A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure to visit Cardrona Ski Field for a few days. Cardrona caters to everyone and really does โlove youโ as stated by their current tag line. From families to park skiers, off piste warriors to sidecountry enthusiasts, they really have a lot to offer. Speaking of the terrain parks, now that Snow Park NZ has shutdown, Cardrona is now THE place to visit during the North American Summer for park skiing.
With my skiing partner Miles Holden, we couldnโt have had two more different days during the trip. The first day was shut down early for insane weather, and the second day was a mix of every type of weather, light, snow condition and terrain.
DAY ONE:
The morning started in Queenstown like any other morning during my stayโฆlong black in my cup, laptop refreshing Met Service (NZ weather site), and analyzing all the nearby webcams. However, with a large storm approaching, only one ski field had the courage to openโฆCardrona.
It was looking like the storm may delay just enough to give us a decent day of skiingโฆ

To the North, Wanaka was getting a nice morning tan, so things were looking upโฆ

After parking the car, we turned around and noticed that the storm was looking a bit more ominousโฆ
On our first lap on the Whitestar Express, we were greeted by some inclement weather and Mr. Holden did his best to protect his handsome faceโฆ
At this point, the chair screeched to a halt but the winds remained sustainedโฆ
The views of New Zealand were stunningโฆ
After safely taking the humans off the lift (which was later hit by lightning) and closing the resort, we were stoked to know that we were of a select few who actually skied in NZ that dayโฆ
Back in the Valley, it was a perfect time for a Kiwi breakfast at the Cardrona Hotelโฆ
Back in Queenstown, a late afternoon beer with an old mate rounded out the dayโฆ
DAY TWO:
After witnessing the blizzard at our exit of day one, we were excited to wake up and check the morningโs reports. Sadly, the snow levels had risen up to the moon, and everywhere received rain, thus creating a frozen solid snow pack. The saving grace was that a small, albeit windy, snow storm rolled through after the rain event bringing a much needed wintery blast.
With the morning light, it was time to exploreโฆ
We began our day laying down some top to bottom turns on some corduroy laden blissโฆ
We decide to session the Arcadia Chutes zone due to some nice wind deposited pockets throughoutโฆ
The Arcadia Chutes are littered with open bowls, chutes, cliffs and rolling featuresโฆ
Hereโs a photo of an extreme skier getting extremeโฆ
The Burton High Fives superpipe event was going on throughout the dayโฆand the dudes were definitely boosting.
Another lap? I didnโt travel from California to sit in the cafeโฆ
It took a bit of Kodak courage but fun was obtainedโฆ
Up above the Whitestar Express, you can do a short 5-10 minute hike to some steeper terrainโฆ
It was quite surprising to find such high snow quality up there BUT I AM NOT COMPLAININGโฆ
The author tries to make a scenic carve in the tussockโฆ
And just like that the jet-lag finally kicked inโฆ
For a bit more detailed reportโฆcheck it out on my site:
http://www.slaythegnar.com/2013/09/entertaining-the-variable-cardrona-ski-field-nz-091313/
Looks like some fun was had