZ from what I am familiar with in the Tahoe Sierra. The rock was dark and crumbly in some places, and striated with white streaks in others. The vegetation at the top of the mountain was a grass which grows in tufts, and not much else. It made me wish I knew a little more about geology.
The views from Coronet of the valley below are worth a chairlift ride to the top. The valley was green ranchland, mostly sheep country. Winding a lazy path through the valley are the Shotover and Kawarau Rivers. Beyond are Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables. In fact, you are looking directly across at the Remarkables Ski Area, which stuck out due to the lack of snow in the areas surrounding the ski area, thanks to snowmaking.
Dinner that night was at Minami Jujisei, one of several Japanese restaurants in town. Sushi was good and not much different from sushi in California, 6500 miles away. As mentioned before, regional bias not withstanding, all three of us still prefer crab in our California rolls instead of salmon. Erin tried a bowl of crayfish miso, which tasted much like American lobster. Unlike the diminutive American crawdad, which is a little freshwater shrimp with claws, a New Zealand crayfish looks like a shrimp on steroids, or a large lobster without the claws. Prices for a whole crayfish are only slightly less than lobster in the states and as a result, the soup was the only time any of us tried crayfish. The crayfish are kept alive in large tanks, and we had opportunity to watch an employee remove several of them from the tanks at Minami Jujisei using a net and some large plastic boxes. The crayfish did not surrender quietly, making noisy and continuous attempts to escape after being deposited in the plastic boxes.
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