Coronet Peak Closes This Sunday

Press Release

• September 17 2008
• 30 views
• add a comment

Queenstown, New Zealand - Coronet Peak Ski Area is to close this Sunday, 21 September after a “momentous winter season.” Hamish McCrostie, Coronet Peak Ski Area Manager, says this year had provided a fantastic challenge for ski area staff and a wonderful winter for its customers.

“Only one year ago we were packing up our old building. It’s been a huge journey through a major redevelopment programme to get to this point.”

“Built a brand new base building and installed a world leading snowmaking system all by early June, we then hurtled full bore into winter. The snowmaking was outstanding. We had a rollercoaster June then by July there was full coverage across the mountain - mostly machine made snow. This laid a fantastic base for the natural snow to come. Throughout August and into September we’ve all enjoyed amazing skiing and riding.”

He said the new base building had made a massive difference to mountain operations and customer service.

“We’ve all loved working in here. We’ve been able to put on some great parties, had a fantastic Winter Festival and have hosted some awesome bands. Feedback from our customers has been wonderful as well. I feel like we can take our learners’ plates off now and look forward to a summer season then to doing it all again next year – we’ve learned how to drive it.”

Mr McCrostie was philosophical about closing this weekend saying the spring warm up was underway despite hopes for a chill down.

“That’s life in the mountains,” he said.

NZSki Ltd CEO James Coddington said Coronet Peak had enjoyed a record season this winter, largely due to the efficiencies of the new developments.

“Coronet has enjoyed record visitor numbers. The SnowSports School and food and beverage departments have also broken records. It’s been very satisfying following the challenge of redeveloping the base building and installing a major new snowmaking system.”

The season finishes in true Coronet style with a party – the ski area’s inaugural International Day.

“It’ll be a colourful day – we’ve got people from all over the world working at the Peak and they’re planning to arrive in their national colours and celebrate their home countries. There will be international food stands on the deck and live music. It’ll be a fun, family friendly way to finish the season,” says Mr Coddington.

Friday, September 19 will be the last night skiing night with a two-for-one pass offer.

The Queenstown ski season continues at The Remarkables Ski Area where good spring skiing conditions prevail and at Mt Hutt near Christchurch where record snow depth (just shy of 3m) is promising a long season. The tentative closing date for The Remarkables is October 12.