Coronet Peak to extend season as spring fling follows record snowfall: “Coronet Peak is to extend its opening dates to allow for an extra week of skiing and riding, as long as the conditions allow.”

(Via NZSki.com – New Zealand ski, snowboard and mountain biking premier south island website..)

Still Snowing & Whakapapa is Open!

“We have had another night of more snow and huge drifting from top to bottom! The snow over the last week has transformed the place. At Whakapapa the Far West is burried, the Waterfalls are full, and you can ski down to Car Park 10! At Turoa, work continues to …”

(Via Mt Ruapehu Latest News.)

2nd Floor and More!:

“The 2nd floor is in place on the new cafe at Knoll Ridge and boy are we excited! The crews have been working really hard during the latest fine weather spell to get as much done as possible. You will notice in the photo gallery that things are moving fast …”

(Via Mt Ruapehu Latest News.)

Coronet Peak training ground for Winter Olympic Gold Medal winner:

“19 February 2010: Vancouver 2010 Gold Medal downhill skier Lindsey Vonn has a New Zealand connection, the world’s best female downhill skier trains at New Zealand’s premier ski area, Coronet Peak.”

(Via NZSki.com – New Zealand ski, snowboard and mountain biking premier south island website..)

Early Bird season passes on sale:

“11 February 2010: Skiers and snowboarders are encouraged to log onto www.nzski.com within the next month to snap up the very best deals for this year’s winter season passes to New Zealand’s premier ski areas.”

(Via NZSki.com – New Zealand ski, snowboard and mountain biking premier south island website..)

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p>New for 2010 The Valley View Quad:

Phase one – summer 2009/10

• Valley View Quad chairlift installation
  -  Former Captains fixed grip quad chairlift being relocated to open up more terrain, extending below the Whitestar Express down to Speed Straight
• FIS homologated downhill course
• A 40 metre tunnel will feature on the Comeback trail
• An additional carpark at the base of the lift for easy access to the Valley View Quad

(Via Cardrona Alpine Resort – Cardies Blog.)

The flight from Auckland to Los Angeles was uneventful. The plane wasn’t too crowded, and there was a good choice of movies.

Los Angeles Airport (LAX) was a zoo. It was like arriving in to an airport of another era, an airport that had been organised on an ad hoc basis.

We landed on time and I had two hours to make my connection on American Airlines to JFK, New York. Plenty of time…. Think again…..

Problem 1: There was no ‘bay’ for the aircraft. At one point they were talking about steps. Finally a ‘bay’ with walkway was found, however, this just unloaded us on to the middle of the airport and meant we needed a bus to get to the terminal. Time was lost getting off the plane and onto the buses, and then by driving around the airport to the terminal

Problem 2: As I arrived in the immigration hall all the computers crashed. It took the immigration services around 20 minutes to get them back up and running.

Problem 3: I had to collect my bags and go through customs, fine, however, I had ticked a box on the customs form saying that my hiking boots may have soil on them from my stay in New Zealand. This resulted in questioning and the bags being x-rayed (I was unsure how that was supposed to help). I then dropped the bags off at the ‘baggage transfer’ where they were x-rayed again.

Problem 4: LAX was a very very crowded. Queues for security were very, very long.

Bottom line… just made it to the flight.

Flight from LAX to JFK was crowded, and there was no food…. fantastic…

Flight from Wellington to Auckland was OK. At Auckland Airport there was a 10 minute walk to get from the domestic terminal to international.

The security staff at Auckland Airport said there was food available for purchase after security (well, there was if you count Burger King), some ‘nibbles’ at an espresso bar, or sandwiches at the Blue Bar.

One ‘minor’ commotion was caused when a waitress presented a glass of wine to a woman sitting near me and said it ‘had been bought for her by someone at the bar’ – I was accused of being the mysterious purchaser, when in fact it was her female friend hiding behind a pillar.

Almost forget to pay the $25 NZ departure tax before going through immigration (if you don’t you will be sent back!).

Auckland Airport is an interesting place for people watching – humans come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, makes you wonder if we are all the same species…. – is the Neanderthal really extinct?

Not looking forward to the next flight – flying from Auckland to Los Angeles – longest flight on the trip at just under 12 hours…. this is going to be long!

Well, my ski trip in New Zealand is coming to an end… time to start heading back to the UK.

First part of the trip was to get from Palmerston North to Wellington to catch a flight to Auckland, and then on to New York, USA.

Caught the train at 6:20 am, from Palmerston North and arrived in Wellingtom at 8:20 am (on time). If I had missed the train I would have been ‘stuffed’, as there is only one train per day.

(By the way, Palmerston North called Palmerston North because there is a Palmerston on the south island (this explains why I couldn’t find a Palmerston South, East or West nearby on the map), and the north refers to the north island. Locals called Palmerston North ‘Palmy’ – does this mean that Wellington is know as ‘Welly’?)

Interesting run on the train through the NZ countryside – looks very much like the UK (Yorkshire?), with a lot of farmland and hills.

Taxi from the train station to the airport, which took 10 minutes, cost $35 NZ.

Wellington airport quite small and be warned, there is nothing available after the domestic gate (domestic gate as I am flying to Auckland).

Plane flight path between the Mount Ruapehu ski area and the other volcano to the west. Could see both peaking above the clouds.

Wow, what a great day! Fantastic. One to remember. Skiing at Turoa on Mount Ruapehu.

Weather was very strange this morning – at 7:30, cloudy, 7:45 clear blue skies, 8:00 thick cloud. This didn’t suggest the weather was going to be good up the volcano, but it was….

Good breakfast ($14) at the Sunbeam Motels & Lodge… full fry up.

Drive up to the ski area was fine. Road was in good condition and paved all the way. Snow chains are required if there is snow on the road (there appeared to be a $25 chain hire/fitting service in one of the lay-bys). The rocks by the side of the road were very interesting, amazing shades of red and black, with lots of rocks mixed up and ‘set’ in other rock – guess this is what you get on a volcano.

Looking back down the road up to the Turoa Ski Area on Mount Ruapehu

The Turoa Ski Area on Mount Ruapehu – view from the carpark

Ski area above tree line, and the parking lot muddy. The great news was we were above the clouds and in glorious sunshine.

Ski, ski boot, poles and pass were available in one hire shop (all very efficient). I hired a pair of ‘performance’ boots and skis for $130 NZ (this included the lift pass). Good skis and boots.

From base-lodge two old slow lifts take the skier/boarders up to the main mountain area and also to a beginners area near the base-lodge.

Ski area larger than any area seen down on the south island..

Conditions ‘mixed’. Some areas were very icy (looking at the snow and the off-piste areas it is clear that the volcano regularly experiences high-winds and freeze/thaw cycles – saw some alarmingly crystal clear rock-hard ice both on and off the trails), some areas very ski-able with a soft snow. Lot of very packed-powder around. Quite a lot of rock sticking through the snow off-piste. The black volcanic rock really provided a sharp contrast against the bright white sunlit snow.

Upper slopes served by a very good high speed six seater lift which gave access to a range of blue and black runs. Some of the lower lifts were very slow.

There is also two cafes on the volcano. One thing that was odd was there were no large piste maps. And trail maps were only available from the base-lodge. I asked why there were no ‘large maps’ on the mountain and was told that they cost too much.

Weather was fantastic. Base-lodge was in the cloud, but the main ski area was above the cloud.

Occasional smell of sulphur wafted across the ski area (or that may have been fellow lift passengers….)

Ski down at the end of the day was via a very narrow and crowded trail.

Verdict: A great day of skiing, snow was not great, but I had fun. Skiing above clouds was great.